MOTHER´S DAY

HI MUM!!! have a great day. am thinking of you, as i sit in this FABULOUS hostel (anyone thinking of going to barcelona, you HAVE to try Home... it´s very great!), debating whether to go to la sagrada familia or the museum of contemporary art, or just wander through the city, or zonk out on the beach with a book... the options are as fantastic as they are endless, and they all involve sunshine.

as it is mother´s day, i´m also thinking of YOU, esther-yami, and your fun and frolicking good times at interflora. but, as you say, on a sliding scale of all time, we will be together somewhere that is not interflora very soon.

barcelona has treated us well. have formed a loose conglomerate of english-speaking backpacker friends (australians, brits, irish, sth efricans) and have enjoyed sharing tales, jokes, mucho vino tinto - EL CHEAPO (i.e. 1EUR for a bottle of semi-decent wine), tips, food... we´ve been out twice to a tiny little tapas restaurant about 5-10 mins walk from the hostel. it has, one might say, character. it also has legs of cured ham hanging from the ceiling, cargols (snails) on the menu - yes, we tried them, and yes, they were yum - HUGE portions for 4-7EUR, great sangria... and, last night, some sort of local fashion parade was hapenning in the square outside the window. many a man-bag, mullet and denim ensemble were on display. bonza.

went to Museu d´historia de la Ciutat the other day. this is SO COOL. basically, it is located under the city streets, and is an archological excavation of the roman foundations of the city Barcino. you get to wander through the foundations of residences, a church, a bishop´s palace (i think), and a huge wine-making building. it´s a very cool experience. also on that day, we found a little tapas bar/cafe that served xurros amb xocolata... basically REALLY thick hot choc with spanish doughnuts for dipping. mmm... had a GIANT merangue, too, with hazelnuts inside.

yesterday, we went up to montjuic, which was a little disappointing, mainly because everything seems to cost - from the buildings to the botanic gardens. as a result we had to wander around on the main roads instead of along nice little footpaths (yep, we´re stingy). this did, however, afford us some rather interesting sights. firstly, some sort of aero club meeting, which involved a bunch of men with these tiny, NOISY aeroplanes zooming around and around on the end of a string. bizarre enough on its own, in a little stadium on the side of a road... however, on the grassy bank beside the busy road and the very noisy aeroplanes, a middle aged, corpulent, heterosexual couple could be observed in a semi-clad state in the middle of some sort of romantic, sun-lotion inspired foreplay. there was MUCH shiny rolls of skin on their part, and fits of giggles on our part. ah, continental europe, and your exhibitionist population, how we love thee!... also yesterday, on julia and erin´s recommendation, we ate at Organic - an organic (yep), vegetarian restaurant that offers a set menu for 11EUR... you get a HUGE buffet of salads and YUMMO bread, soup, a main course and a dessert. we have eaten SO MUCH, and are going to leave spain a lot fatter than we arrived.

we are really enjoying barcelona (combination of a fantastic place to stay, great weather, nice people, sangria, good food, cheap wine, excellent metro system - possibly even makes more sense than the tube in london)... and we´re a bit sad that we are leaving tomorrow. let´s hope that madrid is just as good!

so, tips for people coming to barcelona:

STAY at home hostel
GO to parc guell - for at least a couple of hours
VISIT the underground museum
EAT at both organic and the tapas bar near the hostel (i could show you on a map)
GET LOST in barri gotic, and find the pastry shops... yum. yum. yum.

now, off to the beach, methinks... only after we find some more xurros amb xocolata!!!