Tuesday in Barcelona

Tuesday was our big day in Barcelona, the entire reason we were there.  We had tickets to the opening date of the U2 tour.  Lisa and I had never seen U2 before.  We were going to see them on Lisa's birthday in Paris on July 11th but there is a huge medieval festival in Cordes the 13th and 14th so we knew we would have a lot of work to do here.  We also wanted to see Oriol Balaguer's Chocolate shop while we were in Barcelona.  

We started the day by changing hotels.  We were gone for three nights and stayed in three different hotels.  The third hotel was part of our concert package.  We waited too long to buy tickets so the show was sold out, but there was a UK company selling event packages through the U2 website.  We got a room with breakfast and floor tickets as part of our package.  The first hotel we stayed at in Barcelona was near the airport.  The hotel we moved to was right off Las Ramblas, the major tourist thoroughfare.  After we checked in, we took the metro to the stop closest to the chocolate shop.  Then we walked for about a half hour and stopped at a Starbucks on the way.  The chocolate shop is in a really cool area.  It is in a circular plaza around a beautiful church.  The shop is pretty small but has beautiful chocolate on display.  I bought a bar of 70% chocolate and 4 assorted bonbons.  I haven't tried them yet, they are almost too pretty to eat.  

Our trip took longer than we thought so we took a cab to the Hotel Arts for lunch.  It is the Ritz Carlton property in Barcelona.  Lisa knows a chef there and he prepared lunch of tapas for us at Marina, the restaurant of the pool.  It is a breathtaking place.  It is right on the beach.  The view is amazing.  The food was amazing.  We started with gazpacho and bread with tomato puree.  Next we had a salad with apples and walnuts and crispy roasted corn.  The next course was fish for lisa and grilled vegetables and potatoes for me.  Finally, we had cheesecake popsicles for dessert.  It was by far, the best meal I have had in Europe.  While we were eating the singer from Snow Patrol walked by.  After we finished our meal Lisa's friend took us for a tour of the hotel kitchens and the VIP lounge.  While we were in the elevator coming down from the lounge, the Snow Patrol guitarist got in at a floor below the lounge.  As we were saying goodbye in the lobby LL Cool J and his family got off the other elevator.  Then as we were waiting for a cab, The Snow Patrol bass player walked out of the elevator.  It was a star-studded few minutes.  The hotel was beautiful and the staff was really nice to us.  

We caught a cab back to our hotel to get our U2 tickets then headed to Las Ramblas to catch a cab to the concert.  Finding a cab was pretty difficult.  When one finally pulled up, two gentlemen were also waiting and asked if we were going to Camp Nou and would we like to share the ride.  We got really lucky.  The two gentlemen were a father and son from Ireland who were also going to see U2 for the first time.  The father was very enthusiastic and made conversation with us and also the cab driver.  It turned out the cab driver had been a tour guide for years and gave us a tour of the city on the way to the stadium.  It was fantastic.  We reached Camp Nou and entered the general admission area without a security pat down.  That was a first.  The stadium holds 90,000 people.  It is home to Barcelona's football team.  

Snow Patrol took the stage for at 8:30 and played for 45 minutes.  They were really terrific as usual.  U2 didn't start until 10pm.  They played for 2 hours and 15 minutes.  They were very good live.  One of the highlights, musically, was when they played Vertigo.  The stadium went crazy because of the Spanish lyrics.  It was incredible.  At one point in the evening, the astronauts from the International Space Station.  They were on a live satellite feed on the 360 degree jumbotron.  The stage was crazy and had a crazy canopy contraption above it with moving lights.  We were pretty close to the stage.  Bono dedicated Angel of Harlem to Michael Jackson and sang part of Man in the Mirror.  It was the most theatrical concert I have seen in a very long time.  When the show was over, 90,000 people poured into the streets surrounding the stadium.  It was impossible to find a cab and the metro entrances were jam packed so we walked back to our hotel.  It took 2 and a half hours.  We didn't have a map so along the way we met some people from Ireland with a map and tagged along with them.  We made it back safe and sound with the help of some Barcelona garbage men.  

The next morning we ate breakfast and headed to the airport at 830 am.  We flew to Lyon and had a layover then finally to Toulouse.  We made it back to Cordes at 845 pm.  We were exhausted, but it was well worth it.