My adventure started at 4 am Pacific Time, when Super Shuttle picked me up.
I had breakfast at the airport. And that's, of course, expensive. I think SuperShuttle should offer to go through a drive-thru on the way to the airport.
From SFO to BCN: Stanley's embarrassment
On the flight to Philadelphia, I had an aisle seat and I was hoping no one would sit in the middle. One silver haired man arrived later and took the window seat. But no one in the middle seat.
After all the passengers boarded, one of the flight attendants came by and talked to the man. She said, "Stanley, there's room near the front now so you can sit with your wife." But Stanley was quiet for a long time, and people nearby started laughing and teasing him because he hesitated.
And he still took a long time to decide. Finally, he decided to go. So I had three seats all to myself. :)
On the flight to Barcelona, they had switched to a bigger plane, so there was a little commotion with several families trying to sit together as they had planned with the old plane. I was in one of the worst seats, in the middle of the 4-seat middle column. When we took off (after a delay with software that required a reboot and a long takeoff line), a lady joined me in my row, but she later moved to be with her family in the row behind me, so I had all 4 seats to myself.
We arrived on time (08:45) at Barcelona anyway, but I got delayed. I found the place to get my Barcelona Card (almost inadvertently) and the young woman pointed me to the ATM, but I tried twice and also another ATM, but I kept getting "Unauthorized Transaction". (Later, after getting to the hotel and calling US Bank via Skype, they told me that, even though I already warned them on Monday that I'd be in Spain, they still flag and block my account for potential fraud. So what's the point of calling ahead?!?)
The nice young man at the information booth helped me look for my AeroCity ride. Apparently, they're supposed to wait for me with a placard near the exit. But I wasn't looking because I thought they'd have the same process as SuperShuttle. Then he said, if I don't find the driver, I could go downstairs and see if their counter was open. If not, I should take the bus shuttle to Terminal 2 because their counter is almost always open there. I ended up doing everything he told me.
Then I had to walk the entire span of Terminal 2 because the sign was small and it was in the farther aisle. The kid at the counter was either distracted or disorganized. It took him a while to check me in. Several more people arrived. It was already 11:00 when the driver arrived and even he seemed impatient with how slow the kid was moving.
Some people were already in the shuttle and I sat next to a very friendly lady with a southern accent. She said that she and her friend met up at JFK in NY, and they both got sick from something on the plane.
At one point, while we were stuck in traffic, the driver turned toward us and simply said "Gaudi" and I realized that one of Gaudi's buildings was immediately to our left.
It turned out that our driver was actually nice and sweet and a little shy. I was the last one he dropped off and he pointed out some sights on the way, including the Cathedral, which is different from the Sagrada Familia. Then I mentioned that I want to see the one in Cordoba, and he mentioned that he was married there. The whole conversation was in Spanish. Well, broken on my part. ;)
Pension Segre
The front door was locked at Pension Segre. There was a panel where the residents were listed and you rang the bell for that apartment, just like in the US. An older woman in all white called out to me from a balcony where a "PENSION" sign hung. I couldn't understand what she was saying. I shouted up, "Tengo reservaciones." Then she said something else and later she called out again from the balcony saying something about "la puerta", so I pushed the door and it opened. I heard the buzz when I entered; you couldn't hear it from the outside.The woman from the balcony turned out to be the cleaning lady. She said the clerk was at lunch and would be back at 14:00 or 14:30. She was very nice and tried to get me comfortable while I waited. I joined her at the balcony while she smoked and I took pictures meanwhile. We talked about the restaurant downstairs across the alley. (We were at the intersection of two one-land alleys.) She said they had good food but expensive. She motioned toward the cross street and said there were more restaurants along that way.
Pension Segre looks like it occupies two of the floors. And, although the bathrooms are shared, there were more than I expected. I had my private sink in my room too, which is nice.It looks like business is slow, maybe because it's past the busy tourist season. I didn't see other guests, but I later saw light under the door of my neighboring room and I heard noises from the other neighbor.
The building is old, but clean. The water tank for the toilet is near the ceiling and you had to pull a string. There's only one power outlet in my room and it's halfway up the wall, so it looks like it was added on after the building was built, which was probably while the Philippines was still under Spanish rule.
Scouting the neighborhood: La Rambla
More pictures in Smugmug.
After a rest and the call to US Bank, I dropped off my key and headed in the direction that the cleaning lady pointed to. The clerk had said that there were several banks on La Rambla, and I thought it would be a long walk, but it was only a few blocks away.
I saw a very tall monument similar to the one that was at the Barcelona de Oeste sim in Second Life. I don't know which plaza it was. I turned right on La Rambla.
I found several ATM machines and choose one that was off to a corner, so nobody was nearby to look over my shoulder.
Then I started walking at the center (pedestrian only) lane. Because I was starving, I made the mistake of agreeing to sit at one of the outdoor makeshift restaurants under tents. The calamari was good and probably reasonable, if a bit expensive, at more than 10€, but the large glass of iced tea at more than 9€ was highway robbery.
I turned around near a church and took pictures on the return walk. Did some groceries at one of the supermercat, that are actually smaller than a typical 7-11. All the shops are small compared to the ones in the US. It looks like it's a city of mom-and-pop businesses, which is awesome. Maybe it's just this part of Barcelona. I'll know more after six days. :)Showered and went to bed around 1900 because my body refused to move anymore. Woke up a little after midnight, ate some of the grapes and pastries I got from the supermercat, and started uploading pictures and writing this blog.
Going back to sleep for a few more hours.
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