Barcelona

Well, I have been in Barcelona since Monday June 20. Before coming, I was full of trepidation - about the E. coli situation and the pickpockets and thieves who prey on tourists. Both are true. The E. coli situation still rages on but seemingly not in Barcelona. You see lots of people chomping on salads - the vegetarian eatery I walk past every day is doing a roaring trade.

We were so not in the mood to wait 45 minutes for a table at Hard Rock Cafe on Friday night, instead we opted for instant gratififcation at the "all you can eat" Italian buffet nearby. I must admit though, after the first plateful of salad, judgement got the better of me and I decided that we should have no more, so it was pasta and pizza the rest of the meal. It was rather a dampener though, wondering if I had tempted fate and being a bad parent by allowing us to have salads. Never mind, we are all well and healthy. Not even a tummy rumble.

About the pickpockets. Well, I don´t want to jinx it, I have two days yet in Barcelona. But we have been very vigilant and so far so good. Maybe it is pure luck. It is stressful though, having to constantly be on the look out, looking over our shoulders to see if anyone is tailing us, not being able to put my handbag down on the seat when we eat etc. etc. We either walk or take public transport every where - the Metro (underground train), furnicular train, cable car and the ocassional taxi. We are not tour group people. In the Metro, there are constant reminders of pickpockets. There are uniformed Metro staff patrolling the platforms with or without dogs. Yesterday, my son was putting away his wallet and a Metro staff shouted from the opposite platform to watch out for pickpockets. Passengers walk past and tell you to watch out for the pickpocket on the platform you are heading to. When we asked for directions to change train lines, the Metro staff also reminded us to watch out for pickpockets along the 3 minute walk.

Looking forward to another good day in Barcelona. Heading for Parc Guell today.