Last breakfast at the wonderful bakery in Plaza Mayor, Le Pain Quotidien, then off to the station to sit among the palms until train time. There is a wonderful sculpture of a pile of luggage and I went to take a photo of it but felt that I couldn't do so while the elderly asian woman seated in front of it was screeching at (I presume) her husband and hitting him on the arm with her clenched fist. He had his head down and was doing nothing to protect himself.
We are travelling at over 300K through country where the agriculture and the rural towns are so very different from our experience, yet at times seem familiar.
Picturesque towns of sturdy clay baked looking houses dominated by church towers, in valleys or on hillsides - and the occassional fort atop a mesa. Wow. Olives, olives, olives everywhere (except for the vines and orchards of course). All as dry looking as home.
Contrary to popular misconception you can see something other than a blur as the train rushes along. It is a very smooth ride and quiet. The only indication of just how fast you are moving is how very little time it takes a train going in the ther direction to go past.
Barcelona - meeting Kate outside MacDonalds - she was right you cannot miss it. It is like meeting under the clocks at Flinders Street. Kate heads out to her conversation class and we settle in awaiting Stig's return from his Spanish lesson. We take the Metro (why can't trains in Melbourne run as frequently as they do here) to meet Kate and head of to lunch, before home and the siesta.
We arise to head out again and join the promenading Barcelonans to have a glass or two in a nearby small plaza, which houses 8 restaurant/bars. It is cool and shady sitting in the middle of the plaza as people gather and children play at the fringes.
Home for delicious Catalyan chilled tomato soup and Tortilla. I watched Kate cook the potatoes for the tortilla and she must have read my mind, telling me not to worry if it seemed like an excessive amount of olive oil - it wasn't.
The flat is on the longest shopping strip in Europe and the shops do seem to be all farmacia, shoe shops and banks. That is, if you don't count the seven read shops which appear to be in sight of the Jensen abode. Tomorrow we start looking round in earnest ... and there is so much to see. It is always a treat to stay with someone who knows their way around.
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