August 21, 2010
Saturday (this day about which I am now trying very hard to remember the details) was A's (the A who lives in Barcelona permanently) birthday eve, and the day where most of the celebration took place.
It began with a walk over to A and E's current rented apartment, some food and drink there, and then a walk to their new apartment they have recently purchased and are in the process of renovating, painting. I couldn´t help but be too impressed by the fact that they were actually doing the work themselves rather than hiring someone else. From here, the metro to the Arc de Triumf, built in 1888, down a very sunny boulevard, into the Parc de la Ciutadella, Barcelona's largest park.
I ate an ice cream sandwich, we found a shady place to stop (I at this point had no idea what would happen next -- no one was giving me any clues), and the Finnish people pulled out this box full of wooden cylinders numbered 1 to 12, along with a 13th, unnumbered cylinder. We spent the next half an hour to 45 minutes playing a Finnish game that involved throwing the larger unnumbered cylinder at the other 12, scoring points based on either the number of cylinders knocked over, or the number on the cylinder knocked over (if only one was hit). I was not very good at this game (duh, it involved aim and coordination), but I liked it.
Around this time we heard a police siren and commotion -- a pickpocket had been chased through the park, once cornered the pickpocket had threatened the police with a bicycle lock and then finally having been captured was beaten on the head by the police.
From here a walk to the Born neighborhood, near the Santa Maria Del Mar church (one of my most distinctly remembered memories of previous trips to Barcelona), had some Rose Cava in a nearby bar, and then desserts at Bubo, which in 2005 had won an award for best chocolate cake in the world. Some more walking around Barcelona (overheard a girl talk about how she had been pickpocketed -- this made me nervous), stopped for ice cream, and then stopped for a few hours for a nap.
Went out to dinner for A's birthday at a Southeastern French style restaurant which, like all the other restaurants in Barcelona, was excellent. Lobster gazpacho, duck steak, chocolate mousse dessert, cava, everything really delicious, but filling.
This was followed by a bar where all of A´s friends in Barcelona showed up, pictures of lions and other African wildlife on the walls.
Queen -- Barcelona
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