Good morning Barcelona. We slept in a little this morning, went to find breakfast. Don Teo’s was closed but we found another bakery on our street so we ordered some pastries and breakfast sandwiches. We then took our first Metro ride. We’ve gotten spoiled by being able to hail a taxi right outside our apt. There is a Metro station about 6 blocks downhill from us. We jumped on at Joanic and took it about 5 stops to Jaume. We were on our way to Plaça de Jaume for the La Mercè Human Tower. We saw about 3 different troops consisting of about 15-25 people in a group ranging in age and size. Large adult men typical formed the bottom part of the tower, and then younger women and children were at various levels. They built the tower by climbing up one another. The tallest one we saw was about 7 levels high with the youngest and smallest person on the top. They were quite impressive. We didn’t see anyone fall or even wobble. While we were standing watching them build various towers, the entire crowd was trying to both stay out of the sun and get the best view possible. Most of my photos contain peoples hands or phones. The square was jam packed and getting hot. We decided to leave and the packed crowd forced us to bob and weave, while unintentionally feeling up strangers. But never have we felt unsafe, or our bags were being grabbed or pick pocketed. We found a cute little gelato shop with the most delicious dark chocolate gelato. MyLisa was in heaven.

We took the Metro just one stop to next destination, Barceloneta, the beach. We walked quite a number of blocks in the heat to get to it, and were excited to finally see the beach. MyLisa and I took off our shoes, walked on the beach, and walked in the water. The sand contained little pebbles, so it didn’t stick to you, nor was it too hot. The water was refreshing, but since we didn’t have on suits, we only went into our knees. We saw many topless bathers sunning themselves. MyLisa was contemplating going topless to fit in with the locals, but chickened out.

We found a little restaurant called El Pacifico, which was either a Maria or Guy Ferrari recommendation. We had a table with a lovely view of the water and people strolling by. We had calamari, gazpacho, seafood with pasta, shrimp and freshly squeezed lemonade. Everything was delicious and not overly filling. After lunch we took a cab home for a siesta, and our plan tonight is to see the Giants on parade.

We took the Metro again to Jaume it was buzzing with people talking. So different that a train in the states. When we got off, we were confused by so many people walking what seemed like to be in the wrong direction. We walked through the square and up to La Ramblas and it didn’t look like a parade was going to pass through. Mom stopped and asked a few people and most knew nothing. Then MyLisa asked someone in the hotel and they directed us to where it started. We were heading in the right direction. On the way we stopped at a few shops to look and buy a few things. This hasn’t been a big shopping tour for us. Finally we saw the parade. It consisted of about 30 giants, each standing about 12 feet high with people inside. There were smaller figures and some big headed paper mache. They represented people, mayors, nobility and some animals to. The bare breasted dove and her mate, who was fully clothed was interesting. Drumming bands accompanied some of the giants. They threw confetti at the people on the sides. It was fun and we were glad we saw them. We stopped next at a restaurant on Ferrar for dinner which consisted of a shrimp casserole, Galician octopus, bread and codfish croquettes. I was happy to finally eat my octopus, which was tender and delicious. We took a cab home and hit the bed hard. Night.