finding ourselves in barcelona

Spain is a country that makes it easy to relax. One is obliged to pose the question: Do people work here? I mean, they must, because everything is open and everyone is tending to his or her shop, but it doesn't take long to realize that each and every venue is open (and open late) to facilitate the enjoyment of life. Perhaps I've managed to avoid the business districts and corporate headquarters, because my eyes have surveyed only street entertainers, corner restaurants, patio cafes, backstreet bars, local markets, and picturesque parks. What's more, my heart and soul have surrendered to slowing down, stopping by, and just being instead of doing. In that time, I ask bigger questions and think deeper thoughts, and then, suddenly, I begin to believe that I have all the answers I need. Yes, I think I'll just remain in such a state of bliss for a little while longer, then tomorrow night we'll leave for France to meet up with my dad, and French people will start getting snooty at me for being an American, and I'll get frustrated too, and I'll forget all my life answers.

cheers and tears: granada, spain!

we rolled into granada on our high flying overnight bus ride, and crossed our fingers as we arrived to our "completely booked" hotel. she shook her head. we were nervous. she apologized for not having our room available... instead she offered us a key to a suite!!! she upgraded us!!! trying to compose ourselves, we giggled the whole way up to our grand suite. we could have invited a host of elephants, that's how much room we had. the enormous balcony, the bed, the two person jet bathtub, all of it... rocked!!! it took a lot to get us out of that room, and back onto the granada streets, exploring again. we explored; and we discovered a charming little spanish-arab town. the pride of this town is their 9th century Moorish (arab) palace, the Alhambra. like joe had mentioned, smart people get tickets in advance, not so smart people (like us), wake up really early and get in a line, hoping to be one of the lucky ones. that's exactly what we did the next day. we were prepared; we had a plan. we arranged for a 5:30am wake up call, and a 6:15am taxi to the Alhambra, ready to wait in line until the office opened at 8:30am. everything was set, until, instead of a wake up call, we got a call, "your taxi is here." the hotel had forgotten to write down our wake up call, and that's when our perfect plan began to unravel. we rushed rushed down to the taxi, only to be greeted by a waiting meter of $16. at 6:40am, our taxi delivered us to an Alhambra ticket office that held a crowd of people 2 football fields long. miserable. we climbed into our spot, and in the darkness of morning, we waited. anxiously, we waited, as the remaining 600 tickets could be sold out at any time! we could not believe how the story unfolded. it was 9:20am when the moment came, and we realized we were lucky number 601. not good folks. the guy right in front of us bought the very last ticket!!! ahhhhh.... the misery. we wallowed for some time, and then tried to gear up for their consolation prize... the Alhambra gardens. no one comes to granada just to see the gardens, but we did. :) in the end, we had to make the most of it. later in the day we found a market and treated ourselves to a sweet bottle of cheap sparkling wine and a bag of 10 plastic cups. as we sat at the foot of this fountain in a busy little square, we filled our two glasses to the rim and toasted to spain and all that lies ahead... including another overnight bus ride to barcelona!