My Second Venture

My feet hurt. I even wore tennis shoes today, but I became lost and walked way too much.

I started out at 10 am taking the subway to the stop nearest the Mediteranean Sea. It was great to feel the cool breeze, though it is a very overcast day. I am afraid the photos are not very clear because of the haze. I walked across a little harbor, through a shopping mall, and on to Barceloneta (Little Barcelona), an old section of town where sailors and shore-workers used to live. Here is where an event happened that upset me mucho. A lady pick-pocketed me. Oh, how sweet she pretended to be! She took a 50 Euro bill from me ($70) but I saw her. I told her she took my money and I wanted it back. She said, "Nooo" as convincingly as she could. I asked her where I could find the police. She pointed somewhere and looked a little worried. Just then a girl on a bicycle rode up and told the lady that she saw her take my money and to give it back. I asked again where to find the police. The lady bent down and put my money on the ground as if I dropped it and I picked it up and left. I should have taken her picture for you. I was so upset after that, it took a while to be interested in sightseeing. I walked to the beach area and down to the water's edge to pick up a few stones from the Mediteranean. Then back up to find my way back to regular Barcelona. I was out of the tourist zone. Finally, I found my way to the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Sea. It was free to enter, so I did. Check out the photos. The rose window is beautiful. Then, I hopped on the metro to go just a few blocks to find the Palace of Catalan Music. Since our family is so into music, I thought this would be a good stop. However, when I came up out of the subway, I was turned around and went in the wrong direction. I was not just lost, but very lost. Somehow, I ended up where I was yesterday and just in the nick of time found the store that has a public restroom. So, I was not too unhappy about being lost then. I was tempted to call it a day, but I kept on and finally succeeded in finding the Palace. It was beautiful on the outside, but the tickets for viewing the inside were sold out. So, I headed back to my hotel and kicked off my shoes. Tom just returned and is finished with his conference. I am looking forward to having company on the next venture. Tonight we'll go to dinner and tomorrow, we will search for some of Gaudi's treasures. Gaudi is not our favorite, but he is big in this town, so we'll look him up.

By the way, if you are out there reading these posts, feel free to make a comment. I would love to hear from you.