"The Rainy Day"

This morning we woke up to quite a different scene from yesterday—complete downpour! We checked out the weather online and saw that it was pretty much supposed to stay like that all day, although it looked like it might let up a little bit in the afternoon. We had a leisurely breakfast while we waited to see if the rain would clear up at all. By about 10:30, we were full up and tired of waiting and the rain was coming down even harder than before, but we decided to venture out anyways.

Initially, we had planned on walking down to the waterfront but in light of the weather we decided that the metro was probably a better option. Besides, we did have our 4-day pass that we needed to use up! We’d seen on the map that there was a Barcelona history museum down near the marina and figured it would be a great place to spend a rainy morning. We got off at the nearest metro station to discover that it was raining even harder than before! Luckily, there was a convenience shop right near the metro exit so we popped in and quickly purchased a very-overpriced tiny umbrella for €5. We paid and went back outside to continue our trek to the museum. Unfortunately, the umbrella wasn't quite up for it—when we opened it up, one of the wires completely fell off, covered in rust!

I went back to the store to ask to exchange it. By this time the manager (owner?) was there, chatting to the cashier about “business” things. When I showed the cashier the umbrella, he just gave me a look of confusion and looked to his boss who turned to me and said “No. Todos son así.” Now, normally I’m pretty soft-spoken but I was just so taken aback by his response that I responded probably a bit louder than I intended, “¿De veras? ¿Todos están rotos?” This, of course, caught the attention of other customers who were also perusing the high-quality souvenirs and bric-a-brac in the store.  With me and the other customers waiting eagerly for his response, he grabbed the largest umbrella he could find, shoved it into my hands, and “escorted” me out the door. But not before putting the broken umbrella right back on the rack to be purchased by the next lucky customer!

Anyways, we now had a functioning umbrella so we continued on our way. We got turned around a little and ended up doing a pedestrian-style imitation of “National Lampoon’s European Vacation” around a very large roundabout, but in the end we found our way towards the museum. By this point I had also realized that my shoes were not quite as waterproof as the large “WATERPROOF” tag on them might suggest, and I was very much looking forward to getting into a nice, dry museum. Sadly, said museum is apparently closed on Mondays. And why isn’t that information published anywhere? Why, because it’s a new policy, of course! I mean, they just implemented it in September!

So, on to plan B. Wait, we didn't have a plan B. Luckily, look! There is an aquarium right across the street! I’m not a huge fan of aquariums, but apparently this one has the largest and best collection of Mediterranean sea life in the world (outside of the actual Mediterranean Sea, of course). It turned out to be a pretty great way to spend the morning, and they even had a “shark tunnel” where you could walk “through” the water and watch the sharks and other fish swim around you on all sides. We even got to see a sunfish! According to Scott, this is a very rare occurrence. According to me, sunfish are the weirdest fish ever invented and it looks like someone had a little bit too much to drink before designing them.

After a few hours in the aquarium, we ventured outside where it was still raining although not quite as much as it had been earlier. By now, I was thoroughly done with walking around in soaking wet socks, so I insisted that our next stop be to find a place to get some dry ones. We’d looked at the aquarium gift shop for some but with no luck. There was, however, a mall just at the other end of the block so that seemed like as good a place as any to try. We had to make our way past the “Sea of Golden Santas,” but we eventually made it to the only reasonably-priced clothing store in the mall: Claire’s. And, they were having a sale! Three pairs of fluffy rainbow animal toe-socks for the price of two! Jackpot! I got a panda, a cat, and a fox.

With that dilemma solved, we realized that it had been quite a while since breakfast and we were getting hungry. We found a nice restaurant overlooking the waterfront that was offering a prixe fix menu for lunch. It was still raining with no indications of letting up so we decided to sit down and enjoy a relaxed lunch. Scott got some chicken paella (which I hold is not ‘real’ paella, but he enjoyed it), and I got (surprise, surprise) some fish. We talked and watched the boats come and go and just enjoyed a few slow moments. By the time we finished eating, the rain was actually starting to let up!

One of the attractions I was most looking forward to in Barcelona was Park Güell, so we decided to head over there and try to see it before it got too late. Once again we navigated the metro and its myriad stairs. We got off at the stop that seemed to be the closest according to the map and went to walk the rest of the way. Unfortunately, it wasn't as straight-forward as it seemed and by the time we got to the park it was nearly 6:00—closing time. Oh, well, we still have one more day so we can try again tomorrow. Besides, it was by now a really nice night and perfect for a walk! We enjoyed the 6 kilometer walk back towards the hotel through the Gràcia and Poblenou districts.

When neared the metro station near our hotel, we noticed a site we hadn't seen before—a giant market with any sort of wares you can imagine, from second-hand clothes and books to car engines and light bulbs to antiques and Persian rugs! There was even a whole section for food! Of course we had to take a look. It was all a little overwhelming, and it took us over and hour to just get through all the different sections. We got to the food section last, and I was still full from lunch but Scott grabbed an empanada to tide him over until breakfast.