Complications

Today was quite a complicated day and it is amazing how quickly things have changed for me.

I started off with the best laid plans, and we all know what they say about those.
I walked to Placa Espanya and hopped on the open air sightseeing bus. I decided to buy a one-day ticket instead of a two-day because it seemed that all I really needed was an orientation. Unlike in Lisbon, I can speak the language here (well, sort of) and I can get around by subway. I don’t need a tour bus to take me everywhere. It was a good decision.

The bus I took had two routes – the east route and the west route. I was on the west route, which didn’t seem that interesting. My plan was to change to the east route when the two routes intersected, do that tour and then continue where I left off on the west route, taking me back to where I started. And that is pretty much what I did.

What I discovered was that Barcelona really was not that interesting to me. Maybe it was the weather – it was kind of gray and overcast, humid (or damp depending on how you look at it) and just not a nice day for sightseeing. Plus, we spent a lot of time just sitting. Sights were few and far between and most of them were not really that interesting – an aquarium, a soccer stadium, Olympic Park. The things I really wanted to see were the Gaudi buildings. We passed a few other interesting sights I would not have seen had I not taken the tour, so in the end it was worth it, but a day was enough.

I got off at La Peredra, otherwise known as Casa Mila, an apartment building that Gaudi built that looks like a big rock (or quarry). I really needed to pee badly, and I was cold from riding on the top of the bus in the damp weather, so I headed to Starbucks and got a hot chocolate and used the restroom. After that I was going to visit La Peredra, but decided instead to go to Casa Batlo, another apartment building that Gaudi was involved in (I don’t think he built it from scratch himself). It was more colorful and I thought would be more interesting.
I wasn’t sure if I would go in or not, it all depended on whether or not there was a line. There was no line, so I went in.

The ticket was a whopping 16 euros and came with an audio guide which I did not want. The audio guides were really irritating because now, instead of having other tourists simply getting in the way or posing in front of things to have their pictures taken, now they were walking around with these stupid audio guides on their ears like they were talking on cell phones.

The building was interesting, but I was too irritated by the other tourists to really enjoy it. I am a very bad tourist.

From there I walked back to Placa Catalunya and got on the bus to continue the west route. To my surprise, we went up Montjuic – “Jewish Mountain” – something I was thinking about doing later this week. I’m glad we did because the Joan Miro foundation is located on the mountain along with another museum and some nice views. It definitely made me want to put it on my itinerary. I figure if nothing else, I will focus my visit to Barcelona on Gaudi and Miro. I’ve seen enough churches and medieval cities and been to enough Spanish restaurants, but can you really get enough Gaudi or Miro? Plus, maybe the Miro museum will not be too crowded since it’s kind of out of the way. There is a little open air tour bus that goes up and down the mountain. I will do that maybe on Tuesday.

Once I was finished my sightseeing, I headed home, but stopped in a Locutori (they are not locutorios here) to check my e-mail. I wanted to see if there was any word about my father. I got conflicting reports. One said he was doing well and had a good night, the other said he was not doing well and was being moved to another hospital (the one I was born in). Locutoris have computers and phone booths. Many people go there to call home. A Russian woman was making a very loud phone call with the door to her booth open. It was hard for me to concentrate. I got up and closed her door a little, but it didn’t help. I really miss having my own internet.
I continued walking a bit past my street to explore my neighborhood and ended up getting lost. When I finally did find my way home, I was feeling irritated and agitated.

I have no internet and the TV doesn’t work. I left all books I had to read behind as a way to lighten my load, so there was nothing for me to do but cook.

This apartment ranks up there with Amsterdam in terms of the luxury of the place and a good kitchen. I sautéed some spinach with garlic, roasted some peppers and made a salad with some other peppers. As I was sautéing the spinach, I was thinking about my Dad and decided I needed to go home and see him.

I also remembered that they have free wireless in the train station and I discovered today from my metro map (that I got before getting on the tourist bus) that it was only 3 stops on the subway from here.

So, before eating, I packed up my laptop and headed to the train station. The subway was hot and not as nice as Madrid, but the ride was quick.

I sat in the same place I sat yesterday and to my surprise the same old people that were there yesterday yelling across the floor to each other were still there. There were so many of them. I wonder if they just go there and hang out. It was nice and cool. I am so irritable though, so you can guess how I felt about them shouting at each other while I was checking my e-mail to get news about my Dad.

I sent off a few e-mails letting folks know I was planning on trying to visit NJ. I checked flights from San Francisco. There were some available and I could use miles to book them. Then I came home and made a little pasta with cheese and pepper.
Dinner was good. Simple, but healthy. While I was eating I was thinking about why I would want to stay here until November 10 (because I had a reservation) and why I would want to leave early (because I am not enjoying myself and I am worried about my Dad). So after eating, I went to my local locutori and tried calling Luftansa to change my reservation. I got a local number and on the internet it said their office was open until 10:00 p.m. It was only 9. I tried calling several times and got some weird recording, but that was it, no one answered, and the message kept repeating.

Then I tried calling the 1-800 number I had. It didn’t work from the locutori. I asked the guy working there how I could dial it. He told me to try a phone booth.
I went outside and tried the phone booth. No luck. I tried calling the number they had for international assistance but got a busy signal. I tried dialing zero for an operator, no luck. I tried inserting my credit card. Nothing. I moved to another phone – no good. I was standing on a dark and deserted street and it didn’t feel good.

I walked to Avenida Paral.lel to see if I could find another Locutori. On the way, I decided to try another phone. Same thing. I tried all of the possibilities, and nothing was working. I called a number for Telefonica assistance. They did answer. I told them what I was trying to do. They gave me the number for international assistance. I told them no one was answering. They told me to try again. I did. Busy signal. I was feeling super frustrated.

I called Telefonica assistance again and told them no one was answering the other number – it was busy. They told me to keep trying. Someone would pick up. No one did.

Frustrated, I went up the street to a new Locutori. I remembered skype, my savior so many times before. I asked if I could make a call on a computer with skype. Turned out I could. And I did. I contacted Luftansa and got my return changed to this Friday. It will give me a few days to sort through things and pack, and I can still make my trip to Zaragoza this Thursday. Then I will be done with Barcelona. I’ll go to Montjuic on Tuesday. Maybe tomorrow La Sagrada Familia. I might visit some other sights, I might not. It will all depend on how I feel.

So, today I made some major changes in my plans. My big birthday bash for my 50th birthday that was also supposed to be a benefit for Partners in Health, I canceled. I changed my return flight to SF and I booked a flight to NJ to be with my family for a week. I am only hoping that my visit will be to see my father recovering and returning from the hospital. One of my worst fears that I had when planning this sabbatical trip came true, that I would have to return to NJ unexpectedly. At least for now, the trip is voluntary and it is to see my father while he is still alive, but having aging parents makes it really difficult to be so far from my family. I never know when I am going to have to travel back there unexpectedly. I am just hoping that when I am in Bali, everything at home will be okay.