Day 2: To Sant Cugat

I started the day by getting myself locked out of the pub at 6am. I'd popped downstairs to see if we could have breakfast early and discovered that I'd managed to lock a door behind me. There was no way of alerting Sha or getting back up ... so I sat in the dark trying to read the signs on the walls: "Leaking cocks must be attended to. A fine of sixpence for each Leaking Cock will be strictly enforced." Later, when it was a bit lighter, I discovered that that was a rule from the Somerset & Dorset railway. Finally the owner arrived and I got back upstairs. Sha hadn't noticed that I'd gone :(

We ate a huge cooked breakfast very fast. Then jumped in the taxi. Our Afghani taxi driver did his best to speak Chinese and asked me about the size of the Universe. The flight was fun. Unfortunately we didn't have window seats, but still managed to get great views of the Pyrenees covered in snow and then the beaches near Barcelona.

Our taxi driver in Barcelona was very talkative. I've no idea what he said, but he talked all the way from the airport to Sant Cugat. He waved his hands around a lot. A few times he actually touched the steering wheel. The scenery is spectacular. It was hot and dry.

The view from our hotel window is great!! We can see the ancient monastery. Sant Cugat is lovely. Lots of small, cobbled streets with all the signs in Catalan. Lots of pig legs hanging up in the shop windows. We had lunch in a small cafe. We couldn't understand anything on the menu, but ended up with a beer, squid and "bacon with bones". We watched little kids jump around on ground-based musical instruments.

Then we decided to go into Barcelona. We were very proud of ourselves managing to buy some water and a train ticket. The journey was also great - through the countryside and then into the city. We walked down the main street watching lots of people pretending to be statues and finally ended up in the harbour. Very beautiful! We walked back to the huge Cathedral. For dinner we ended up in a small restaurant to eat the seafood and paella. errr ... that meal came with a large beer ... a very large beer. Unfortunately, I discovered later that the beer was Fosters ... but it was large! Then we staggered back to the train station.

Today we met mum!!