Sunday, May 31st (Day 8)

I've finally discovered my favorite thing about Europe. It's the cereal spoons. I've long been frustrated by our small cereal spoons. I'm sitting in the breakfast area in our hostel in Barcelona, and I've just finished eating cereal, toast with jelly, an apple, lots of juices, and a cup of tea. I was most impressed by the size of the cereal spoons. I'd say they are 2-3 tablespoons in size. I get frustrated at home eating cereal with a tablespoon, to say nothing of a teaspoon. These are my kind of cereal spoons! I even celebrated by having a bowl of the European equivalent of Cocoa Krispies. I would never do such a thing at home, but here it seemed OK.

Time to write about yesterday. We arrived in Barcelona after an all night train ride in recliner chairs. It wasn't the best night's sleep ever, but it was OK. We stopped for 90 minutes at a small station called Port Bou and waited for the next train. While waiting, we had breakfast in a small cafe. It was bacon, sausage, fried eggs, and very good bread. A good substantial breakfast that would sustain us through most of the day.

From Port Bou we hopped on the train for a short ride to Barcelona. Unfortunately, the train was delayed along the way for a couple hours, so we arrived in Barcelona later than expected and didn't make it to our hostel (Center Point) until about 3pm or so. It's fun navigating the train stations and Metros. Abel claims that he is in charge and I'd never make it through these places without him. I'll let him think that. The truth is that his legs are so long that I have trouble keeping up with him. Plus, he commandeered the map in Paris and wouldn't relinquish it until we were leaving and he gave it to a nice looking European woman on rollerblades. I informed him that it was MY map, but that didn't seem to trouble him at all!

We had a few opportunities to walk around Barcelona. It's a very nice city. Wide streets, very clean, and just a very comfortable feeling here. We weren't feeling real energetic, so it was a pretty slow day. We walked to a market to get some groceries and had sandwiches for dinner. We also bought a bag of oranges and five liters of water. We payed E1.5 for 5 liters of water. We've payed twice that much for a half liter in some tourist traps. Location is everything! I should get in the habit of carrying five liters of water in my backpack. If I get desparate for cash, I can sell it for a big profit!

Our hostel (Center Point) is very nice. It's right in a nice downtown area. It's very clean, has lots of nice comforts (Internet, foosball, large screen TV), and feels very safe. There are families with children here, and senior citizens, but mostly young folks in their 20s. My biggest complaint is the size of the shower in our room. My feet are one foot long, so they are good for measuring things. I measured our shower at less than two by two feet. Imagine what happens when you drop your soap on the floor. I did that more than once!