Barcelona

I have heard it said “The rain in Spain stays mostly on the plane.”

After many cloudy, grey and rainy days in London, that sounded good to me.

A quick two hour flight and short bus ride got us to our hotel on Plaza de Catalunya. 

Highlights:

El Barri Gotic: (Gothic Quarter)

I loved the old Gothic quarter with narrow windy streets, filled with cute little shops and cafes/bistros/restaurants.

Laundry

I had never heard of a combination laundry machine with both a washer and dryer in one unit before. (I must have lived a privileged life in North American.)

But when space is a premium, as it is in London, this is an awesome idea.

One machine to do both functions - wash and dry! Brilliant!

However.... the machine is small.... and.... the time to do one load, both wash and dry, is not short.

Yes, you are reading it correctly, one small load takes 3:38hr. YES! Three hours and thirty eight minutes. For ONE load! 

NOTE TO JOHN: Do not leave the laundry until the last pair of socks and undies!

Saturday Morning Coffee

John likes to go to coffee shops for his daily jolt of java. 

On his Saturday morning coffee run we found this in the little park around the corner.

It would appear that we didn't get the memo telling us about the park's

dress code.

Morning Walk along the Thames

On a Wednesday morning I was walking along the Thames and happened upon this brigade. 

I don't know about you, but, I'm not used to seeing guys wear white tights, high heals with fancy buckles, short red velvet knickers, matching flared red velvet coats, coordinated red caps and carrying sticks. 

Well, I'm certainly not used to seeing that during the day. Especially midweek!

I am not sure who they were, or, what they were doing. But they certainly looked historical, official and picture worthy. (That could be one description.... there could be others.....)

So, my theory, which is my very own, is that the guys with the sticks are historically replicating oarsmen rowing very important officials along the Thames to equally important meetings.

That's my story and I'm going to stick with that until someone tells me something better.