After checking weather reports for days, we finally decided it looked good to leave for Barcelona. We got up at 3am and headed out past St. Elmo and North on a heading of 360 degrees. This was the sailing day from Hell. We had picked this day because the winds were to be about 20 knots on our beam and we enjoyed this for the first few hours...then came the hell part...they ended up being about 40 knots on our nose with waves of about 10 feet or more. We had squalls, rain and lightening which one bolt hit right next to us in the middle of nowhere...our Guardian Angel was definitely watching over us that day. I had one of those days where I could be sea sick but was talking myself out of it the whole 14 hours we were out. Land...where is land.
Our first adventure was to the Chinese Consulate to get our VISA's for China in November. After one of those bus/metro ordeals where you are changing modes of transportation about 4 times, we climbed the STEEP hill to the consulate. Well, guess what?...yep, they were closed that day...come back tomorrow the lady behind the intercom said. Thank Goodness they have the 10-ticket Metro/Bus pass that costs only $7.70 Euro. We stopped into a cafe, purchased drinks and used the internet then headed back to the boat. The next day we get up and do it all over again. This time, that office was closed but there was a sign directing us to another location just around the corner. Once there, we waited in line for about an hour, filled out a couple of forms about our whereabouts the last 15 days (apparently they are questionning people to try and contain the Swine Flu thing), and then were told...NO we can't process VISA's for USA residents from here...SORRY. Guess we'll have to go to Plan B. On to better things:
Since we were way up in North Barcelona I had done my tourist-director duties and planned to go to TIBIDABO. You take a funicular car to the top of this hill where the Neo-Gothic Sacred Heart Church is, gorgeous views of Barcelona (it was a very hazy day due to pollution) and the Mediterranean, plus an enormous amusement park that was empty because it is no longer tourist season. We really enjoyed walking around the amusement park, seeing Barcelona from its highest peak and then hiking up a lot of stairs to the church (where you pay $2 Euro) to get the elevator to to top of the church balconies. The views were all worth it though!
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