Alright so to sum up round two of my time in Barcelona, I have to say the words ¨fun¨ and "naked" come to mind.
After a tiny caffuffle over which day Rob and his friends were arriving to Barcelona that left me spending a night politely turning down drinkfest invitations from 18yr old Australians and keeping an eye on the slightly dodgy older Bulgarian gentleman eyeing my bag when I could have been already hanging out with my friend Rob, I did eventually successfully meet up with him.
Now Rob is another exchange student from Australia I met in Halifax and he seems to take international gallivanting to a whole new level. Every time I email him, he´s somewhere unexpected. He was in Rome. Then back in Aus. Then doing a pPhD in Norway. Then in China. Then in Spain (where I could most easily catch up with him). And I have to say that after three years, he hasn´t changed too much.
I had some challenges finding the rental apartment he was staying in in the Gothic Quarter, a labyrinth of narrow alleys and signless locked doors. I definitely walked in two giant circles, leaving me very hot and sweaty, then buzzed the wrong apartment twice before success. Success in the form of Rob in his boxers having raced down three flights of stairs to let me in. And of course, since we needed bread for breakfast, we headed straight to the bakery, as is. No shoes, no shirt, no pants and then me with my backpack. A fairly comical picture for passersby to say the least. The bakery lady didn't bat an eyelash. After all, this is the city where the city beach has topless sunbathers at all hours of the day and a naked man rides his bicycle on Las Ramblas in the middle of the afternoon. Considering Barcelona is known to be a stylish city, I hadn't expected so much public nudity.
I passed a very fun three days with Rob and his friends. Highlights include lazing on La Barceloneta beach indulging in 5 Euro massages, taking a fancy cheese, figs and baguette picnic to the Font Magica night light show (just as good the second time!), and general mojito and sangria related merriment por las noches. We also did a Gaudi extravaganza, taking in Casa Battlo, La Pedrera, Sagrada Familia (sorry, I really didn't like it), and Parc Guell (I loved it!). I also enjoyed when the same salesman who tried to get Marie to buy a children's shirt plastered with profanities in Spanish tried to sell me more tourist crap, then recognized me and backed off in shame (I rebuked him more than a little on our last meeting).
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