October is nearly six months past, but it’s still very much worth remembering.  In the interim period, we’ve also been very busy with holidays and relocating – all things I will share with you in future posts.  Meanwhile, back to October 2021, when we welcomed our very first international, overnight guest in 2.5 years and rediscovered Barcelona in ways we never have over the years we have lived here.  

There’s something exciting and fun about welcoming visitors.  You get to show off your town just a little bit and in exchange, you get to experience their delightful discoveries and unique perspectives on sights to which you’ve grown accustomed or possibly never even noticed.  You get to share familiar places and even explore new ones with someone different.  It’s the novelty of that individual living in your space and sharing your life – just for a moment – that really makes the entire experience so precious.  Right?  To me, having a guest is a little like Christmas morning.  I get to savor the process of my family waking to open presents that are a surprise for them but not for me, and I enjoy their pleasure at these discoveries almost as much as they do.  We laugh together, we eat together, we play together, and ultimately, we share a special experience that we will cherish forever.  

Barb arrived around 10am on 12 October 2021.  I took the subway and met her at the airport while the rest of the family slept in and had a late breakfast.  After an excited “OHMYGODITSSOGREATTOSEEYOU!” and a brief discussion about her flight, we made our way back to the apartment to drop off luggage and get this visit properly started!  You really don’t accomplish much on your first day of travel, right?  Particularly when you’ve been traveling for 13+ hours across oceans and continents. We did make it downtown to La Rambla and did a fair amount of walking and riding the subway trains before Barb finally called it a day.  She’s a seasoned traveler so she knew that the best way to deal with jet lag is to force yourself to adapt to the new schedule ASAP.  Thus, we started day 2 with a bang!  We took the train up the mountain, literally hiked through the woods to catch a bus, and schlepped our way to Tibidabo.  Happily, the funicular, which had previously been out of service for repairs and unable for Mom, Allita and I to utilize, was now fully functional.  Yay! For the first time, I was able to finally experience that particular ride down the hillside.  Barb and I then hiked another considerable distance through the city and back to the apartment – stopping only for the occasional photo and, of course, pizza at Crepe Nova (we had to eat lunch, right?).  All-in-all, it was a long day and even though I’ve made that trip previously, I’d never gone that particular route so the whole experience was brand new for me – just like it was for Barb.

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Barb stayed for exactly 14 days.  Yes, it was a nice long visit.  With that in mind, I won’t go into horrendous detail about each day of her visit, but suffice it to say, we all enjoyed every single moment.  We toured the neighborhood, shopped at grocery stores, rode the train and various busses, and even revisited a number of places we’d already seen.  This time, however, we got to see them through Barb’s eyes, which made the experience completely different.  Also, on the days when Barb explored the city mostly on her own, she would return to the apartment and regale us with her adventures and beautiful photographs (some of which I have included in this blog post).   

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On Friday, Allita and I joined Barb in a tour of Antoni Gaudi’s Casa Mila, locally known as La Pedrera.  We’d seen the outside of this building many times over the last years as we walked Passeig de Gràcia, but we had never entered or toured it.  I’m not entirely sure we even would have if Barb had not expressed a specific interest.  Afterwards, we all enjoyed a quick break at a nearby favorite restaurant (Otto Sylt). 

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Later that same evening, Barb and I took the Renfre train from Barcelona to Sitges.  I had never visited Sitges, although I had taken that specific train many times back and forth to Castelldefels.  Why did we go to Sitges?  To see Zombies dance, of course!  Another experience I probably would never have had without Barb to motivate me and another memory I will absolutely treasure.  

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On Sunday, all four of us shared a walking tour of the Barcelona city gardens – at Mom’s request, because she’d recently discovered the magnificent water fountains in these gardens were designed by Antoni Gaudi and absolutely worth a visit.  The weather was lovely and perfect for walking so we made our way past the Arc de Triomf and Castel dels tres dracs through the gardens to El Born Centre de Cultura i Memòria, (the first archaeological remains of the city of Barcelona dating back to the Roman era).  After a brief tour through the medieval streets, we wandered through the Gothic neighborhood streets passing some lovely buildings, churches, street lights, and sculptures along the way.  We finished with a walk-by of Casa Calvert, another Gaudi house in town.  Again, this was all brand new to each one of us and we all loved discovering more of Barcelona.  Later, we would be thankful for that day spent walking around the twisted network of narrow, old streets because we had a mental map of the museums (Picasso, Chocolate, Egyptian, etc.) in that area, which Barb would eventually visit.  

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One of my very favorite excursions was the day Allita and I spent with Barb in Poble Espanyol (Spanish town), which is literally an outdoor, architectural museum consisting of 100+ buildings designed to represent nearly every single region in Spain and made to appear as one single town all joined together by narrow, winding pathways. The whole place was decorated for Halloween and there were so many activities ongoing at the time that we really got into the spirit.  We even took a moment for a quick break, coffee and a snack, during which time a puppet show in the nearby theater entertained us.  From there, we walked to the Font màgica de Montjuïc (magic fountain of Montjuic) right in front of the Palau Nacional (National Palace) which now houses MNAC – Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya – (National Art Museum of Catalonia), one of Spain’s largest museums.  We enjoyed the ever-evolving water works from the pedestrian bridge spanning Av. de Ruins i Taulet right at the end of the famous Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina.  Then we made our way to Mom’s favorite place in Barcelona, Plaça d’Espanya, and eventually back home.  

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That wasn’t our only trip to that area either.  Barb toured Montjuic one morning while Mom and I took the bus from Plaça d’Espanya all the way up to the top to meet her.  This was a bus ride I had wanted to take so I was very excited to finally have a reason.  Mom and I kept our eyes glued to the windows, enjoying the views as the bus slowly twisted its way uphill.  We met Barb and immediately made our way back down the hillside on foot, wandering through the Olympic village and stadium, passing the Botanical gardens, and winding through the many pathways in the Jardins de Joan Maragall (formal gardens) and Jardins de Laribal (estate gardens) surrounding MNAC.  Neither Mom nor I had ever explored these gardens in any real detail so this was yet another unique and pleasurable experience for us.  

One morning before school started, Allita and Barb took the subway to the Museu de Cera de Barcelona (Wax museum) on La Rambla and spent some hours exploring the exhibits.  

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One Sunday, Allita and I took Barb by bus to our favorite beach in Castelldefels and eventually we all walked back into town to visit the main square, enjoy a savory snack, and take the Renfre home.  

All-in-all, the pleasurable experience of reliving the sights of the city where you live through the eyes of a tourist, who is also a friend, can not be over-valued.  There was so much to see and do that we were busy almost constantly the entire two weeks.  In the end, we were all sad to see Barb leave.  Even Toby had grown accustomed to her presence in the house and looked for her more than once.  It seemed so much quieter, slower-paced and duller without her.  Christmas afternoon – presents opened and gift-wrap debris removed, breakfast devoured and dished washed, phone calls to far-away friends and family made – we settled back into our usual routine – smiling now and then at our new treasures and warm memories.  

P.S. If you want to see more photos from this trip, Barb has a zillion. She is a really talented photographer – she has an eye for what makes a good picture.  In fact, Mom and I both decided that some of Barb’s photos would go into our “Barcelona” album because they were so much better than our photos of the same places.