September 8, 2018 – Barcelona

September 8, 2018 – Barcelona

I went to sleep at 11pm and still woke up at 2am. I thought that walking 19,000+ steps would have let me sleep through the night. Might do zzquil tonight.
Had breakfast at the hotel again. Best omelets ever. Lots of choices in the cold buffet too. Might have some Cava to tomorrow to celebrate this trip.
Headed to the Picasso Museum to get there at opening since I didn’t have a ticket. Got lost and had to ask for help from some British young ladies. They brought up a map on their iPhone and luckily it was easy to follow. As I left them their parting words were “Remember even if you don’t find it, you can still have a good adventure”. As I walked up to the museum I realized that I had walked right past it 20 minutes earlier.
I bought tickets both for the permanent exhibit and the temporary exhibit “Picasso’s Kitchen”. Lots of great artwork in a really beautiful old house. They had a number of his ceramic works that I hadn’t seen before.
Leaving the museum, I decided to walk to the Rambles. I found it easily and bought a Hop On Hop Off bus ticket. Unfortunately, I got lost trying to find the main stop. I ended up finding a stop across from my hotel. I rode both routes without any hop offs. On the second route, I dozed off a few times. I started riding the HOHO bus at 1:15pm and finished at 3:45pm. Since I will be back in March, I will visit some of the places I saw from the bus then.
I signed up for a Tapas and Wine walking tour at 6pm today. We met at a Bodega 1 block from my apartment. There was a couples from Walnut Creek, NYC, Toronto, and Sydney, Australia. There were 3 women from Kansas City KA and me making us an even dozen. Our group leader was Martina. We stopped at 4 different places for tapas and wine.
Stop 1: chorizo, Spanish tortilla, herring, and dried fish with almonds. Served with housemate sweet vermouth.
Stop 2: jamon, chorizo a diablo served with hard cider. (CIDER WAS AWFUL)
Stop 3: toast, tomato, garlic, 5 types of sliced sausages, 6 types of cheese. Served with red wine.
Stop 4: Octopus and roast potatoes with hot sauce. Served with sparkling white wine.
By the end we were all full. After saying good night to all, I headed home. I thought I was lost but it turned out that I was just across the street from my hotel.
Today has proven, once again, that I have no sense of direction.
Here’s to hoping that I sleep through the night. Tomorrow, I’ll pack up everything and head to the ship. It may be one of my only days to relax. First port is Marseille on Monday. There are only 2 sea days on this cruise so I will be blogging after dinner.