Day 62: Rest day one in Barcelona

I woke up tired and not full of any enthusiasm for rushing around sightseeing. Thankfully we have two days rest so I spent today
1. Doing the laundry and having lunch in a small square
2. Catching up on emails – frustratingly the one place that Wifi works here is in the lobby. This is a three floor hotel and in the lobby is one three seater couch and two chairs so there are lots of people wanting to use their devices in a small space
3. Half the afternoon dozing and reading, then I went for a walk around, looking at the streets and buildings.

When I was out doing the laundry I was fascinated by all the neighbourhood shops, lots of small fruit shops, meat, cheese, hardware, small bars and tapas restaurants, but also a number of really thin shops selling fridges and washing machines. I guess they all sell enough to stay in business.

I had dinner with John, Brett and Michele at the same place as the night before. The waiter greeted us like old friends and once again bought out a selection of food for us to eat. All totally different from the night before but just as nice. We  also had the most amazing dessert – a large frozen lemon with the  top cut off, hollowed out and filled with limoncello ice-cream, I will most definitely be recreating this a home!

Dessert: totally yum!

I got back to the hotel looking forward to an early night and undisturbed sleep. Unfortunately I was woken about 1am by the fire alarm and the sound of loud voices, and people running up and down the stairs. I got dressed and went down to the lobby, and found that the fire brigade and the Police were there.

It turned out one of the hotel guests had stayed too long in the hotel bar and on his way to bed on the third floor had decided to discharge the fire extinguisher which of course set off the smoke detectors, and then he passed out. He was a young guy, probably late 50s to early 60s.

Fire brigade outside the hotel

It was interesting what the other tour riders who came down to the lobby brought with them. I just took my phone and my iPad as I could grab it on the way to the door. Scott and Daniel had their backpacks, complete with passports (I did not even think of grabbing my passport or money!), as well as towels as their floor was filled with fire extinguisher smoke and they were not sure if it was real smoke or not, so they took all the right precautions including wetting their towels (and still had the presence mind to bring their passports!). Brett had his phone, camera and iPad, but like me no passport.

Daniel and Scott outside the hotel at 1:30 this morning.

After having been woken up with a start it took ages to feel ready to go back to sleep, so I read the kindle for quite a while.