Barcelona Travelogue - Day 1, Dec. 23

Ceil and I have a running debate about the intention and character of this blog: I assert that no one really cares where we ate lunch, or how many museums we saw – instead, folks want to hear funny stories and self-deprecating anecdotes about our personal experiences and discoveries; Ceil is confident that folks are indeed interested in hearing about the things we’ve seen, the places we’ve gone, the food we’ve eaten.

And the answer, as always, is probably yes, and…

So here’s my take on a travelogue review of our time in Barcelona:

Day 1, Dec. 23: Drive South

It’s a 7-½ hour drive from Chateauroux to Barcelona, and despite our fears, the kids held up surprisingly well. It was great to watch the landscape change as we moved from Central France to the Mediterranean, though we were fog-bound for at least three hours of the trip.

The GPS system offers little assistance once we leave France, so we had to resort to following maps and directions printed from the Internet. A polite way to describe our arrival into Barcelona might be: a thorough tour of the various neighborhoods and ghettos on the outskirts of town, followed by a fascinating, adrenaline-pumping introduction to the driving habits and traffic laws of down-town Barcelona.

Found our place, unpacked and stumbled out in search of dinner. We were rewarded with the discovery of a small restaurant serving tapas – a staple for the remainder of our visit.