Sunday, October 23, 2011

European Adventure - Barcelona and Back to the USA

Of the cities that we saw on our journey, the one that we most fell in love with was Barcelona. The city is beautiful, clean and definitely full of great looking men. Add to that the fact that Spain recognizes full same sex marriage and it made for a great experience. Unfortunately because of our flight schedule we were not able to fully experience Barcelona's vibrant gay night life. All in out group would love to make a return visit and focus our visit on the city and its resort areas to the north and south. The boyfriend and I had a great lunch in the Gothic District after visiting the Picasso Museum and walking around the district and viewing its many shops and amazing architecture, including the city's cathedral the construction of which was commenced in 1291. We also visited Gaudi's masterpiece, Sangrada Famillia (pictured above), which was commenced in the 1880's and is still under construction. As an added note, Barcelona's beaches are beautiful.

On the trip back today, we were struck by how poorly the USA's passport check points and Customs operations compared to what we experienced in Europe. Coming through Newark was a nightmare and while we could re-check our bags without too much difficulty, we ourselves had to go through the security check points - which were chaos - again even though we'd already been through security before. As for United/Continental Airlines, I will have more to say in a future post and none of it good.

As for being back in backward Virginia, let's just say that I am less than thrilled.

1 comment:

Theaterdog said...

Thank you for the travel log....I have often wondered where I should explore first in europe, and maybe Barcelona and the coast nearby is the answer.
I hope you are both restored a bit.
Tim