Adios Barcelona

 Adios Barcelona.

Last night Ali and  Emily left for Greece and points beyond.  At 4:00 this morning Jon and Jeanne left for Portugal.  Thanks to the internet we know that they all made it safely (but tired) to their destinations.  The near empty apartment allowed Cathy and me to have a second cup of coffee and a little alone time with Kathleen which is always wonderful.  

Our empty apartment

Alas, our 11:00 check out time arrived and we pulled our bags to a local grocery store that Jon, Cathy and Jeanne had discovered the previous day with a baggage hold area.  We left a backpack and four suitcases.  We once again headed to Sagrada Familia.  However this time it was just to catch a Hop-On Hop-Off tour of Barcelona.  We rode on the top deck of the double decker bus from one end of the city to the other.    

Locking up our luggage

We finished in time to reclaim our luggage and find a sidewalk cafe for lunch.  We shared a Cabify with Kathleen to the airport and Cathy and I continued to our airport hotel in preparation for a Monday morning departure.  

Today we are choosing to be grateful for doing something that was probably pretty stupid but getting away with it.  While we were reclaiming our luggage at the grocery store we realized how very insecure it had been for the previous four hours.  Indeed the suitcases were “chained” to the wall but anybody with a small wire cutters could have snapped the chain like a twig.  Further, the suitcases were not locked so they could have been opened, ransacked and left hanging on the security chain, all in plain view of passersby as the “secure area was in the storefront window.  Thank you God.   

Note the heavy duty “chains”

It’s always fun to learn of the different Christmas customs of other countries.  Spain, specifically the Catalan area, has “El Cagner”.

The Caganer (literally "the pooper") is a traditional figurine secretly placed in Catalan nativity scenes. A traditional Catalan peasant wearing a barretina (red cap), crouching down with his trousers dropped to defecate. He is never placed in the main manger. Instead, he is tucked away in a corner, often behind a tree or building, "fertilizing the earth".  Artisans may also craft Caganers in the likeness of famous celebrities, politicians, athletes, and pop-culture icons.  We saw many of them in stores and souvenir shops.