Thursday, November 1, 2007

Barcelona Day 12:Hollander

…some people say that riding a bike is not for everyone. That person apparently had a nasty wreck going downhill, skinned both knees and chipped a tooth. I would also refer to them as a wimp. We got up eager to get back to the bike shop (KIM TOO) and get our bikes. When we got there, we found out that the bike store attendant was actually from Holland, erhh, the Netherlands…anyways, she spoke great Spanish, errhh, Castilian and had a great English accent so we were waging as to whether she was an alien or worked for the CIA, and it looks like we were both wrong. Anyways, we let them know that we intended to ride up to the Park Guell. The young man in the shop went on and on about how cool it was, and about how most people that lived in the city had not taken proper opportunity to go see it..bla bla bla. The Hollander even laughed along and seemed to hype it up as well. So it all seemed like a pretty good idea. We did notice, however; that the Hollander did ask if we had mountains in North Carolina, and called me a “pro” when I suggested that I could adjust my own seat level. So we set out, but NOT SO FAST. We had to rush back to the house to take a couple of minutes to chill out. Apparently, I had made the café a little extra strength this morning (I bought it from the Jamaicans next door), and it gave Kim and me both the shakes. So after Kim downed an old episode of the office, we left. After racing through all the back alleys, and back onto the bike super highway, we landed in the middle of downtown. This was the Warfield for bikes. We battled in and out of 2 lanes with bikes, buses, taxis, and motorcycles for about 5 miles. Then we exited onto what appeared to be “the way to the park.” 5 minutes later the gradient of the road turned to about 8%. Now, this can be a challenge on a road bike, but for a cruiser with 3 gears, it can be the next best thing to getting a piece of fuzz out of your eyelids when your hands have been dipped in honey. It’s just not a good idea. Kim decided within the first couple of switch backs that she did not want to be a professional Cruiser. We now understood why the folks at the bike shop threw in so many hints. By the time we got to the park, Kim was still alive, however we were forced to use the shock paddles on her 3 times. We went through the park, and it was awesome. From the peak of the park, you could see all of Barcelona even onto the Mediterranean Ocean. That was easily worth all the pain and agony. Since this town is built around Gaudi, you could image that the park was built with more of his great architectural design. There were even two houses built based on Hansel and Gretel. So we got back on the bikes, and the fun began. What goes up must come down. I would like to thank Mr. Newton for that discovery because I laid all differing ideas of that law to rest as I descended the mountain down through the city like a bat as I raced through city intersection after city intersection. I eventually ended up at the base beside one of Gaudi’s other works (remember the huge church?) Kim had told me that she would see me at the bottom so I waited until she came on down, and we went hunting…yes you guessed it…WiFi. After slapping the blog online and downloading a few more episodes of the office, we jetted and get a nice FC Barcelona jersey for Germain (Kim’s co-worker). I’m way too cheap to buy one, so I just talked about it, and tried to get all the venders to basically give me one for free. We walked the city some more, and I went ahead and made the decision to break up with Starbucks. After I use up the last of my old gift card, I will put my “Friends don’t let friends drink Starbucks” sign on the civic, and will no longer take my business to the chain. They just cost way too much to give not much in return. The coffee taste like dirt, and you have to pay for WiFi. In fact, I paid about 7 euro the other night for low connectivity for 1 hr. That’s pretty pathetic. My Spanish friends have been giving me free WiFi for 1,50 euro and cafe. Ah, you see…We also discovered that the old people in this town keep going well after their 90s. They just move really slowly, but they never stop. Kim came close to killing an old lady today with the rear wheel of her bike. I sure thought she did not speak English until I said, “You nearly snapped her old leg bone.” She gave me a pretty nasty look that did not seem to say, “Bless You.” Sign of the day, “When playing with marbles, be sure to hang on to your dog’s leash.”

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