Jason's Daily Notes

We took the tube to Liverpool Street, and then learned that the Stansted Express (train) was not running due to track work being carried out. So, instead we had to take a replacement bus, which cost the same as the train ticket! Mom slept a bit on the bus ride. We got to Stansted with plenty of time to spare. Our flight wasn't until 1pm. We got through security (they no longer give out the free plastic bags for the liquids in your hand baggage) quickly then got some food at Frankie & Benny's. Our server was from Venezuela and very friendly (but not very quick). 

The flight was pretty uneventful; we had seats at the front of the plane (with me at the window seat - yes!), though there were plenty of empty seats. There wasn't much to look at outside as we flew; it was all cloudy over England and France. So I continued reading On the Road. I might have dozed off for a few minutes too. Anyway, shortly before landing, as the plane flew over the Pyrenees, the clouds cleared away to reveal a beautiful sunny sky over Spain. Below, the coastline and hillsides glowed in the afternoon sunlight.

The plane landed, and we disembarked onto a bus that drove us into the airport. I think our flight was the only one that arrived the whole afternoon - the airport was nearly deserted! Going through immigration was quick (the guy stamped one of the additional pages in my passport!) and soon we were outside in the warm afternoon sun. It felt good. I figured out that the cheapest way into the city was with the train. I figured out where the train station was, about a 5-10 minute walk over a disused bridgeway. I was trying to figure out how to buy tickets when an attendant came by and did it for me :/ but he was really friendly :) and I got to practice my Spanish. The train came soon, and it whisked us away into the city center quickly.

We alighted at Passeig de Gracia, and from there had to walk (following the green line) above ground to the Metro station. I bought us each a 4-day ticket. Metro L4 took us to our stop, which was only 1.5 blocks from our hotel. We checked into the hotel, which is a modern high-rise, and settled in.

I looked up places to go for dinner, and it looked like a lot of restaurants were in the area of Barceloneta. We headed there, and alighting from the metro there were a lot of families with children wearing blue crowns. I had read that in this part of the world, they celebrate a second Christmas of sorts on the 6th of January, the festival of the Three Kings. So this must have been some soft of parade/fiesta de Tres Reyes. 

We walked down the street to L'Arroz, the highly-rated restaurant I had chosen. We were seated; it was nearly empty. Only 2 other tables (out of maybe 50) were occupied. (But it looks normal; I guess Barcelona is just less crowded than London, especially in January.) Our server turned out to be Filipino! Her name was Rachel, and she was excited to talk with us. We learned a lot about the Filipino expat community in Barcelona/Spain (which we would soon discover is pretty prevalent). The dinner itself - paella - was great. I had paella with scallops. We washed it down with a bottle of cava. Rachel treated us to a dessert plate on the house :) 

Tired, we retreated back to the hotel. The air had chilled substantially.