Saturday September 27 - Getting There
We were kind of scatty about getting ready for this trip, but after a few last-minute adjustments, drove off to Pearson Airport to start the adventure.  We like this parking service [SkyPark] we've used a couple of times.  Very easy and not over-priced.  We had time for a burger at the airport (not as good as Big Smoke, of course, but ok ) and then we boarded our AC Rouge flight to Barcelona. Rouge is a bit spartan, but it wasn't a bad flight.

Sunday September 28 - Barcelona
We landed around 10am in Barcelona and opted for but/metro to get to the hotel.  That meant a lot of steps, both up and down, but got us close to the hotel.  While we were trying to get oriented to the metro system we were approached by a dodgy character trying to get us to change money for him.  We brushed him off and have since found this a common approach by thieves - apparently rife in Barcelona.  Sure enough a few minutes later when we went to study the route map plain clothed police officers had 2 guys sitting on the floor in front of it.  They juggled them around so we could check our route, then led them away in cuffs.

At the hotel, we slept for a couple hours, by which time it was pouring rain.  Arghh!  With umbrellas, we ventured out.  We were hoping to find a tour company and book a tour for tomorrow, but no luck.  So we looked for a place to eat.  Most places near the hotel were packed, but finally we found a small restaurant/tapas bar where we really enjoyed pizza, beer, wine and a complementary schapps.  Now I can hardly keep my eyes open. [...and she didn't so I am typing this up after going down to the desk for tickets for 2 days of hop-on-hop-off.  I have now officially become nuisance here as they address me by  name as I approach the desk - well there was only the key-card that failed, the power adapter, the rejected power adapter and the booking of the tour. OK so they know me!]