Barcelona, September 18-20, 2019

In my ten or so years as a college student, I always thought getting through registration was the hardest part, and if I could just get through all those lines, and put the right numbers and names into boxes, I could make it through the coursework. Flying to Europe to walk a Camino is a bit like that. Getting here may be the hardest, and certainly most boring part.

I’m looking forward to three days from now, when we will start walking, just putting one foot in front of another, when all we’ll have to worry about is finding a place to sleep and something to eat. And maybe whether we are lost, and whether our bodies will hold up.

Thé Hostal Central is friendly, clean, comfortable, and well- located, although the room and bathroom are very small, We have enjoyed exploring several neighborhoods, and attending a Flamenco performance in the fabulous Art Deco Palau de la Musica.

We survived the trans-Atlantic flight, getting searched and wanded at Heathrow, and Surviving long lines in several places, including the taxi queue in Barcelona, but now we are here.

Despite its being a bit crowded with tourists— we could hardly walk around the outside of the Sagrada Familia, let alone get tickets to get in — and despite walking nearly 10 miles today, partly due to a few wrong turns, we have enjoyed our short time in Barcelona.

We did get lots of great looks at the imagery on the outside of the Sagrada Familia. I thought Gaudi must have had a wonderful time dreaming all that stuff up. I was able to capture some with the zoom on my camera.

During a Happy Hour break (2 pints for 6 Euros) in the back of a bar, we watched music videos, which had me thinking that in my next life I’d like to be a music video creator. If only I could hear the words— maybe some come with closed captions? Most were from the US, I think—Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Justin Bieber (Canadian)— but one was Japanese.

Tomorrow afternoon we are off to Arles, from where we will start to walk.