4 Bicycles Built for 4

So I did make some friends last night. Their names are Sen from San Fransico, Brendan from Vancouver, and Eugune from Toronto. As cool as it would be to spend more time with other cultures, it is far easier to spend time with people who speak English. And also less likely to get cultural lines crossed.

I had so much fun riding the bike in Madrid, that I decided to do it again in Barcelona, and strangely, it's hard to separate these groups once they form. So the four of us rented bikes and started off. We had wandered down to the beach last night, so today we took off in the opposite direction. The is a "mountain" called Montjuic with the Olympic Stadium and the castle that traditionally was held by the rulers of the area. I use quotation marks on mountain, because how high above sea level can you get right next to the ocean?

Pretty high actually. You all know that I am in peak physical condition, so it was me who I was worried about. I mean, I could climb unforetold elevations on a beach cruiser in my sleep. Obviously I jest, but it was much more a an effort than I had believed. And I felt bad because while I am actually in the worst shape of my life, I am pretty familiar with bikes and endurance events. Brendan was fine too. But Sen and Eugene definitely got an experience they will never forget. Especially tomorrow morning. Without Eugene's constant reminder, "Well, we've come this far" I doubt we would have actually done the whole climb. I am very glad we did.

While striving to the top of the mountain, we stumbled across the Olympic Stadium and Torch. The most unbelievable part of it was the complete lack of tourists. Not one other person was there. And this complex is enourmous. We are talking in terms of square miles, not acres. Amazing plazas and fountains with great views of the torch and the city...I really can't believe that it wsan't better advertised. I really recommend seeing it, if not to just be impressed by sheer size.

We did make it up to the castle, but there was absolutely nothing to see. Except for a DMV motorcycle testing grounds. We barely stayed for ten minutes. We spent much longer drinking frozen lemonade before coasting 3 miles back into town. Much more fun was watching the Spain vs Germany game in a pretty swanky bar off La Rambla. I got to sing some of the songs I learned in Madrid and since Spain won, Barcelona was a pretty happy place to be for the evening. I did think about going to the FC Barcelona stadium to watch the game, like I did in Madrid, but again, this isn't Spain. Catalaxicans don't care about Spain in the World Cup. Just all the Spanish people who live in Barcelona.