5.201 La Tabla Barca

5.201

25 (Fri) July 2014

La Tabla Barca

4.0

by me

at Smart Flats Passeig de Gràcia

-Passeig de Gràcia, Barcelona City, Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain-

with W and DJ

Mission to Spain + Holiday (Day 6 of 9)

In Barcelona.  From Monday to today, I attended a 5-day workshop food law in Getxo.  With W and DJ tagging along, we’re staying an extra couple days.

After the workshop wrapped after lunch, we checked out of the hotel and went to the airport for our flight to Barcelona.  We had a snack before boarding.

11/9/5

Over the course of 11 days, through a combination of personal and professional travels, I will be in 9 localities across 5 countries, eating and documenting at least 1 meal in each of them.

Today is Day 7 /  Locality 6 / Country 3.

(For additional posts, see 11/9/5.)

How beautifully Spanish.
At the north end of the district, just a block from the start of the shops.

We’re staying at Smart Flats, a residential hotel chain.  Passeig de Gràcia is a district in central Barcelona.

In contrast to the classical exterior of the building, the units inside are slick and modern, looking like an apartment with the amenities of a hotel.
The best part is having a fully equipped kitchen, which will come in handy at breakfast.  Also a washing machine, not that we’ll need it.

Mice and men, the airline – VUELING AIRLINES, a Spanish budget carrier – lost our luggage.  The problem with lost luggage, of course, aside from the fact that it’s lost, is that you don’t realize that it’s lost until all the other luggage has come out, and the carousel sputters to a halt, and all the other carousels have been checked just in case.  And then, the added hassle of filing a claim.  Hours lost.  Apparently, it happens so often that the airline has its own lost luggage section in the terminal, bags piled high, long queues of passengers.  Incidentally, the company calls it “delayed luggage” – whatever, fuck.

By the time that we got into the city and checked into our hotel, it was already late evening, and we were exhausted, a precious half-day already lost.

A couple blocks down the street, we stopped by this grocery store to get water, maybe some eggs and milk.
But when I saw this…
…and this…
…I ended up with more than I’d planned.

With only two nights in Barcelona, one of the world’s finest food cities, it may seem like a wasted opportunity staying in for dinner and eating miscellaneous packaged/canned/bottled items from a corner market.  However, given the quality of the food in this country, no matter what the source or circumstances, we enjoyed the most amazing meal.  The experience felt like we were actually living the life, a nice quiet evening at home in our Spanish villa.  Couldn’t have planned it better.

(See also FOODS.)

(See also PLACES.)

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