A Tale of Two Cities

[Note (again): originally written some time last week, but I haven't had internet so it's a little late]

Originally titled This is Spain!, I'm adding a second half to this post, describing the highs and lows of my first week in Barcelona. My literary companion Rick Steves says that traveling through Europe is a roller-coaster adventure, filled with many screams of delight and terror. Things work best when you enjoy the good parts and don't let the lows bother you (too much).

The Highs
It's Tuesday night, the end of our first full day in Barcelona. It's just past 9:00pm, but still quite warm and a little humid. The small wooden double door to our tiny patio is wide open, although it isn't doing anything to help against the heat. It does allow fresh sea air to waft in though, a welcome change after the dry air in Madrid. My clothes are still hang-drying off the side of the patio, they should be dry (and probably a little stiff) in the morning. The TV is on, FC Barcelona is playing Stuttgart tonight (in the "Champions League" where the winners of each country's local league play each other). The announcers are excitedly chatting away in Spanish (of course), but the language of football is universal. I'm relaxing in our compact apartment, having just opened an "Especial" (a cheap beer we picked up at corner store — 1.50€ for a 6 pack). The entire block just erupted in cheer; Barcelona just scored and is now up two to zero (everyone is watching the game).

Life doesn't get much better than this. This is why I'm here in Barcelona, this why I'm in in Europe. I can't wait to see what adventures tomorrow morning brings. I've spent a lot time pondering life in the last couple years, trying to figure out exactly what is important to me. That's a question I'll probably be asking myself for the rest of life, but when I fall asleep excited to wake up the next morning, I know I must be doing something right.

The Lows
It's Wednesday night, a mere 24 hours after I typed up the previous two paragraphs. Today was a long day. Things started off auspiciously: my clothes are still not dry. They are dry-ish, but I'm not a huge fan of starting the day in a mildly damp shirt and pair of boxers. My itinerary for the day has two major tasks: find a cheap cell phone and find wifi internet that I can use for the next month. Drop me in any random city in the world and I feel like I can pull both of these off without too much of a hassle.

I left our apartment at 9:00am this morning and pounded the pavemetn almost non-stop until 6:00pm. Tonight I sit in bed without a phone and with no idea where I can find wifi. And exhausted and annoyed that nothing got done, mentally beat from trying to explain what I'm looking for in some combination of English, Spanish, and rudimentary sign language. The details of todays exploits are as long as they are mundane, which makes them even more annoying. I visited no less than 6 Vodofone stores throughout the city, each with a different reason as to why they don't have any of the 29 Euro phones available today. I visited three information centers, dozens of coffee shops and went on more wild goose chases than I can count in an attempt to find usable wifi. Starbucks, of course, has wifi. They also decided that 180 Euros would be a reasonable amount to charge for one month's access. I've gotten to the point where I'd consider using it, except none of their stores (I think I visited 5) actually have electrical outlets, so I'd be limited to 2 hour spurts of work. Other coffee shops, bars, and restaurants were all tried; all with extremely fatal flaws. Seriously, does anyone use wireless in Barcelona?

To top things off, my shirts still weren't dry tonight. However, our upstairs neighbor watered her plants. The water promptly seeped through and my freshly washed shirts are now soaked again and covered in dirt. They're not back in the hamper, ready to start the process all over again. I, too, am ready to start the process all over again. I'll be waking up tomorrow with the same two objectives that I had this morning.