Barcelona - The first day, part 1

Arriving in Barcelona was made more surreal by the fact that HS and I had been flying for half the day. We wandered around the madly crowded airport looking for MB and Saa and got promptly distracted by the fact that dogs of all shapes and sizes were allowed into the airport to welcome their masters home with wagging tails.

We finally found Saa and MB without much trouble and couldn't stop grinning and giggling as we tumbled into a cab and MB read out Sameer Bhaiya's address in Spanish - the first of many times we were to make use of that talent.

I couldn't stop smiling in the taxi, even as I stared out the windows at the Mediterranean vegetation and quaint, European architecture. I'm actually in Europe, my mind screamed dizzily.
We pulled up across from Sameer Bhaiya's place and when we attacked the intercom, Kim told us to come on up. To my delight, "come on up" meant riding in an old school lift with a folding metal gate and squeaky wooden doors with frosted over glass panels. It was quite a feat, fitting our luggage and four of us into the creaking elevator, complete with a red vinyl bench.

We rode up and down in the lift many times after that, and got piling in and out down to an art - so much so that we started timing ourselves and getting faster and faster. (It involved some zany Marx Brothers routine of MB climbing in and squishing herself over the bench while I closed the doors on one side, we jabbed frantically at the buttons and Saa flung open the doors on the other side so we could all barrel out.)

When we got upstairs, we finally met Kim and loved her at once. It was clear that she and Sameer Bhaiya loved having visitors and had prepared a whole host of guides, tours and maps of the Barcelona. Despite being jetlagged, she sat down and told us about all the things we could do and showed us routes on a map before bringing us to her favourite Tapas place for lunch.

We sat down to eat and Kim headed off to meet her boss, or so we thought, because when I looked up from the table, she was back in the restaurant, making suspicious looking gestures to the waiter.

"Oh, no, I hope she's not doing any sneaky business," said MB, as Kim came striding out, smiling cheerily.

She grinned at us, waved and called over her shoulder: "You better order something nice!"

She had actually given the waiter 50 euro so that we could order anything we wanted for lunch!!

She was doing sneaky business! It was amazing of her, and made us feel warm, welcome and loved all at once.

We ordered grilled vegetables, manchego cheese and bread and squid, grilled firm and laced with piquant herbs and lemon and even little fish, fried to crispy silver curls. HS leaned back in his chair under the umbrella and tree leaves, piece of tomato-rubbed bread in his hand and grinned at me.

"I finally feel like I'm in Spain," he said.

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Places we went on our walk after lunch:

We took a lovely walk down La Rambla, the central pedestrian street in Barcelona, lined with shady trees, street performers and even people selling pets. I gripped my bag in sweaty fervour, remembering tales of pickpockets and thieves, but the sunshine was too bold and lovely to make us too paranoid for long.

This building, covered in dragons and Chinese fans and umbrellas was just one of the quirky examples of architecture we saw on the way. Bee-tee-double-you, the sky in Barcelona really IS that blue. Apparently it only rains 23 days out of every year or something.

A famous theatra and opera house, which was, unfortunately, closed.

A tree with pretty, camouflage-like bark (Chip, too, has a pretty bark, but it's not like camouflage. Har-hardee-har).

Our first destination - the famous and wildly popular market of Barcelona - La Boqueria. Just the entrance alone made me excited enough to want to pee my pants.

Stalls inside sold heaps of things in rainbow arrays. They have a way of artfully arranging things in pretty, colourful mounds that just makes you want to touch and eat and try things - this gigantic pile of sweets absolutely reeked of sugar. I could feel the fillings in my teeth (if you're interested, I think I have four) starting to squeak. We ended up heading for the centre of the market and trying one euro fruit juices instead. Mine, mixed coconut and strawberry, was sweet, rich and cold.

Ditto piles of seafood.

I also loved the fact that there was a bar in the middle of the market and people could come and gather at the counter to drink and talk amid hanging slabs of meat and whirring fruit juicers.

We moved on with our walk and passed a pretty little chocolate place. I had been dying to try European chocolate (I ate my way though French, Spanish and English chocolate throughout the trip) so we ducked inside to watch the girls arrange things behind a glass pane. Saa treated us each to a slice of candied orange, a lovely, sticky little golden sun dipped in dark chocolate that made my fingers delightfully sugary.