France and Barcelona 2016: Barcelona: La Rambla

Our second full day in Barcelona was the most hectic. It started with a trip to Gaudi's Sagrada Famila. We were going to visit Palau De Musica in the afternoon, but we wanted to have lunch first. We got off the metro at The Palau, but we walked down Pau Claris past Placa d'Antoni Maura where the street becomes Via Laietana to find a restaurant. We thought we would visit the nearby Museu Picasso and head back to The Palau.

On Princesa Street, we entered an old establishment called Restaurante Nervion; the best tapas of our trip! We had four cazuelita, Leona had a mojito, and I had a pina colada. It was where I saw, on Facebook, that Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, had passed away. He was one of my musical heroes.I raised my glass to toast and got lost in his memory.

After lunch, we decided we didn't want to visit the Picasso Museum, after all. We should have gone back to The Palau, but I was distracted. This is where we ended up: Jaume I, the no-vehicle street where we got our ceramic wall clock, Renna's candle holder gift, and where we got lost. Getting lost can be fun, however, if you live in the moment with the one you love. We ended up fine.

We happened on Placa Relal through an arched entranceon Ferran, the extension of Jaume I, which was the extension of Princesa; go figure. There is where I took a break and tried to figure out where we were going.

I may look comfortable here but actually I was on cloud nine.

We didn't know we happened onto La Rambla where
we met all sorts of strange creatures.

While I was being abducted by this alien, I knew there was Gaudi's Palau Guell nearby, as I looked on the wrong map, and Leona kept saying we should go back to The Palau de Musica. It was nip and tuck for a while.

We didn't realize that, at the end of La Rambla, we had stumbled upon Colom in Plaza Del Portal de la Pau near Port Barcelona.

The building on the right is the Museu Maritim, but we didn't care; we just wanted to get back on the metro and find the friggin' Palau De La Musica!

By the time we found our way back to the Palau, it was 3:00 pm; We missed the last tour. Disappointed and upset, we got back on the metro to return to our hotel room to rest and regroup. We had a date with flamenco dancers later that evening.

Here I am, at Restaurante La Rambla, enjoying dinner with my lovely wife, explaining how we were abducted earlier in the day and returned to this same spot on La Rambla, right near Tablao Flamenco Cordobes, our evening date. "It was Picasso's fault!"