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Friday, July 15, 2011

Here I am again, In Spain

It is Friday the 15th of July and this is my third day here.  On my first day I took advantage of my stong legs and a good map and walked all around the old City.  I really enjoyed the easy ways of the people and all the little food shops selling the most beautiful fruit and veggies.  I had my first chocolate croissant of the trip ' yum, had a siesta and left again for more walking.

Yesterday It rained all day so I took advantage of the tourist bus deal.  I saw all of the great sights of Barcelona, hopping on and off the bus when I felt like I wanted to visit up close and personal with a building or a park.  I fulfilled my dream of touching a Goudi creation.  OMG the arcitecute in Barcelona is beautiful.
This is a pretty spectacular city but what surprises me is how new it is.   The small old city goes back centruies of course but there has been a great deal of development since the late 1800´s and early 1900´s.  Even more was been done for the recent Olympic games.  As with most cities hosting the games, old neighbourhoods were torn down here, people evectided from their homes and since the games, money-commerce has taken over those spots.  One nice thing is that beaches have been revived without the highrises blocking access.  Well enough about that.
 

Today,  I spent most of the day at the Picasso Museum.  What a great display.  There was, just by chance, a special collection on view of his works from Paris and a few private collections.  The show was about his yer
ars in Paris starting in 1900.  He was young and learning from the artists of the day.  The main gallery shows his works from the 30s on.  He appears to be quite a character.  The rain left overnight and today was beautiful.  I walked around, including time in the gallery for about 6.5 hours visiting parts I didn´t see on the bus or on previous walks.  I plan tonight to walk over to the Gaudi Cathedral now that I know where it is.
I leave on the train at 7.30 in the morning and reach Irun at 1.50  I will stay there and my plan is to go to San Sebastian the next day.  I understand it is worth a day or two so I might just stay for a couple of nights.
I met some young men from London Ont here at the hostel yesterday and one of them leaves for the Frances either this September or next September depending on his job.  He downloaded my book, Planning Your Camino 'Preparing The Way, as we talked.  It was cool!
So I will be on my own until I meet people who wnat to share their walk.  No problem being by myself on a Camino, it won´t be for long.

¨¨Talk with you in a few days.