Beach and Views

Yesterday we went to the beach!! It was about 75 degrees here. We took the subway for about 10 minutes and we were at a marina. From there we took a little walk, maybe 15 minutes and we were at the beach. People were out there tanning and frolicking in the water. None of us has a bathing suit with us, but I did stick my feet in the water. We walked along the boardwalk, which is not chockfull of stores and arcades like say, Seaside Heights. There were a couple of shops and a few restaurants, but mostly it's empty. At one point while we were walking Gus and I saw an old white-haired man riding his bike on the sidewalk, not so odd, but he didn't have a shirt on, not so odd, and then we realized he didn't have any pants on!! Or shorts, or underwear, or bathing trunks, or speedos or anything!!! His little man was out for all the world to see!! Only in Barcelona. (Un?)fortunately I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of that.

We came back to the apartment to rest for a little, then Gus and I went back out to walk to a comic book store that was listed in my guide book. It was pretty big and they had a lot of graphic novels and stuff. You're almost spoiled for options. I saw a couple by a writer named Manu Larcenet, who I've read before, but had never seen this books available in the U.S. But I didn't buy anything. Gus and I walked by Barcelona's Arc de Triomf and through a park. Then we went and had a big beer in la Placa Reial and then went to the grocery and bought some food. At which point, I had to pee so badly there was almost an international incident. We saw lots of people buying Halloween costumes or overheard people talking about Halloween, so hopefully tonight there will be lots of great pictures of crazy outfits.

Some stats from yesterday...

Steps taken according to my pedometer 10298 (forgot to take it for our walk to the comic store)

Number of beers drunk 4

Today Gus and I went to Montjuic which is a hilly area in Barcelona at the sea's edge. There are some museums up there and a botanical garden. There are also very nice views of the city and the port. We took about 2 hours to walk up and we got to a nice place with outdoor tables where you could sit overlooking the sea and have a couple of beers. A trend I've noticed about restaurants and beer here--they only ever have one. We've been to at least a 1/2 dozen places and Gus always asks, "What beers do you have?" and they only ever have one beer. It's been different in each place, but it's only ever one. So we had a couple of beers and then made our way back down the hill.

We've been back at the apartment for a couple of hours and we are going to go out to dinner later and then try to see a flamenco show. I can hear people shouting and drums playing already, so I'm guessing tonight might be a bit of a party around here.