Friday, October 9, 2009

Day from HELL!!!


As you know we were not in the best of shape yesterday.  We spent  a good deal of the day licking our wounds from Wednesday night.  When we finally did get moving we decided to head over to Montjuic.  We got on and off the metro like 3 or 4 times trying to figure out how the hell to get to the cable car that would take us to the top of the hill.  We eventually found it, still hurting but pushing on.  The view from the ride to the top of Montjuic left you speechless.  You could see the whole city from up there.  On the top of the hill is an old Spanish fortress/castle that was also used in the World Wars.  There are some HUGE guns that sit up there, and the view again was amazing.  When we finished walking around the castle we took the cable car back down to ground level and decided that we would take the metro and decide randomly where to get off.  We were going rogue!!  That didn't work out so well.  It was about 4:00 or so and although the city center doesn't shut down for siesta, you can bet your sweet ass that the rest of town does!!  So we turned around and got back on the metro, again.  We thought it best to go back to our side of town, grab a quick bite and and take a siesta ourselves.  Our hotel is right by the University so we sat at a cafe by the Uni and I enjoyed some cockles and meatballs in sauce while Jina had a ham, cheese and egg sandwich.  We washed it down with a few beers thinking that a little hair of the dog was in order.  (the only sure fire cure for a hangover)  Finishing up lunch we went to the hotel to catch a nap.

Woke up about an hour later feeling a good bit better and thinking that the day was going pretty well, but that is all going to change soon.  I hopped in the shower and told Jina to pick out a restaurant that she would like to eat at, she chose Restaurante Rincon de Aragon, and it was GOOD!!  Spanish people seem to be really friendly.  Everywhere you go people say hello to you.  So the lady that waited on us was a doll. We picked out a nice bottle of Rioja that went down a little to easily. Jina ordered a salad and some garlic soup (which is having its revenge today) and I ordered something that I have been looking forward to since we booked the trip, roasted suckling pig.  I don't care that they ripped the little bastard from its mother while it was still on the tit, that thing was muy muy bueno!!!  It was two big pieces of melt in your mouth meat covered by the hard as candy skin, and in between the two was a nice layer of fat. MMMMMM!!!!  Can you tell that I enjoyed it?  Leaving the restaurant felling top of the world we had to hit up an ATM, and thats where things went wrong.  I put my card in, selected an amount for withdrawal and thats when it happened.  The ATM did nothing but spit out a receipt informing me that not only was I not getting the cash I requested I wasn't getting my card back either!!!  AHHHH!!!  What a nightmare.  In a frenzy I rushed back to the hotel room and called my bank to see what could be done.  They told me to go back to the bank in the morning and see if they could retrieve my card and that they would put a temp. hold on it.  After all of that it was well time for a few drinks.  We shot down to Pepino and sucked down a few beers before heading back to the room to get some sleep, cause I knew today was going to be a long day.


I hit the bed by about 2:15, I wanted to be at the bank when they opened in the morning @ 8:30.  I was up by 7:30 took a shower and went to the bank and waited a few mins for them to open.  Well no one in the whole bank spoke English.  They finally realized while I was there and told me that they don't have the key to the ATM.  I would not be getting my card back.  


My bank's customer service doesn't open until 6am so I had to wait till noon here to call them.  I get back from the bank and Jina is not feeling well (garlic soup revenge I think), so I rounded up all the dirty clothes and dropped them at the laundry to be washed.  I had a nice walk on the way back just to clear my head.  I was bumping Tough Junkie in the headphones.  Just what the Dr. ordered.  After talking with the bank on 3 different occasions this morning, I have been informed that it will take 4-5 business days to get a new card here in Europe, so I am waiting on my buddy Martin to send me his address so I can have a new card shipped there.  While walking I grabbed a few crossiants filled with chocolate and have convinced Jina that if she ate one and took a shower then she would feel better.  We are now sitting on our hotels rooftop patio and starting to enjoy the day.  Gotta soak it all in, heading to Paris on Sunday. 


Stay tuned...... 

1 comment:

  1. Aah the Spanish and Latin Life. It's something else. For all it's beauties, fun, and wonder there's almost always a toll of some kind of pain in the ass to be paid. Glad to hear you guys are enjoying it. Can't wait for the next one.-L.

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