Hasta Luego, Barcelona

My six-week stay in Barcelona has flown by and I will miss being here. Tomorrow I’m flying to Paris and London, and will be back in the U.S. briefly for the holidays. Hausman Tour 2020 kicks off in Dublin in January.

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There are so many things to see here and, even living locally, I just scratched the surface. Sadly, I’ve been delinquent in writing about everything I’ve experienced. For example, my friend Marti Demetrion and I toured Palau Guell, the home of a wealthy industrialist, built in the late 1880s, and one of Antoni Gaudi’s earliest design commissions. It was awesome, even a little overwhelming (whew – all that gold leaf).

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My stay was made richer by the many interactions I had with interesting people here. I was very lucky recently to be able to attend the 20th Anniversary performance of the Schizophrenic Spacers at the Sala Upload dance club, an evening I will not soon forget.

There were, of course, the independence marches, the well-treated dogs, the good beer, and the Happy Pills – really anything you might desire.

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My Spanish has improved, though the occasional addition of Catalan, Portuguese, and Italian words sometimes made conversing harder, and I’ve learned a lot about Spanish culture. For instance, who knew that a little man taking a dump was a traditional figure in Spanish nativity scenes?

After almost three months in Spain, I can say I’ve really enjoyed my visit. The Camino de Santiago was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and my subsequent “recuperation” in Barcelona was just what I needed. Now I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my senior nomad odyssey and I hope you’ll come along with me.

Gracias y hasta la vista por ahora!