Traveling Simile: "Given that it’s a city with many layers, it could be said that it is a various city in one, as I tried to show in my book Barcelonas..." ~ Manuel Vasquez Montalban

Being the lazy travelers we are...

schedules or any other restraints on our wanderings

just don't jive with the rhythm

of how we discover a city...

and Barcelona is best savored slowly.

On the first day...
our meanderings took us down Las Ramblas...

and although it was Semana Santa,

filled with tourist because many of its residents flee the city for the holiday,

we still managed to make our way through the crowds ogling at the street performers and many souvenir stands...

to our first destination...

La Boqueria Mercado de San Jose.

The sights are only matched with the tastes of all things destination worthy.

My only regret was that we could not purchase some of those heart tomatoes and razor clams and immediately flee to our own kitchen
to prepare a feast.

Mental note...

next visit...

rent an apartment!

Meanwhile...

we had no problem drinking our fresh fruit juice and eating our skewer filled with nuggets of fried cod as we moved about the market...

and back onto Las Ramblas which led us to

Placa de Catalunya...

known as the center of the city...

and our segue to the most expensive street in Barcelona...

Passeig de Gracia.

It was on this grand paseo that we first encountered the

a perfect example of the whimsical work of famous architect, Antoni Gaudi.

Very intriguing...

but I can't say I was a fan until the next day when we visited Sagrada Familia...

more on that tomorrow.

One of our most interesting experiences in Barcelona took place in a public toilet inside Bulevard Rosa.

Yes...

a toilet for men and women to be exact.

Both Ren Man and I entered the restroom where there were a few stalls in a circle with a hand washing area in the center of the circle. Sounds normal enough, right?

Wrong...

upon closer inspection, the doors to each stall were clear glass! Now that would not alarm any guy going in to take care of his business but I was trying to muster up the courage to be cool...

went inside...

closed the door...

locked the door...

and the glass became opaque.

The coolest thing I have ever seen.

Thank goodness for Elmont Glass and this video...

or you would never believe it.

I wanted to video this coolness...

but Ren Man didn't think it was a good idea.

If you are in NY you can visit Last Licks Ice Cream and see one in action.

Barcelona is filled with art...