6 Degrees of Separation

Bob arrived in Barcelona full of memories from his last trip here in1997 and wishing to revisit all of those memories.  So we started out in the morning on a walking tour or Las Ramblas in the Gotic district which he declared pretty much as he remembered it.  Walking on into the L’Eixample area he ignored the stores, after all it is Bob the non-shopper and focused instead on trying to find the hotel he stayed in on that trip.  We never did find that hotel he couldn’t remember the name or the street it was on so we were at a bit of a handicap!!  But our travels did take us to La Pedrera the first apartment building in Barcelona built by Gaudi and Casa Botllo an amazing home Gaudi built using all things representing the sea. 

As we passed through Plaza Catalunya Bob said, ‘wow this isn’t nearly as big as I remembered it being’!  Those had been my exact words the first time I had seen it on this trip.  You don’t think the plaza actually used to be bigger do you????  Bob enjoys being off the beaten path so I wandered him up and down the old city pathways until I had completely gotten him lost but enthralled by my neighborhood.  I might also add that he is awestruck by what he is calling my ‘localness’ and is suggesting that we change my name to Rosa. 

Although was reliving the past I did convince him to have lunch at my favorite place, Universal Kiosk in the La Boqueria.  I even got him to try the octopus but I don't believe he became a fan, I'll have to keep working on that!

Bob has always been a fan of Metros and is the only visitor I’ve had so far this summer who refused to take a taxi from the airport when he arrived and instead insisted he wanted to do the train/metro combo to get himself into Barcelona. When he arrived at our meeting point on La Ramblas he appeared ‘bedraggled’, warm and ready for a beer.  About half way through the beer he admitted that if he had to do it over again he’d take a taxi!  But even that experience has not soured him on the Metro, tomorrow he wants to take it (without any luggage of course!) out to visit Park Guell.  Since tomorrow is Sunday and most stores and restaurants are closed this seems like a good idea.  It also continues Bob’s walk down memory lane as it is also one of the places he’s visited last time he was here and again has fond memories of it.  I know they now serve ice cold sangria on a delightful patio overlooking Barcelona and the Mediterranean at the park but I’m going to surprise him with that when we get there.

For a while now I have wanted to go to a tapas bar in my neighborhood that gets great reviews called ‘The Ginger Bar’ but after several attempts where I never found it open I had pretty much given up on it.  After our full afternoon of walking Barcelona we were headed out for a light dinner a little later than usual at about 8:45pm last night.  So still really wanting to try The Ginger Bar we headed over and found them open so I was delighted.  It turns out to have some fantastic food which I would call more small plates than tapas but either way we loved everything we had.  One dish was called Duck Contfit which consisted of two duck legs which were melt in your mouth delicious served on a base of ‘apple mashed potatoes’.  Yes, apple mashed potatoes they had this sweet but not overly sweet taste of apple.  According to our waiter, they just cook a few apples along with the potatoes and then mashed together with no added creams or milks so they are also low cal as a bonus.  Up until now I have not been a fan of tapas bars but The Ginger Bar has changed my mind.

While we were dining a group of three women came in and sat at the table next to us.  Two of these women were clearly from the States and the other appeared to be Catalonian.  It was impossible not to overhear parts of their conversation and I quickly learned one of the American women was now living here in Barcelona.  The other American woman started talking about her experience of having lived in Puerto Rico.   When the time was right I said hello and said I too had lived in Puerto Rico for a while and how unusual it was to find someone here in Barcelona at the table next to me who also had.    She said, oh, but I’m not from Puerto Rico, I’m from Tacoma, Washington.  What, I spent a couple of years in Gig Harbor I answer.  Wow she says, and adds my friend here and I met when we were both going to school in Los Angeles.  Los Angeles, okay now it’s getting weird I was born in Los Angeles.  That was it, I was going to stop this right now before I learned this woman had been my dad or husband or something in a previous life!

The more I travel the more I become completely aware of how small the world really is and no matter how foreign the people how much like me they actually are.  Chance encounters like the one above just continue to convince me there really are only 6 degrees of separation in us all.