Barcelona

We arrived at the port of Barcelona at 7am backing into our berth below Montjuic mountain, the home of the 92 Olympics. After breakfast in the dining room, we caught a local shuttle bus ($6USeach way each) for the 5 minute (advertised as 5 miles ) run to the World Trade center. From there, we walked up La Rambla exploring the little kiosks full of souvenirs, trinkets, flowers and seeds. PEggy bought two more tea towels. THe weather was a perfect fall day, 68 degrees with bright sun an blue skies, a big departure from the storm yesterday (we learned today that the same storm hit Monterosso, one of hte towns in Cinque terre, Italy, killing 9 with more than 30 souls still missing).

As we reached the top of La Rambla, about 1 KM from the start, we decided to board the HOHO bus for a 2 hour circuit of Barcelona. It is easily one of hte cleanest and best laid out cities we have every been in. The main roads are wide boulevards with separate lanes for scooters and bicycles. The city council is promoting the use of bicycles by installing clusters of bike stands with generic 'loaner' bikes for residnents to use for a fixed annual fee. One can get a bicyle in one location and drop it off at their destination. It is a greaty system. WE saw the Olympic stadium from 1992 whch was part of the 1928 worlds fair that ywas held here as well as the 100,000 seat Barco football stadium for the city's soccer team and rabid soccer fans.