Our 5th Anniversary was at the beginning of the month, so we decided to celebrate with a trip to Barcelona. I’d booked the trip a little while ago, but I had
maybe waited until the last minute to find accommodations. (First mistake.) In my defense, I was waiting for the guidebook I had ordered from amazon.de which never came, and never came, and honestly, never came.
Tim’s and Heather’s Plan for Traveling: Pick a destination. Book a flight. Do not do any research ahead of time, but consider “planning ahead,” buying a guidebook. Bust it open for the first time on the plane to your destination.
Well, a couple of days before we left, I had realized that perhaps I shouldn’t dally forever and I started to look into a Bed and Breakfast. So far, we’ve had a wonderful experience with B&Bs. The place in Bruges felt like we were visiting long lost relative. One in Interlaken was a working farm overlooking the lake. Not to mention the vineyard in Italy. So, I took my chances, hopped onto a few B&B sites and sent out a bunch of e-mails.
Uncle Georg’s Wine/Life Tip: When I was traveling around Europe in 2002, my uncle Georg gave me truly wonderful advice. We (with my aunt Sue, of course) were at a German Winefest on the Mosel River trying to decide what wine to sample. His rationale was, “Never get the cheapest wine. You'll always be disappointed. The best deal is always the second least expensive.” Good theory, I thought. And this man knows his wine.
So I heard back from a few B&Bs and a lot of them were full. Panick set in a little. I e-mailed a few more, without really checking into them fully. (Second mistake). Good news, I heard back from a couple that had some openings. So, did I head Georg’s advice? Did I take the second from the bottom in price? Nope. Went for El Cheapo. (Fatal mistake.)
So we arrive in Spain, really without too much problem, show up to the address and look around. The street in front of us is lined with Pawn Shops. (Not a good sign.) We ring the bell and this little Spanish lady comes down to get us. We go up the narrowest steps ever on the planet to the apartment. We walk in and are hit over the head with a smell of, well not quite body odor, but maybe body oil. Instantly know this is gonna be a long stay. Not to mention all of this is happening as the women is freely bashing America because she thinks we’re German. That’s always fun.
I tell you what, whoever took the pictures for the website was a magician! He couldda made Quasimodo’s headshots look like Brad Pitt. The place was actually an apartment that this lady lets to students, but was free at the moment. (Can’t imagine why.) Come to learn later that she actually runs a Bed and Breakfast, but
this is not it. There was a kitchen (ette) with water that tasted like sulfur and an overall smell of natural gas. The towels in the bathroom were as soft as sandpaper and put off an overpowering musty scent when wet. (I actually gagged once while toweling off. No joke.) The living room was about 3 feel wide, with an old futon parading as a couch. Not to mention the bedroom which had two single beds donned in orangy-brown spreads from the 70s and a wad of something that was supposed to be a pillow.
But the kicker was that over the headboards, in between the two Ozzie and Harriett beds was a rather large, extremely graphic and dark and honestly terrifying picture of the Crucifixion. I hope God forgives me for my next statement, but if that isn’t a mood killer, I don’t know what is. So…welcome to Barcelona!
The good news is that we’re never in our hotel rooms very much anyway, so this was just further inspiration to get out on the town. And, we did have free Internet, which was nice.
We did a ton of wandering the city, as we always do, taking in tourist cites as well as trying to be somewhat Spanish. Highlights: Friday night, Tim and I took ourselves on a Tapas and Pub Crawl. Pretty sure we ate (and perhaps drank) at every tapas restaurant, ever. (Warning: Spanish wine goes straight to your noodle!) Saturday we took a Spanish cooking class through
Cook and Taste http://www.cookandtaste.net/ led by the amazing Bego. Learned how to make Spanish Omelets and Paella, among other things. Met another American couple and a couple from Australia. (Tim and I are convinced that Australians might just be the coolest people on earth. Every Aussie we’ve met totally rocks.) Sunday night we hit Cirque de Soleil, which was absolutely unreal. So, overall, amazing trip. Great Anniversary. And guess what was on the doorstep when we arrived home---guidebook. Perfect timing.
