I'm here

After a long journey I finally made it to Barcelona at about half 3 yesterday afternoon, my Spanish family were all waiting for me in arrivals. We hopped in the car back to the apartment, which turns out really is in the heart of Barcelona in an area called Eixample with the most beautiful views, to the right you can see the sea through the streets and to the left the mountain, Tibidabo.

The photo doesn't show the sea very well. It's there though!

You can just about see Tibidabo.

As soon as we got here I got shown around, then we had to go and buy some bread for the youngest, Elna because she has to eat gluten free. After that, the girls took me down to a toy store to learn the rules for a new game they have. It was a bit slow and it took me a good hour to fully understand the rules. It was a card game to do with American cities, trains and colours. Very bizarre. We ended up there for a good 2-3 hours. You can go and play their games and one of the shop assistant will play with you. It made me realise how laid back Spanish shops are, one of the assistants popped next door to get a hair cut and the hairdresser and the assistant came back to ask opinions of his new 'do'. There was also a little dog roaming around. This sort of stuff doesn't really happen in England, I think it's nice though.

Yesterday was also the arrival of their family friends from Italy who have 3 young girls. We walked over to the apartment they are renting for the week and had dinner there. I had to go up with all the girls first, then the adults followed with the suitcases. While we were waiting for them outside the door to the apartment, Elna accidentally pressed a switch she thought was for the light, turns out it was the buzzer for the apartment next to them. Out came an angry Spanish man in just his underpants, the kids were laughing like crazy, I just said 'Perdon..' and turned away. All the girls are friends and speak in Italian, they were clearly excited and would not stop screaming and running around. It was a bit much after a day of travelling.

We had some food, tortilla de patatas, gluten free meatballs and salsa de tomate, nice bread and some manchego cheese. The Italian parents are big lovers of wine and champagne, so Núria and Antonio told me. We had champagne with dinner last night, the first bottle was 150 euros, and the second 230!! I couldn't believe it. The craziest thing was the father was not even swallowing it, he swished it around in his mouth then spat it in a cup. I certainly enjoyed it but I won't be spending that much on alcohol anytime soon.

One of the things I didn't really think about before I got here was language. Catalonia has two official languages, Castellano and Catalan. Although I speak both, Castellano is what I am used to. However, the girls always speak to their parents in Catalan, but the parents speak to each other in castellano. In the games shop the girls were speaking Catalan, but the assistant replied in Castellano. Confusing.

Today is the girls last day of school and the parents are both working til the afternoon. I'm free to do as I please! I've had a bit of a lie in. I'm gonna grab some breakfast then go exploring with my camera, maybe some tapas too. Núria gave me a map and marked certain places but I'm guaranteed I'll still get lost.

Late this afternoon/evening when everyone is back we are going to the Ribes de Freser, a town in the mountains of Girona. Apparently we are doing a 45 minute- an hour trek, not sure if that is today or tomorrow. There's the option to get the train but I'd like to try and do the hike. We spend Saturday and a bit of Sunday in Ribes too. Sunday is La Festa de Sant Joan / La Nit de Sant Joan. We'll be coming back to Barcelona to join in the fun. It celebrates the shortest day of the year. It should be a great night with lots of fire and fireworks, I think we may be going down to the beach for it.

All in all, so far so good.