Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Feels Like Coming Home
After work today Gill and I are to pick up Floyds ashes from the vet. I imagine the rest of the night will be shrouded in tears and drowned in alcohol.
Yeah, Yeah I'm Getting There - Part I
So then, Barcelona, what was it like Chris? I hear you all scream. OK so it might not have even reached a general murmur but I’m going to tell you anyway. After all I’ve got to think of something to write for this thing.
To be honest things didn’t get off to that great a start. We arrived at the hotel just before three and our room was still not ready. That’s alright we thought, it will only take a few minutes and we can have a gin in the bar whilst we wait. As the time approached five and we were still waiting it safe to say we were not happy bunnies. The staff on the desk were unmoved by our concern and to be honest were as poor then as they were throughout our stay, it’s just as well the other hotel staff were excellent. It was if the front desk had only been in operation for a week or so and still experiencing teething problems. Inexcusable for a five star hotel that had been open for a year.
Anyway, the hotel was situated at the top of the Gran Via about 20min gentle stroll from Placa Catalunya, or about 5min by Metro. We walked into and out of town as many times as we took the Metro, including a very wet Friday night when the Metro had shut down for the night and every Taxi was occupied. It was generally a very pleasant walk past the splendours of Gaudi’s La Pedrera and Casa Botillo as well as the stores of major fashion houses such as YSL, Armani and Hugo Boss. OK so we also had to walk past McDonalds and KFC etc but, hey, you can’t have everything. One of the delights of the Gran Via are the abundant book stalls selling both new and second hand books of all shapes, sizes and languages. Gill didn’t think the stalls were that delightful and so we skirted past them, shame.
Despite our intention to avoid doing touristy things and just chilling out we did make a trip to the Picasso Museum. The museum contains many of his earlier works and gave an interesting insight into his artistic development. As always with these kinds of places it was difficult to take a long uninterrupted look at any of the works because of the sheer number of people trailing around the galleries but you have to accept it’s always going to be like that. Tourists, eh, always spoiling everyone else’s fun. The rest of the week was spent trying to avoid tourist hot spots but that’s not always easy in a city like Barcelona, although we did find a couple of gems.
The weather was very good most days, bright sunshine and high temperatures, well very good for Gill but a bit too hot for me. We did however have a couple of consecutive days of rain and dark brooding skies which helped me cool off a bit. I felt a little sorry for anyone who had popped over for a few days only to be met with that weather. It might not have been so bad if they had been before and knew a couple of places they could hang out but for anyone new to the city and wanting to see the sights it can’t have been pleasant. I suppose on the bright side it would have given them a very good excuse to come back.
To be honest things didn’t get off to that great a start. We arrived at the hotel just before three and our room was still not ready. That’s alright we thought, it will only take a few minutes and we can have a gin in the bar whilst we wait. As the time approached five and we were still waiting it safe to say we were not happy bunnies. The staff on the desk were unmoved by our concern and to be honest were as poor then as they were throughout our stay, it’s just as well the other hotel staff were excellent. It was if the front desk had only been in operation for a week or so and still experiencing teething problems. Inexcusable for a five star hotel that had been open for a year.
Anyway, the hotel was situated at the top of the Gran Via about 20min gentle stroll from Placa Catalunya, or about 5min by Metro. We walked into and out of town as many times as we took the Metro, including a very wet Friday night when the Metro had shut down for the night and every Taxi was occupied. It was generally a very pleasant walk past the splendours of Gaudi’s La Pedrera and Casa Botillo as well as the stores of major fashion houses such as YSL, Armani and Hugo Boss. OK so we also had to walk past McDonalds and KFC etc but, hey, you can’t have everything. One of the delights of the Gran Via are the abundant book stalls selling both new and second hand books of all shapes, sizes and languages. Gill didn’t think the stalls were that delightful and so we skirted past them, shame.
Despite our intention to avoid doing touristy things and just chilling out we did make a trip to the Picasso Museum. The museum contains many of his earlier works and gave an interesting insight into his artistic development. As always with these kinds of places it was difficult to take a long uninterrupted look at any of the works because of the sheer number of people trailing around the galleries but you have to accept it’s always going to be like that. Tourists, eh, always spoiling everyone else’s fun. The rest of the week was spent trying to avoid tourist hot spots but that’s not always easy in a city like Barcelona, although we did find a couple of gems.
The weather was very good most days, bright sunshine and high temperatures, well very good for Gill but a bit too hot for me. We did however have a couple of consecutive days of rain and dark brooding skies which helped me cool off a bit. I felt a little sorry for anyone who had popped over for a few days only to be met with that weather. It might not have been so bad if they had been before and knew a couple of places they could hang out but for anyone new to the city and wanting to see the sights it can’t have been pleasant. I suppose on the bright side it would have given them a very good excuse to come back.
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