Tuesday in Barcelona (continued)

We were lost in the Barri Gotic, somewhere to the east of the Via Laietana. At one point we did come across the Museu Picasso, which I'd wanted to visit, but the queue for entrance was so long, I said No. There were other tourist attractions, Palau this and Palau that, Santa this and Santa that (gigantic, gloomy churches) but despite its even larger size we never found where the cathedral was, the surrounding buildings being too tall, and the maze of streets too Gothic to lead us anywhere obvious. The alleyways were narrow, dark and positively medieval. It was like the Shambles of York, England, on a huge scale, miles of it. We sat down exhausted for the sake of some green tea and a flapjack in one of the little patisseries that Barcelona does so well.

From here we still had to get back to the Pca de Catalunya to catch our train for Sant Cugat. Stumbling upon the tourist info. office we joined the queue; it was too slow so I asked a nice policeman instead: "Donde estamos, por favor?" He showed me on the map were we were which meant I could hold it the right way up, and we tried again. Still no sign of the Cathedral, but we found Las Ramblas. Sha said the crowds were the same as in Beijing, 10s of 1000s of people all in high spirits. We passed flower stalls and fruit stalls, stalls selling live chickens and pigeons and a whole line of people dressed as statues or devils. In the middle of the avenue it is traffic free, so anything goes. I prayed for a seat on the train.

My prayer was answered and we returned exhausted to Sha's hotel where I fell asleep on the bed.

Supper with George who'd been chairing three hours of meetings without a break and was just as tired and hungry. After some welcome pasta in a sports bar opposite the station I left them to the rest of the evening and came back to my own hotel to write this by hand until my hand ached as much as my legs did. What a place!

Pictures to be added later!