Barcelona: He’s Got A Ticket to Ride
Reed and I struggled to get comfortable at Gare de
Lyon after getting ripped off by a cab driver for 20 euros for the short ride
from Rue de Rivoli to Gare de Lyon train station. We figured out that our train
was leaving from Hall 2 and went to that section of the capacious train
station. Yes, capacious is a GRE vocabulary word—meaning spacious. So I could
have used spacious, but be glad I
didn’t use commodious…
We were hanging around in Hall 2, as we arrived
much earlier than our 10:07 departure time. A disturbed young man loitered near
the waiting area we found at the extreme end of Hall 2. He might have been
mentally unbalanced, or a street hustler, but he had the uncanny ability to
stay in one position without moving a muscle or changing his facial expression.
I wanted to exit the area as the guy reminded me of a cat waiting to pounce on
an unsuspecting bird. He stayed in that position, never wavering, for more than
a half hour. Train station employees chose to ignore him as did the French
soldiers patrolling with machine guns at the ready.
At Gare de Lyon, and all across France, you cannot
see your Track # or Platform # until 10-15 minutes before departure time. Our
train was running at least 10 minutes late. Around 10:00 AM we heard “Track
#21” or read that on the big screen along with dozens of other passengers
boarding the train to Barcelona. We found our way to Coach #16, nice to get an
assigned seat. We settled in on the top level. The trip cost a very reasonable
53 euros, and provided a smooth ride from Paris to Barcelona!
Liked seeing the south of France from the window of
a bullet train. I kept thinking of Van Gogh paintings of yellow fields and
green fields—and tried to recall them in my mind.
Arrived in Barcelona Sants train station and quite
a bit more modern than the open-air Gare de Lyon. The open-air train stations
have a wonderful indoor/outdoor quality and a picturesque dignity. They suggest
all the European films you’ve ever seen. Europe has the U.S. totally beat in
the area of passenger train travel. I guess Henry Ford took over American
transit and many be decisions followed that.
We got a cab to Roger de Flor avenue and Jose Antonio, our VRBO landlord
greeted us at the front door. He introduced us to the apartment. One of the
coolest features is the kitchen view into a wide open area—with a public school
playground below. The sight below brought to mind my youth in Queens, New York
in 1960, with countless hours spent on asphalt playgrounds.
Jose told us about Chicha Limona, a bit of restaurant advice important to our entire
stay in Barcelona. We fell in love with the staff, food and ambience of Chicha Limona, though the affair began
slowly on the evening of our arrival. We started with a red wine called
Fulanito—from Galicia—a Ribera del Duero. I rarely make distinctions between
wines but I liked this one. We got sardines, or were they anchovies, mussels in
ginger, bread soaked in tomato and olive oil and delicious humus and prawns, in
a sauce designed for pulpo, and spice olived. Yes, that’s a ton of food. Guess
we were celebrating the successful transit from France to Spain!
We asked the waiter about his arrow tattoo, a guy
named Lluis (Basque spelling of name), and he said it symbolized his Camino
walk, about 40 kilometers a day for 15 days. That’s some serious walking.
Reed then bugged a waitress for restaurant advice
and she good-naturedly provided it. Turns out Pilar, the wait person from
Chile, suggested La Flauta, another
Barcelona eatery where we would experience success. Got to credit Reed for his
persistence on getting restaurant leads. He asks in such a polite way that the
individuals involved feeling honored to share their wisdom and/or like they are
performing a civic duty. He’s always on a quest for the perfect restaurant and
may have found it with Chicha Limona.
Our bill only came to 51 euros, with the bottle of wine, probably a small
fortune by Spanish standards but pretty reasonable for an American traveler.
And we did order everything on the menu.
Travel Day-- 6/14/17
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