Last day in Barcelona

My feet hurt.

I've been walking a lot these last few weeks, and my feet are finally feeling it.

Today I did my first day of legitimate solo travel. Like just me, walking alone in the streets, waiting alone in lines, eating alone, taking selfies, and the best thing: navigating with a map.

Map navigation seems overwhelming, until it's your only resource and you actually take the time to look, triple check and pay attention. When you're in the zone, map navigation is easy. At least in a gridded city like this.

That's actually what I like most about Barcelona, is the city layout. I appreciate this thanks to my courier days. Seriously, their layout is great. Most streets are one ways, so jay-walking is super easy and safe. The streets are wide with separated bike lanes. As I said, it's a grid. But most interesting: is the intersections are not crosses, but diamond shaped.

This shape is interesting because it allows for parking right in the intersection, and it keeps pedestrians out of the way… for the most part. This intersection shape is actually, probably, most inconvenient for the pedestrians. This is because they have to walk out of their way to cross the street. Kind of like, in a wave. Where as with a cross shape, it's a straight line across.

You can kind of see it here in this arial shot of Barcelona.

Otherwise, their streets are great, and super easy to navigate.

I feel like I could really enjoy Barcelona on a bicycle. But on foot, it's a lot. And for some reason I haven't attempted their metro.

Even the things that there are to see here are just ok. Maybe it's just another one of those places that comes to life in sunlight.

I went to Sagrada Familia today. Sure it's stunning inside, but a lot of it is blocked off or under construction. Even the outside, the building is possibly the most epic exterior I've ever seen… but it's opulence is muffled by scaffolding and cranes. And apparently it won't be done til 2030… jeeez.

Park Quell was cool. It would have been nice to experience with someone else. The park reminded me of Dr. Seuss meets Portugal meets a gingerbread house. The architect, Gaudi, is famous for a lot of buildings in Barcelona. He really is one of a kind, and I feel more buildings should be built in his style. Organic, curvy lines. No straight edges. Ornate window frames and rounded corners. They really are works of art.

One thing I didn't get to today though was the beach. Bummer. But it was cloudy and not so warm all day. So I didn't miss it.

Tomorrow I leave for Madrid, again. I meet back with Sean, and in 2 days we leave for Morocco to reunite with Haley. I can't wait.

I've been making moves on creating an online course. I'm getting excited about it. There's a series I'd like to create actually. I'm sure I'll update you with that as I go too. And if that actually follows through and comes to fruition, I can support myself abroad! No bosses, no office, no anything. Just me. Fingers crossed.

That's it for now.

AML