Barcelona

Barcelona (Catalonia, not Spain) is a marvelous European city, a little like a lot of other European cities, a mashup – a bit of ancient history like Rome (Roman, Gothic, Medieval); a bit of art like Paris (Picasso, Dali, Miro); a bit of narrow, street mazes and comfortable plazas like Florence; a bit of architecture like Prague (moderisme); and a couple of miles of Mediterranean beaches like southern France. And the crowded flurry of Las Ramblas, a shaded pedestrian boulevard, lined with shops selling birds and flowers, performing artists and caricaturists, and creepy human statues, over-priced sidewalk cafes (the Hotel Oriente, Hemingway’s favorite hotel, where a cervesera grande (large beer) costs about $25 (a block or so off Las Ramblas, on any side street, the same beer will cost about $5)). The people are friendly, if somewhat aloof, best experienced away from the tourist areas. As are the restaurants, cafes, bars, bodegas, and cervecerias. There are hawkers and beggars and homeless and pickpockets, and it’s best to keep as far away from tourist areas except when sight-seeing demands it (Las Ramblas, the cathedral, Park Guell, the harbor and beach). The police are evident on the harbor and the beach, safe but sterile, on motorcycles or horses or in small cars, a quiet presence only. The metro system is efficient and easy to maneuver. Most attendants in hotels and restaurants can speak at least a little English, or tolerate kindly idiot attempts at Spanish or Catalan. It takes a few days to figure out how to order coffee, as different places apparently have different interpretations of each type of coffee. Car traffic is light, and the honking of horns nonexistent. Vehicles stop for pedestrians crossing in crosswalks. There is supposedly no nudity on the beach, but it is possible to see a topless middle-aged woman showering at sand’s edge or a completely nude middle-aged man strolling along the boardwalk. Possible to see, but not welcomed. Much more engaging and less jiggly is the architecture, and the food.

Ugly American

When we firmed up our plans to travel to Barcelona several months ago, my goal was to spend a certain amount of time most every day for the past couple of months to learn at least the basic phrases of Spanish or Catalan that could get us around the city, through the airport or metro, in restaurants, walking the streets. That was the aspiration. But of course while I downloaded several basic language programs, I did absolutely nothing to advance my knowledge of the language until a couple of days ago, when I finally learned the following key phrases: No hablo espanol; Habla ingles?; and Donda esta el bano? (there are some accent marks strange to me in those phrases, but they wouldn’t help me in pronunciation). I’m just hoping those three phrases can get me through a week in Spain. But I’ve also read that English is spoken to some extent in many of the tourist areas where we’ll be. So hopefully my three phrases will get us through. At least I’m trying not to be the ugly American I am.

Dropping Dollar

We’re going to Spain in two weeks, Barcelona more specifically. And that means that the dollar has been falling steadily against the euro since we made our reservations. This is to be expected; whenever we go to abroad, the dollar drops, particularly against whatever the currency of the country where we’re going. Having something of a masochistic streak in me, at least when it comes to travel, I’ve been checking the exchange rate regularly, sometimes daily, since we booked our flight in December. There was a period in December and January where it held fairly steady around $1.32=€1.00, and even dropped to $1.29=€1.00 for a day or two in February. But then it started to drop again, and now is sitting at $1.48=€1.00, 11% below the December rate, a three-year low, and, according to this article, “is expected to decline for the a sixth straight week in the coming sessions on expectations the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low while the European Central bank raises them.” I don’t have any idea what this means beyond the phrase “expected to decline.” But then I don’t think anyone – you, me, the Federal Reserve, or the European Central bank – understands economics, macro or micro. In the end, it’s all sleight of hand by I-don’t-know-who, if not just plain voodoo. What I do know is that our trip to Barcelona is going to cost us at least 11% more than when we booked it.