I think I told some of you after my four-hour guided city bike tour of Sevilla (where I spent five days) that I was determined to discover every other city by bike which I did in Barcelona (three days) with a five-hour guided bike tour with a very cute 26yo Texan by the name of Michael Upshaw who answered ALL of my questions including the personal ones where I discovered that his gay-friendly stance came from having a gay father (poor Michael had a number of as-of-yet unresolved issues.... to be followed up in another email...perhaps...)
Anyway, my last (half day) in Barcelona came and went in a typical Gilles frenzy. Quick sandwich on my Juliet balcony overlooking Catalunya Plaza with a nice decaf cafe con leche and some nice local chocolate. I then made a mad rush for the Picasso museum (too much to see in too little time) which was overrun with students groups and way too noisy despite the many signs asking patrons to tour in "silence". This was followed by a much longer tour of the Chocolate Museum (I'm sure this will not surprise any of you). And throughout the morning, I made a number of shopping stops at two chocolate shops and a cool clothing shop called G-Star. I had to jog back to the hotel to make the 12 o'clock check-out time. By the time I had taken a shower and packed my bags, it was 12:45 which left me just two hours to get to the airport for my 2:45pm flight to Zurich.
As luck would have it, a large student demonstration had invaded Plaza Catalunya and blocked off all traffic around the square including access to the stop for the airport shuttle. So I teamed up with Juergen, a former Lufthansa pilot now working for a Chinese airline based out of Shanghai, to share a cab to the aiport. Juergen had much to say about the American recession (all negative), was very impressed by the emergency landing made in the Hudson River by the US Airlines pilot back in January and loved living in China with his a Chinese girlfriend who is apparently more than thirty years his junior.
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