Day 2: Montserrat and more

bill here. it's after 2am and i think the worst of the jet lag is over. we passed out for like 1.5 hours before dinner, but otherwise the day was enjoyable. apparently weather.com cannot predict european weather patterns with any degree of certainty. we got up this morning expecting rain (80%) and didn't see a drop. that'll teach us to haul around umbrellas and ponchos. sigh. things turned out to be a perfect 65-75 degrees with a nice breeze.

we started out the day heading up to Montserrat. it's a monestary tucked into a small mountain range about an hour north of Barcelona. it's basically known for the black madonna, a statue people claimed made miracles. now how they made this place centuries ago still perplexes me. to get there, we took barcelona's subway, the Metro, a few stops west to Espana where we caught another train that took us up to Montserrat. We then bought a package deal (round-trip train up north + aeri (suspended gondola)) for 13,20 euros a person. About 50 minutes later we arrived at the base of a mountain range. can you see montserrat?









check out the upper right of the middle crevice...


...yeah, pretty cool stuff. so was the suspended gondola ride and the view going up.

after a few hours of touring around and enjoying some chocolate and custard filled croissants (those monks sure can bake!) we decided to head back to the big city. people should be aware that the trains up to montserrat only run once an hour and the gondola stops running from like 1130 to 2pm. views from the top...











us at the top...










st. ignatius for all of you crazy clevelanders...











once we got back, and had a late afternoon siesta, the rest of the day was spent exploring more of the gothic quarter and eating well. we had two dinners to say the least. one on american time, 7pm, and one on barcelona time, 10pm. it's amazing to see a city that's 2 millenia old - and in such good shape. here are some highlights...

el quatre gatos - the 4 cats restaurant - where picasso apparently spent a great deal of time...


hell yeah! literally midnight gelato (she got mint chocolate chip, i have cappucino)








as homage to the UofC crew - meet barcelona's "drunk van." what the photo failed to really capture was the line of inebriated scantily clad women...


el xampanet - one of the best tapas places in town. it doesn't look like much from the ouside but the cava was crisp, the food was delicious, and the prices were good.








inside el xampanet...









***Conclusion and a couple of notes***
tomorrow we head out to see the montjuic area of the city and then board the boat!!! i don't know how good our internet connection will be, but we'll keep trying to blog. everyone else on the dis boards seems to be doing ok.

on that note, i have to say, if you're staying in a major city around the world and have your laptop - GET skype. it's cheap (6 cents for the first minute and 2 cents after that), as reliable as your internet connection, and it doesn't have any delays. we've called home a few times already and haven't had any problems.

also, in out last post we asked what the little faucet and basin next to the toilet was for. go mr. frank who was the first and only person to answer our call. it is called a bidet and according to wiki, "are primarily used to wash and clean the external vulva and the anus, as well as the skin near these areas, including the perineum. They may also be used to clean any other part of the body; they are very convenient for cleaning the feet." all i have to say is thank heavens we waited for an answer...

ok, sleep time. more tomorrow.