Greetings from Barcelona!

Here I am in the lobby of our hotel using the computer from the Hotel Balmes. Just had breakfast without Sarah since she´s fast asleep. Food is marvelous! Last nite we dined at Cata and had numerous tiny appetizers called tapas, the best being the duck foie de gras with carrot jam and a dark carmelized sauce.

Earlier we strolled on the huge promenade in Barcelona home to street theater, booths hawking everything from chickens and roosters, tiny ducklings you wanna pet, flower vendors, postcards on twirling stands. Oh I love my postcards but haven´t bought any yet.

Altho I can´t understand a word of Spanish you know what´s happnin thru universal body language. Amazing! While walking the promenade the largest crowd gathered around...a squatting man who was playing some sort of gambling game with people who were sure they could win.

Another crowd gathered around a fallen woman who was lying on her back staring at the sky. You knew right away she was okay - remember body language is all we know - because those surrounding her were relaxed and talking and laffing. They were preparing to load her on a stretcher and into an ambulance.

Today we´re gonna check out a lot of Gaudi buildings. This esteemed and unusual architect met his death from injuries suffered when he walked in front of a ´tram.´When the lite changes around here, it´s like the horserace let out of a gate. You hear this gigantic roar -the scooters - and you better run for your life.

Weather here is like in PA. First thing when I went on the computer this morning I checked the NY Times. Old habits never die. The Yankees won the World Series. There was also an outstanding article by Jane Brody about an important easy to do treatment for asthma. It´s the most emailed article.

The smartest purchase we made in Barcelona was a huge 6 liter gallon of water. Even the natives don´t drink from the tap. People are incredibly friendly here. It´s a city filled with electricity like New York except New Yorkers say nothing on the streets. Here people talk or laugh.

The plane ride over was less than 6 hours. We arrived an hour early. There was literally no turbulence. Sarah showed a movie on her laptop, a clever film I slept thru accidentally, I´m a great sleeper. I noticed that the men and women boarding our American Airlines plane our of JFK were unusually attractive and trim. Later we learned many of them participated in the NY City Marathon.

Here are some interesting symbols on these Spanish keyboard

çççççç

I can´t find punctuation marks such as the colon.

¿¿¿¿¿¿ Oh, this is my favorite. It lets you know if the next sentence is a question. ¿Don´t you think we should use this in the States?

Okay time to say goodbye. Thanks for reading everyone. Have a great day wherever you are.