Barcelona & the Coq tease

October 5^th

It took some time to find my father at the airport but eventually we found each other and after the initial hug and some small talk we made our way back to the car. Despite gallbladder surgery, and a traditional French relationship with wine, I thought he looked good for his age.

Leaving the airport, we then drove to downtown Barcelona near the Christopher Columbus statue, la Rambla, and the marketplace. We hunted down some fairly priced mushrooms in the marketplace and then stopped for a cafe au lait. The coffee was deep and rich but not bitter. We walked through la Rambla which was a street without car traffic. Along the sides of the street were various vendors and costumed performers. One poor vendor in particular made me laugh. Apparently he normally sold pigeons and parakeets and roosters out of his street cart, but recently his supplier had convinced him to sell a few other varieties of bird. This included a type of parrot and he had made the mistake of housing the parrots next to the roosters. It only took 2 days for the parrots to start cockadoodling. You can imagine how well the parrots sold after that...

After the vendor told us his story we moved on and found a nice little Tapas bar set alongside a square in the old city. We drank a few beers and ate the local octopus, and some snails with a vinegary salad. Not quite full, but content from the beer and the site seeing we walked around the old city for a while before returning to the car. On the drive back to the highway out of Barcelona we passed the Sagrada familia church (still under construction). Its tall spires casting an early afternoon shadow over the street. On the road north, the horizon was filled with mountain crests and an almost dusty air. Every now and then farmland would appear on the side of the road and then the smell of pig manure. We passed through the mountains and descended into France which seemed increasing green as we continued on our way to Argeles.

When we got into town, I met Sylvie and we all took a walking tour of the main streets in Argeles. I saw the local library and cinema and some bars. There were other things too that I sort of expect from a small provincial French town- like the local dressmaker's shop, the town fountain and the houses of local artists with their own unique paint jobs. Walking back to the house, we passed by a cafe called “La Noisette” (the hazelnut). I've been told that most of the town's english speakers hang out there and that they have free wifi, so I'm probably going to spend a lot of time there in the evenings when I want to correspond outside.

Anyway, back at the house we sat down fr dinner of seasoned cauliflower and Jamaican jerk chicken. The meal was followed by wine and baguette with brie. The cheese was so damn good I felt like my tongue was a butter knife cutting through a wedge of curdled joy. After dinner I didnt have much steam left so I drew the curtains on the day and slept with the two dogs, TinTin and Pollux at my feet.