Today is Saturday...what a day to be in this city. Everyone is out, walking around and shopping. The city is more crowded than I have seen it yet. I have one word..SCOOTER...they're everywhere and they drive crazy...weaving in and out of traffic at around 50mph. Some of us guys talked about renting them before we even stepped foot in this country however I am sticking to my legs and mass public transit to get me where I want to go....LOL. Yesterday I went to the beach and when they say clothing optional...they really mean it. This was a culture shock...you always hear about it but don't expect to see it...then it's right infront of you....I just looked down at the sand and kept walking...I didn't even feel comfortable knowing there was that much exposure around me. The beach however was awesome...the water was freezing and sun was out but it wasn't hot out...I would guess around 80 degrees. It was quite nice. There are a group of Spaniards that sell beer on the beach so I bought two and sat right there in the sand and listened to a couple of guys playing guitar and singing. One of the guys was from New Zealand the other from London. I talked life in Europe with them for a bit and the conversation was eye opening. They were both students and they were explaining to me that they had just came from a 4 day cruise through paris and were staying in Spain for 4 days as well. They went on to tell me that they were going to visit about 6-10 more countries during their break from school. I was very envious of them. I wish I had an opportunity to travle through different countries with such ease. A weekend on holiday for a European is traveling to a different country...very cool!
Most of the morning today I traveled by foot through the city and took lots of pictures and did some shopping. Of course I got the foolish touristy shirts for family members and friends. i.e....for my sister "my brother went all the way to spain and all he brought me was this lousy shirt"...it's more of a joke than anything but I think it's hilarious.
Okay another thing that I find very, well, I don't know the word but let me explain. All over the city there are groups of men and women that sell replica goods, i.e. fake designer sunglasses, fake designer shoes..etc...small items. They lay these items out on a sheet and attached to each corner is a series of ropes knotted together and tied to the wrist of the seller. At any sign of trouble (the policia) these merchants yank the rope and the sheet closes up at the blink of an eye...the merhant slings the bundle over his shoulder and blends into the crowd before even the observant eye can process what just took place. I also saw a guy on the street playing three card monty...over and over he kept taking people's money and again and again the people kept playing. From what I could tell, mostly addictive gamblers, from the way they kept reaching in their pocket, directly to the cash like it was habbit, a trained response to losing. The monty dealer quickly collapsed his cardboard box table and was off in the crowd as if something spooked him, suddenly out of know where there were the police...again the monty dealer vanished and wasn't to be seen again. Its almost like these locals have a sixth sense of when to move and when they were being watched. It appears these offenses arent taken too seriously by the police and I believe the disappearing act by the merchants and monty dealers is all part of the attraction.
Lastly today I saw a street show of break dancers...this was very cool!!! Especially for me if anyone was present and my recent graduation!! LOL!!
Stay tuned as today is my last day in Barcelona, off to Madrid bright and early tomorrow morning!
No comments:
Post a Comment