Getting There

Arrived at O'Hare 30 minutes early on Wednesday only to be told that the flight is an hour late. So now, I have 3.5 - not 2 - hours to kill in the crappy international terminal. There is NOTHING once you go through security; all food, shopping etc. is on the outside. Sigh. Read 2 magazines and was able to lighten my load by throwing them out!

The flight finally boarded around 10:30 pm and we were off by 11 pm. Nice flight, got some decent sleep for a few hours. The transfer from T5 to T3 at Heathrow was super easy & quick; I'm dreading the reverse on the way back, which in my experience to date is a bit of a pain. Had a nice little chicken & mushroom pie for lunch while waiting for the flight to Barcelona. Left Heathrow about 30 minutes late, but otherwise the flight was fine - I slept through most of it!

Very easy to take the Aerobus from the Barcelona airport to the city center. It drops you at the square where the tourist information is, so I stopped in & bought a ticket for thr gourmet walk on Saturday. Then I hopped on the metro to the hotel's stop.

As I walked by the hotel, a gentleman asked me, "Ana's"? and I said yes. He turned out to be Ana's (the hotel owner) husband. Good thing I bumped into him, as there's no clear marking on he building! The guesthouse is adorable, several guestrooms in what used to be an apartment, I guess. Ana is sweet and very helpful.

After checking in and unpacking, I took Ana's suggestion for a walk to and down Passeig Gracia, a huge shopping street. I found the "Block of Discord," where the architecture of the individual buildings clash; the Gaudi building, Casa Battlo, reminded me of Vienna.

I was hungry! I started looking for something to eat, and ended up in a smalll restaurant near the hotel. I had a risotto with mushroom and "crunchy" ham that was delicious! I took their card in case I need to find it again; I could see they had tapas at the bar.

My tummy full, I realized I was exhausted. o I headed back to the hotel and went straight to bed. Need my rest for tomorrow's exploring!