Feasting our eyes on chocolate, exercising at the gym, and meeting the tour group

Woke up at 8am; laundry had dried. Holmes Place workout gym, with the motto “One Life—Live it well”, opened at 10am, and we were there with bells on, minus the bells but with gym shoes and a pair of day-passes picked up from the concierge. Confidentially chagrined by the low numbers carved into the free weights with which he was able to exercise, Ian chalked up the dramatic decrease in physical fitness to jet lag. But “Mary Jane” (that woman of childhood jollity) just laughed and laughed and laughed, because she knew that Europe marks its dumbbells in kilograms.

Having built up appetites, we found, on our several-block trek to the hotel, yet another delightful tapas restaurant, La Tramoia (Catalan for backstage in the sense of “behind-the-scenes intrigue”) on Rambla de Catalunya (www.grupcacheiro.com), where we sat at the bar, practiced ordering en español, and gobbled up some tummy-filling comida.

Back in the hotel, I used the lobby computer to check and reply to emails. Traveler tip: Symbols on Spain’s computer keyboards may appear different than labeled. ñçဿ

Ian took me to Museu de la Xocolata at Comerç 36: the doorman hadn’t heard of it, and the taxicab man thought the address was a joke. But we arrived, and the museum existed, and we went in: 3,30 € for each of us estudiantes. Cacao was used for currency—“it’s like money that grows on trees,” a museum projection-show explicated. The harvested bean used to be prepared bitter and spicy then was sagaciously sweetened by catholic clergy. Served hot, cold, as liquid, or as solid, chocolate pleases all who try it, no? Such was the sweet temptation that the church earnestly pondered whether consuming chocolate constituted the breaking of a fast. Later, while the U.S. was piddled with the formation of a democratic-republic nation, Barcelona momentously premiered the world’s first mechanized production of chocolate (1777). After savoring the smells and sights, we entered the gift shop, where morsels of sample cocoa-y tastiness melted into my taste buds. Ian picked up a chocolate gift for Karen and I a 90% cocoa bar for dad. And as the museum display informed us, even royalty knew that chocolate-giving was a sign of high affection and first-rate class. Somehow, I ended up with an additional bar of dark chocolate; I was fuzzy on how. It must have fallen off the back of a lorry. In any case, I figured I’d have to take care of it one way or another.

We walked to Parc de la Ciutadella nestled in the heart of the city and containing the Barcelona Zoo, saddened that we didn’t have enough time to see the animals. We did have time to practice my sign-reading, hold photo-shoots at La Cascada (an ornate triumphal arch over a fountain, designed—by Josep Fontsère and pupil Antoni Gaudí—loosely off of Rome’s Trevi Fountain), watch families play soccer on grass with posted no-walking-on notices, and rest in the high-bushed garden near the entrance to the Catalan Parliament building. Built in 1860 as a military complex and subsequently demolished and made home to 1888’s World’s Fair (or Exposición de Universal), the park contained sculptures, a lake, and orangery designed in the baroque fashion.

We walked to the hotel, elevator-ed to our floor, and let ourselves into our room, wherein a Tauck World Discovery (our tour company) envelope awaited us. It contained a more detailed itinerary than what Ian had received through post, a passport and personal information sheet to be completed and handed into tour director Karen (on the paperwork, I noted that soy una vegetariana), and the tour guest list, which stoked our excitement over meeting our fellow travelers that night. I showered myself plus my day’s laundry, and Ian and I prepped for a 6:15pm dinner at the cent111once restaurant in the hotel lobby.

Day 1
6:15pm Meet in restaurant for reception/dinner. Jacket suggested; a tie is not necessary.

Everyone received nametags, mingled at the open wine bar, and met Anne the student director. Tour director Karen Whitcomb informed us of local pickpocket trickery then invited everyone into the restaurant for an early (by Catalonian standards) 8pm dinner. We supped with Richard and Susan Lesser: podiatrist and office manager from New Jersey, parents of two, and movie fans. We also met Kenneth and Ila Deutsch of Chicago, he who attended Tampa’s USF and she who won the Friendliest Award for the evening. Isabel and Carlos Socarras of Coral Gables were, naturally, Dolphins fans and Buccaneers teasers. Then again, this wasn’t a season easy on fans of either. Undoubtedly credited to Ian's ancient Chinese secret (not to be publicized here), we managed to masquerade ourselves as the youngest couple on the tour.

Ian hit the sack around 10:30pm while I caught up on my trip log and called the night in just after 1am. Somewhere in the darkness, a phone was beginning to build up steam for a 7:30am wakeup blast to help us get underway for the first outing day of the tour.