Contemplating Barcelona from a small city in Florida

Artist's rendering - La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family)
Maybe it will look like this some day ....

With just over a week before we leave for Barcelona, I'm surrounded by and drowning in lists.

I have a TO DO list, a TO TAKE list, a TO BUY list. I have a list of lists. With all of these reminders, I'm beginning to think I have things under control, that we will actually get up on the morning of June 1 and be completely ready to pack, methodically, not missing a thing, and that each suitcase will miraculously weigh just under 50 pounds. Or less.

SO - I'm giving myself permission to sit with my guidebooks and the marvelous novel, "The Shadow of the Wind," by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and plunge into learning about the city.

The novel is spellbinding. Though it's set in the years from just after World War II until the 1960s, it's evocative of Victor Hugo or even Charles Dickens. Dark and brooding, the story twists through the wintry streets and squares of the city as it mesmerizes the reader with mystery, romance, and even a bit of farce. It makes fascinating treadmill fare - the most boring hour of exercise melts away as I turn the pages. Here's my favorite phrase so far - and it was tough to pick one out - as the author describes Barcelona: " . . . a very faraway city, trapped between a moon of mountains and a sea of light, a city filled with buildings that could exist only in dreams." And this for La Sagrada: " . . . a large hair comb made of melting chocolate." This is my second favorite.

Thanks to the wonderful OLLI at FSU Maymester classes on Spanish art (with a generous helping of art history), we feel as though we might be able to refine our list (a list, again) of what not to miss into a manageable plan. I suspect we could stay for far more than two weeks and still not have scratched the surface of what-to-see and what-to-do. But we have discovered this about ourselves: We want to take our time. We want to bring our sensibilities to the experience. We want to sit and have a glass of cava, or perhaps dip a sweet bun into a warm chocolate pudding and let the city get into our heads. 

I can't wait to find out if what we're anticipating will indeed be the reality - or if it's even better than we are imagining.