A wet Lazy day in Barcelona and a trip to Zaragoza

Sunday was a lazy day mainly due to rain. I managed to get myself a local SIM fro my mobile phone thanks to the very helpful Dani from the Vodaphone shop. Although he spoke good english we managed to get the job done in spanish, es muy importante hablo Espanyol, pero habla mas lento por favor. I booked accomodation in Zaragoza and a train then walked around the main town, some washing back at the hostel and an evening in the bar with Ronald. Anna came by and had a drink with us but had exams the following Monday so was not in a position to indulge, diet coke only. It did seem like a bit of a waste spending the day not doing much it was good to slow down for one day (if not the evening).

Bye Bye Barca

Barcelona Sants Estacion has security like an airport. No one was allowed on the platforms until just before boarding and baggage was put through an x-ray device. There were a lot of Americans on the trip and a few locals and one hombre exotico. The train reached a very impressive 300 kilometres per hour and I got to Zaragoza very quickly. Some directions to the hostel from the very helpful lady at the officina di tourismo, a short bus ride and a short walk later I found the hostel. This is getting easier.

Zaragoza is an amazing place, as long as i can walk down down narrow streets with blistered feet and take pictures of old things then I am happy. The Roman ruins are gave me some excellent photo opportunities and some of the more recent buildings weren't far behind. Once again God had the prime real estate, I wonder how his property portfolio went during the GFC. The more recently built bridge of the river was a rather plain structure whereas the one that was built quite some time earlier by the Romans was an absolutely magnificent structure structure of stone with imposing arches.

I ended up in an Irish pub again to watch the rugby, England v Scotland. The poor barman was Scottish and had to put up with a bar full of poms whilst expecting to be on the receiving end of a flogging. As it turned out the match was quite close but that didn't stop the patrons from giving the barman a hard time. After a brief chat with Merick and his lovely girlfriend Vincenta I went back to the Hostel. Merick was a pom living in Zaragoza; he worked as an English teacher and and was a singer in a band, even poms can be interesting.

The basement to the hostal was a large open room with an arched roof. They had a Jazz evening going.I got some Spanish lessons from Ella and Blanka, a couple from Zaragoza who were both intensive care doctors at the local Hospital. The band was fronted by Natalia Calderon who had a great voice and looked good in the process. I recommend everyone check out her music at myspace, natliacalderonjazz, very worthwhile.