Slept in my own bed!

It's a curious thing how planes trains and auto-mobiles can eventually wear a person down,  but I even managed to sleep in this morning until some time before nine.   Mind you,  with the hour time change,  I guess you could say it was some time around eight.
Whatever.

 Didn't get in this morning until 1:00 a.m. thanks in part to having been booked on Fly Niki's last flight out of Barcelona.  Had really nothing to do with the airline,  so I'm not going to berate them or anything,  and all in all the flight was quite pleasant.  For some unfathomable reason,  I was up in row 2.  Not sure how that happened unless it has to do with being a solo traveller,  and that all the couples want to sit together?
 It seems that Barcelona airport on a Sunday night is a tad busy when it comes to landings,  and I did notice when we were finally on the taxiway headed for take off,  that there was a string of landing lights from planes lined up on approach.
 That was the reason given for the delay,  which was at least somewhat forthcoming on the part of the pilot,  and they did do an admirable job of turning the plane around in what seems like around 15 minutes or so.  That's not too shabby.
There,  I've given my fair shake to Fly Niki,  even though they're still not my first choice.

 So,  what about Barcelona?

 It's OK.

 The weather was fabulous,  as I'm sure going there in the summer would be just stinkin' hot,  and I wouldn't recommend that.  We had day time highs in the high teens,  which certainly works for Travelling Companion and I.  Never once did I wish I had worn shorts,  so consistency weather wise is always helpful,  especially on the packing front.
 I'm not about to upload the roughly 150 pictures we took.  And I'd hasten to add that I tried to restrain myself.
The car that was rented for us was a very nice ride,  as it was an Audi A4 "Avant",  which the Brits would call an "Estate Wagon",  and we'd most likely call a "Station Wagon".
 Now,  I'll admit that that's a bit of a big car for city driving,  but I'm either fearless or stupid.  Not sure which.
I mean,  I drove the A6 in Paris fer heaven's sakes.

Plus,  on Sunday we had to check out of the hotel by noon,  and had offered to take one of Travelling Companion's associates along to the airport,  so actually having enough room for that much luggage was a bonus.

And when I say,  "rented for us", by that I only mean that someone's admin assistant made the arrangements.  The funding came out of our coffers,  and it wasn't exactly cheap,  but once in a while I suppose it's OK to loosen the purse strings.  I'll only quote prices when something is a dealski.  Not when it's on the other end of things,  and this was well over there on the other end.


 We did get to see the big construction project that's been going of for the last hundred years or so.

Just the outside though,  since there was no way we were standing in line for what looked like over an hour to take a peek inside.  Plus of course they charge admission,  since the money is needed to keep the project going.
The Spanish government certainly can't afford to help.  They probably couldn't afford the admission,  but that's not a topic for this blog.



We managed to walk all the way around the outside and see it from all the different angles.

Seriously though,  I see enough throngs of people in Vienna.  I just didn't want to even approach the front entrance.


From certain viewpoints,  it looked to me like a huge wax project,  but where the wax had started to melt.

It's pretty impressive I suppose.   But really,  if you want to be truly blown away,  go to the airport,  get on a plane to Cologne,  and take a look at the Dom.   It's bigger,  no charge for admission,  and it's finished!   The only work they do on that one is upkeep.
Your mileage may differ.

 I think that's going to be just about it for today,  since I had the pleasure of bringing back the big suitcase and well,  it seems I no sooner get going on something,  and another load has to go in the wash.
So I'm just going to stop right there.



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