Barcelona in the summer is just what you might imagine – tourists, tourists, tourists – all in search of the coolest beach, the perfect snapshot of the Sagrada Familia stained glass windows, the most sumptuous tapas, and the best plaza table to survey the never-ending parade of international characters and hear the cacophony of languages. While here for only a week now, I can honestly see why by August the locals flee for “anywhere but here”…it’s very warm (I am NOT complaining), and many of the most interesting parts of the city are congested with the sounds of map-folding, camera-clicking, and multi-lingual conversations between people trying to understand each other. If I sound jaded already, I am absolutely not so. I am just observing the order of things as we have literally dropped ourselves into this new space/time continuum. I am actually enjoying sort of “going to my happy place” and being an observer of the dynamics, knowing that, in fact, once the summer ends I get to stay in this colorful city and explore more fully when the rest of the crowd go back home to start their next cycle of origin life…it feels almost sneaky – and special.

I spent a good part of the day today touring some must-see sights with Ruthie and her BFFs (Renee and Lauren). We toured the Sagrada Familia which I had seen from the outside in December but never braved the lines to get the inside scoop. We ordered tickets online this time and the girls rallied to get up and out mid-morning – it was well worth it. In December, when we rounded a corner on a tourist bus and saw this edifice for the first time, we named it the “Oh Sh*t” church – absolutely not meaning any disrespect! It is so breathtakingly strange and fantastical from the outside that was truly what we uttered when we saw it. You will have to read up on the history to get your head around why this never ending work-in-progress captures everyone’s imagination, but seeing the inside today just blew me away. Stained glass panels hundreds of feet high…an organ that must be 100 feet tall and half the length of a football field…stylized stone depiction of the disciples and the crucifixtion…all in Antoni Gaudi’s incredibly unique, fluid, breathtaking style.

Next we hopped onto the Metro (the awesome subway system that really can get you quickly and efficiently to most areas of the city) and headed to Park Guell – a magnificent municipal park that showcases Gaudi’s mosaics and love of natural formations in a wonderland of walking trails, patios overlooking the city, fountains, picnic areas, and decorative enclosures. You can literally walk around with your mouth open at the fantasy of it all.

I’ve been sort of burning the candle at both ends so aftyer a quick lunch I sent the girls off on their own to explore Mt Tibidabo and the amusement park at the top of that scenic spot, and I headed home for what turned out to be a much needed siesta. As we get into a more normal routine (is there such a thing for us???) I realize that we will need to exit “tourist mode” and enter “living locally” mode – which for us will mean not getting up very early for the requisite gym time and pushing activities of daily living back about 3 – 4 hours so that by 7pm when the West Coast of the US is just getting started we are not falling asleep in our paella. Virtual work will be a real shift in our rhythms. We will also have to pace ourselves with the amount and frequency of full-on touring with guests. We ABSOLUTELY cannot wait for all our dear friends and family to come share this adventure with us, but we will have to develop our “Go see this and that” list where we don’t tag along always…it will be selective participation with shared sangria and tapas at the end to debrief.

Hasta luego…