Barcelona

We're not "city people," but Barcelona is a special place, full of energy, great food, and amazing art everywhere.  Ellen had reserved a room at a small place in the Gothic section, just a couple of blocks off Las Ramblas and convenient to most everything.

We arrived late afternoon Sunday, spent Monday running errands and walking all over the city.

One of the errands was picking up a sim card for Dan's phone.  We can now stay reasonably connected as long as we're within cell range.  The number is 652-698-284 (preceded by country code 34); this is an international call so not recommended.  (I've tried to set up Google Voice to forward to this number, but so far no success on that front.)  Best way to get in touch is via gmail: econodan@gmail.com, which goes directly to the phone.  An alternative might be to text to the phone number, but we have not tried this out.

Tuesday morning (May 1) around the corner from our hotel--and in the Plaza of St James, as in Santiago--there was a demonstration put on by a group of labor unions.  Tuesday afternoon we took the train to Montserrat.

Georgia interlude with Mark

We're just finishing up a few fun days visiting Mark at his new place near Athens, Georgia.  It's a beautiful spot: 25 acres of woods and pasture, plus three ponds.  We spent most of our time working in the woods--removing an old barbed wire fence line and building a nifty running trail.

We roughed out enough of the trail for Dan to run it yesterday afternoon.  It's a little over a mile now, through a mix of woods and pasture land, plus a loop along the large pond.  There's plenty of room to extend the distance.

Last pic shows part of the largest pond, which is great for small boats and swimming.

Shortly we'll drive to Atlanta for our flight to Barcelona.

Overview of Montserrat (2009)

(From our last trip to Spain, with Mom and Dad in 2009) Looking down on the Basilica and monastery complex at Montserrat.  Our camino will begin here.

Ellen at Montserrat (2009)

 Feeling the vibe in an old hermitage site, carved into the mountains at Montserrat