Hola! Día Uno En Barcelona

You know, it sort of says something when, the moment we stepped out of the airport and took in cool European air of, what, less than 24 degrees, we go, "We're home!" We were immediately reminded of the first second (don't remember the first) time we stepped out of London Heathrow and took in that air.

Given that our first day in Barcelona happened to be on Sunday, and it being an European country where Sunday means shops are closed, the lot of us chose to take the sightseeing option of walking down Passeig de Gracia and taking in Gaudi's works first.

We've also been playing around a bit with our iTouch Maps. 'Course, the route they show are meant for driving.

Oh yes. The Metro so reminded us of the London Tube. Just as convenient, not as new and clean as Sporeland's MRT, altho' not as old and dark as the Tube. When we came out from the Passeig de Gracia metro station, it was cameras out and snapping at random buildings as we walked along Passeig de Gracia.

Not being able to identify all the buildings along Passeig de Gracia, we've called them by whatever brands we recognize on the buildings, like 'that Guess building' or 'that Lacoste building'.

To note were also the hexagonal tiles all along Passeig de Gracia. There were intricate patterns on them too.

The famous landmarks are pretty well known among tourists. As we reached Casa Batllo it was surrounded by people taking photos from all angles. Colourful walls, balconies that look like masks, we really wonder how it looked like inside. Sure, apartments, but if the design outside was one of a kind already we'd think the inside would be equally funky.

After Casa Batllo we headed for lunch - our first local meal. With the restaurant recommended by a colleague, the lot of us had trouble with the waitress until she asked us where were we from. Once she said she was from China, immediately our Sporeland colleague got along with her in Mandarin. Lunch consisted of tapas (bread and tomato, crab and seafood salad, preserved olives), four cheese pizza, and seafood paella.

Once full, it was onwards to La Pedrera. Also another apartment designed by Gaudi, this time a wavy design that reminded us of the sea.

From there it was the long trek to Sagrada Familia. Now if we were talking about walking in Sporeland, Bolehland or Bangkok for that kind of distance, with Metro stations near where we were and near our destination, we would have, without hesitation, jumped straight onto a train. But this was Europe in autumn!

Oh and we could also walk about taking more photos of random buildings on the way from Avda Diagonal till we reached Sagrada Familia.

Sagrada Familia is really, really different from your regular cathedrals. Our first impression? Marine Cathedral from Sailormoon S. Asides from that it's rare we see the words Sanctus on the cathedral walls, a massive overload of sculptures or statues depicting different scenes, even a Christmas tree with doves! Just too bad the iXus' battery was flat by that time, else we might have taken more detailed (as far as possible) pictures.

The lot of us headed back to the hotel after getting souvenirs from Sagrada Familia. Reason being, since we checked in at 11am, our rooms weren't ready and so we left our luggage with the porter while we went sightseeing. So at 4pm we headed back to check out our rooms, and by 5ish we were ready to head out for more. Our colleagues, however, remarked, "Still got energy?" so we left them and went out by ourself.

We started by dropping by Placa Catalunya to see the fountains, before heading to Hard Rock Cafe to check out souvenirs for sis, the HRC Tee Collector.

From there we headed down La Rambla. There were a flea market of sorts going on as it was the weekend. The entire stretch of La Rambla also had these newstands called Hola! Typical newstands selling souvenirs, postcards and magazines...including naughty magazines. And naughty DVDs. Not that we got any, innocent angel that we are.

From La Rambla it was down to our final target, Maremagnum. A shopping mall that's open on Sunday (as stated by our guidebook), plus it's at Port Vell. More sightseeing.

Just before reaching Rambla de Mar and Port Vell we were greeted by the Monument de Colom. Christopher Columbus atop the monument pointing...somewhere. Surrounded by lions.

We aim to walk down La Rambla and Rambla de Mar, in fact, all of Barcelona with the Chief one day.

After walking around Maremagnum we left at 9ish for dinner around La Rambla.

Then it was back to the hotel before ending Day One!