Friday-Sunday (Barcelona)

Last Friday we were packed and ready to go by noon for a 4pm flight. We decided to pack everything in 2 carry-ons so that we wouldn't have to bother with checking luggage. We only had one plane change in Rome, but we were arriving at 11pm and wanted to catch a city bus to the Hostel in Barcelona. Upon check in, the lady insisted that our bag was one kilogram over their limit and we would need to check the bags. Bummer. She reassured us that it would go straight to Barcelona (that should have been a red flag). With no other choice we checked the two carry-on sized bags and headed for the gate. The transfer in Rome was not an issue and we arrived in Barcelona about 11:15. Down at the baggage claim we caught one of our bags but waited and waited for the second one. Pretty soon they started adding more flights to the same baggage carousel. New bags were coming but ours was not. I looked up and it seemed that there were still a few from our flight waiting so we held out hope that our bag would be coming shortly. Ken checked all the other carousels. Then I checked all the other carousels. Finally I went to the lost luggage counter and ended up opening a claim. They were able to tell me the next flight from Rome was 11am the next day and it would most likely be on that flight. Unfortuantely, I didn't mix the clothing between the two bags very well and Ken was without most of his stuff. With nothing left for us to do at the airport we hurried outside to try and catch the last aerobus into the city at 1am. The ride was about 30 minutes and we were dropped off at Placa Catalyuna a few blocks from the hotel. Now which direction is it? It was not the best time for me to be unsure of where we were and where were were supposed to be headed. I was actually surprised at how many people were out that late at night just walking the streets. We arrived at the hostel after a 15 minute walk and got checked in. Maybe some rest will help put things into perspective for us.

Saturday morning we went and got something to eat and then called the airport, no luggage yet. So we decided to divert our attention and do a little sightseeing. We took the city's double decker tour bus which stopped at most of the cities major attractions (Sagrada Familia, Park Guell,Placa De Espanya, Olympic Stadium, waterfront, Christopher columbus monument, History Museum, etc). There was a red, blue and green route each with an audio tour to listen to. At some stops we got off to enjoy the site and then caught the next bus about 15 minutes later. We now know the orgin of the words "That is Gaudi looking". One of Gaudi's houses looked like a Halloween haunted house. Interesting form of art. Around 5pm we came back to the hostel to check in with the airport (still no luck) and then went out to dinner. Thinking about the possibility of not retrieving the bag before boarding the cruise we stopped at the only clothing department store we could find and bought a swimsuit, 2 pairs of shorts and 2 shirts which totaled to almost $300 USD!!! Back at the Hostel we tried calling the airport one more time. They said the bag would be delivered to us by 8:30 (it had made a connection to AFRICA!!!) but should be available tonight. Well that's good news! So we took those shopping bags back to the department store thinking, we've only had these in our possession for about an hour surely they should be able to void the transaction. The challenge however, was our limited Spanish and their willingness to be helpful at all. After much discussion we were finally able to return the items. Feeling better about the situation we walked around the square for a bit and then headed back to the hostel around 9:30 fully expecting the luggage to be there. Boy were were disappointed. We got on the phone again and they said it was supposed to arrive at the airport at 8:30 an no one had a chance to confirm. Finally we decided to head down there and look for it ourselves. We took a city bus this time and it took us all over the city before reaching the airport. Once we got to the airport we had the challenge of getting into baggage claim where only ticketed passengers can be. After an hour of being bounced back and forth between information offices we were given clearance to go in and found our bag on a lonely carousel. HOORAY!!!! Time to go to sleep. Sunday we had breakfast and then walked through the La Ramblas down to the waterfront and then on to the Pier. It's amazing how a big ship can seem so close. After about a 3 mile walk (towing both suitcases and two backpacks) we made it to the ship. Originally we thought we would drop our stuff off, get settled and then go back to the waterfront to look at what the street vendors had to offer since the ship didnt' leave till 6pm. After the walk, we needed and shower and just opted to just stay on the boat an get acquainted with our surroundings. What a weekend... we are ready for a vacation!