(From Brian)
Our first half-day turned into much more than we expected when we started making friends watching the World Cup... After checking in we strolled around the area of our hotel and down Las Ramblas (the main drag) seeking out a good spot to watch the US world cup game. I was shocked that the locals were working during the games and didn't have any giant screens in plaza's for public gatherings. We settled on a quaint little Irish pub with a good mix of nationalities and multiple tv's tuned to the USA-Algeria game and the England-Slovenia game.
Most of the fans were for England (including a guy from Chicago wearing and England jersey and ignoring our game...RUDE) but we did find two other couples who were passionate fans of our homeland. They invited us to join them and we instantly became friends. Since it was our first night and followed long travel we were set on taking it easy with the drinking for that first night. Three rounds later our team scored, the shots of Jameson magically appeared and the following three rounds seemed to order themselves. Our new friends multiplied when Lindsay found two French guys to retest her accent and a family (including their 11 year old daughter who is allowed in the bar).
So much for our sobriety and reasonable bedtime plans. A pair of broken sunglasses and a long, misguided walk home later we were ready to sleep for a very long time. But wait, there's more... We had scheduled a wine tasting trip in the morning that required walking a mile to the pick-up point by 810am and it just so happens that this first night of our stay is a holiday in Catalonia which is celebrated with fireworks throughout the night (the shortest night of the year). Add in the humidity, my not finding the air conditioner and the headache from our celebrating and we were in for yet another minimal night of sleep.
Our first half-day turned into much more than we expected when we started making friends watching the World Cup... After checking in we strolled around the area of our hotel and down Las Ramblas (the main drag) seeking out a good spot to watch the US world cup game. I was shocked that the locals were working during the games and didn't have any giant screens in plaza's for public gatherings. We settled on a quaint little Irish pub with a good mix of nationalities and multiple tv's tuned to the USA-Algeria game and the England-Slovenia game.
Most of the fans were for England (including a guy from Chicago wearing and England jersey and ignoring our game...RUDE) but we did find two other couples who were passionate fans of our homeland. They invited us to join them and we instantly became friends. Since it was our first night and followed long travel we were set on taking it easy with the drinking for that first night. Three rounds later our team scored, the shots of Jameson magically appeared and the following three rounds seemed to order themselves. Our new friends multiplied when Lindsay found two French guys to retest her accent and a family (including their 11 year old daughter who is allowed in the bar).
So much for our sobriety and reasonable bedtime plans. A pair of broken sunglasses and a long, misguided walk home later we were ready to sleep for a very long time. But wait, there's more... We had scheduled a wine tasting trip in the morning that required walking a mile to the pick-up point by 810am and it just so happens that this first night of our stay is a holiday in Catalonia which is celebrated with fireworks throughout the night (the shortest night of the year). Add in the humidity, my not finding the air conditioner and the headache from our celebrating and we were in for yet another minimal night of sleep.
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