TO THE LOVERS IN BARCELONA

I had the chance to spend the weekend in Barcelona, Spain, and my goodness, I don’t know if I will ever forget that amazing weekend that I had. Marco is the President of the Lions club as I have mentioned before, and the men are always doing fun and exciting things with each other and the women recently decided that it was time that they got to do something fun and exciting as well.

So, they turned to Barcelona. I realize now, that Barcelona to these woman is like Vegas to us. Sure, Vegas has tourist attractions and spectacular things to see and do, but we mostly go to shop, party, and see a big event. This is Barcelona to the women in Mazamet.

We rallied on a Friday evening after everyone was finished with work for the weekend, piled the eight of us into two cars and set out on our way. These women were anywhere from 45-55 years old, so I was the youngest by quite a bit, although I never felt like I was out of place with them. We stopped in Spain near the sea that night. One of the women’s parents has a vacation home there and it was big enough for all of us to stay in. It was almost midnight when we ate dinner in Spain. I had my first tapas experience and ate freshly made pasta with foie gras inside. This is when the beginning of the drinking of many, many, many bottles of wine started for the weekend. We walked back home and all slept very deeply that night in Spain, while ironically, it rained.

The next morning, we seamlessly woke up, showered and went down to the sea again where we bought warm, tasty bread and the most amazing orange juice I have ever tasted. It was the richest color of orange and tasted like biting into the juiciest fruit I have ever had. Spain is famous for it’s oranges, and now I can see why. We went back to the house, had our juice, coffee, bread and jam. Eating is always calm and very slow, but once it is finished, it’s time to move. Within a very short period of time, the house was cleaned, we were packed, everyone had brushed on the slightest bit of makeup and we were out of the door. These women do not stand around primping for hours on end like we do in the states. They take a couple minutes and they don’t look back.

We drove directly into the heart of Barcelona after that. The sky was blue, the sun was shining and we were ready to have our adventure in Barcelona. We took our bags up to our room in the hostel that we were staying in. Eight beds in white, bunk bed style with cages underneath to put our things in. I am sorry that I didn’t take a picture. I have never stayed in a hostel before, and it wasn’t as I had imagined. I can see how it could be very hit and miss, but this one seemed like a hit.

We got into some Barcelona clothes at this point, which for me involved a flowing red dress and headed on our way. One thing I learned, is that the wind in Barcelona is real, and that meant for me that my sweet, little, flowing red dress was up over my head most of the day. Was I a hit in Barcelona? I could say yes -with a sincere confirmation.

We ate more tapas (everyday and every night we ate tapas) and shopped until we literally all dropped. We all ended up sitting down in a heap in the corner of a store for an hour at least. These women were serious about the shopping. In fact, the entirety of Barcelona was serious on shopping. I couldn’t believe how much shopping was happening.

It was nearly eight o’clock when we decided that it was time for more drinking. We went to a place called The Place of Kings. It was a beautiful square place filled with people, lights and palm trees. The ambiance of this area was breathtaking. Bars and restaurants lined the perimeter. It was there we ordered many margaritas. We were trying to take a big group selfie on one of the phones when we decided this was a near impossible feat. One of the women snagged a man that was walking near us and found that he and all of his friends were French. They took a photo for us, and before I knew it, they had all pulled a chair in between the women and had ordered drinks. I think there were twelve of them all together, ranging from 25-30 years old. They were in Barcelona from Dijon, France for a bachelor party. One of them had decided to get married, and they were there to celebrate. As it turns out, they all worked together as firefighters. In France, firefighters are like paramedics. So yes, they were all muscular, beautiful and smart, just like the stereotype has named them.

Around ten o’clock we decided that the twenty of us would all go to dinner. We ate more tapas again, and I laughed and talked and drank some more until nearly midnight. We left the restaurant and all took a walk down The Ramblas, one of the most famous roads in Barcelona. At midnight, this road had a beautiful golden green glow. We had walked The Ramblas during the day in all of its busy, loud and exciting happenings. Walking there at night, you could still feel that energy, like an electric current left by all of that life. One man in particular had stayed by my side that evening, talking with me, and explaining things to me about the French and about Barcelona that I didn’t understand. It was on the famous road of The Ramblas in Barcelona that he stole a kiss from me on that summer night.

Suddenly, I found myself in a taxi, headed to the discotech called Opium on the shore of the beach. I can hardly believe the amount of life that these women have in them. All twenty of us danced, and drank, laughed and danced some more until close to four in the morning. We said our sweet goodbyes to our newfound and lovely friends of the night and took respite in our hostel beds.

I had my first red bull that night, so I didn’t find any sleep. Which was fine, I decided because I was in Barcelona.

I forgot my watch in Mazamet, and of course, I don’t have a phone, so I had no way to tell what time it was at any point. But I know for a fact that these women slept in far past a regular wake up hour.

We got ourselves ready and because it was Sunday, every store was closed. So we decided to take a ride on top of one of the tourist bus.  While waiting in line, we all bought these adorable matching hats and walked around all day with them on.

We rode all around Barcelona and we were able to see many different things and many different buildings there. (Many of the women slept during this time.) We got off the bus in after a couple hours and ate some more Tapas, at TapaTapa and made our way up to the Sagrada Familia. It was stunning to say the least. We didn’t have time to go inside but we were able to walk around the entire thing. It was strange, beautiful, and if you know of this cathedral, unfinished. Its architecture was so strange, different and particular that it has taken a century and a half to build. It is expected to be finished in roughly 50 years. I hope that someday, I will be able to return to see it finished in my 70’s.

We drove all the way home then, tired and fatigued after an incredible weekend in Barcelona of dancing, romance, and tapas.

A few tips while in Barcelona:

1.     Only drink bottled water. Only bottled.
2.     Hold your bag tight. Preferably in front of you, or strapped across you. Everyone seemed on high alert about this.
3.     Remember that the wind of Barcelona is real.
4.     Get lost.
5.     Stay up late.
6.     Don’t take your big ass camera with you at night. It’s too big to pack and too dark to take any pictures anyways.
7.     Remember, you are in Barcelona.