European Beach

After yesterdays long list of complaints, we went on a mission to get a nicer room. The first attempt of this lead us to getting exactly the same room, with exactly the same view, just two stories up. We then got a room on the top floor with windows that closed, and with Barcelona behind them, not just another wall. Yay.

It took us a little while to get moving this morning, but that didn't stop the sun from doing it's job. It's been rather warm, which is a great thing when you realise that there are parts of this city which attempt to compensate for the flatness along the coast. Funnily enough, these parts can be so hilly, that there are even open air public escalators in some parts.

Everywhere where we've been in this city up to now, it always feels like the tourists have beaten the path for us. Every corner has someone trying to sell you something, whether it be water, sunglasses, or out of tune music. The latter of which might have left an impression, but only because they actually seem to have gone to the effort of recording their wailing and strumming. The good news in this though is that there were so many street acts, that there had to be some good music in their, if only by chance. And there was.

I maintain that Australia has some of the nicest beaches, and I don't really see the point of travelling internationally and then going to the beach. But as soon as my travel companion saw the water, they put sweltering heat and ocean together, and found themselves going splash. Plans for Jet-skies and Stand up paddle boards got contemplated, all of which died after 5 minutes when they got out due to feeling like their swimming in rubbish. The beaches here are so full, and while this city does an excellent job at rubbish maintenance as opposed to Berlin, it still can't stop the sheer number of people at the beach.

Central Barcelona doesn't really seem to stop at any point. It's not as crowded anymore, but it's still pretty hard to find a quiet corner. And this includes people still happily swimming in the ocean after it's dark. Unfortunately, people also seem to light up along the entire beach and walking along it starts to feel like you can't get any fresh air anymore. Every time you leave someone's smoke trail, the next one always seems to start. But I guess that's Europe in some ways.

Air conditioning appear to be an important part of the Spanish culture, similarly to the Australian culture. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have fully worked out the system as things like subway stations feel a lot hotter than the outside world, and my suspicion is the exhaust of the air conditioning in the trains. As a result, people are still fanning themselves very energetically upon sitting on the train, possibly to freeze themselves before having to get out again.