Barcelona

The weather for our one and only day in Barcelona was abysmal freezing wind and thunder storms (before everyone goes oh you should have spent more time, its so great etc, we simply can't afford $$ more) . If we hadn't already committed to the cost of the campsite we would have rescheduled. So remember some of our shoes got stolen, we don't have shoes suitable for the rain now.  Well the train dropped us at Placa Catalunya and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say we both had wet feet before we left the Placa (square).  We almost caved and asked about the hop on/off buses but we plodded on. Initially in the wrong direction as the rain, umbrella and tissue paper like map were making navigating exceedingly difficult. We did eventually make it to our first stop the Casa Mila (apartment building by Antonio Gaudi) which did as promised, look pretty funky. I think it wouldn't look out of place in Star Wars and it made me a little disappointed that todays architecture isn't usually as outlandish.  We ploughed on to the Sagrada Familia, a massive cathedral designed by Gaudi and his sole project in later life.  It is pretty incredible and they have actually scaled down Gaudi's original plans so not sure what he had in mind.  It almost seems like it must have been so ahead of it's time.  As the guide books promise there was a massive queue of people waiting in the rain.  I was actually having quite a bit of difficulty looking up at it as every time I tried I'd get rain in my eyes.  The next stop was the Arc de Triomf, which was also pretty cool and happened to be the location for an electric vehicle expo which seemed to be suffering due to the weather.  We walked through the Parc de la Ciutadella (park) and over to the old town where we saw the Cathedral before taking a short break from the wind and rain at the Temple of Augustus.  Then over to the La Rambla, a main shopping street where we arrived around 2.30pm.  At this point we were back near the train station and I was feeling thoroughly miserable and fed up.  I don't think Nicky was feeling much better but she got stuck in and made us push on.  So it was down to the waterfront before a long trudge up to the Magic Fountain.  Nicky managed a purchase on the way of some "D and C" Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses to replace her stolen ones for 3 euros.  I think some of this Magic fountain area was developed for the Olympics and it was very impressive, it was the first time all day we had any sort of view and they had created a grand sight with columns, water features and major buildings.  There is a light display at the magic fountain 2 days a week during winter season, but we decided to head home as it was 1.5 hours until it started.  It was now getting late and was dark by the time we reached the train station and after dinner we spent another couple of hours outside on the internet.