My day began about 12:oo p.m. (local time). I felt as though I had wasted a full day of touring the city. As luck has it, I was the second person to awake in our group and was well ahead of the curve. Things here are so different. The sun doesn't rise until 8:30 or so, people don't eat dinner until 9:00 ... very different, and hard to adjust. It is obvious, we are tourists.
Today we experienced Barcelona as a resident. We rode the "Metro" (underground Subway) to the Segrada Familia. INCREDIBLE!!!! It is unreal to see the design and detail placed in the construction of this Temple, dedicated to our Savior. Unreal! We rode an elevator (over 100 meters up) to the very top, and could see the City in all directions. Talk about making your knees week. Although are lives would have been much safer to simply take the elevator down, we couldn't see ourselves doing so. Manny, Josh, Eddie and I walked all the way down a spiral staircase (without a center handrail), probably not to code in our world, but we did it. Talk about nerve racking! "Umph!" (New word we've learned already on the trip.)
We had dinner at a local resturant across from the stadium and were the only patrons in the place. We thought the food must be horrible, but realized later, people in Barcelona, just don't eat before 9:00 p.m. Again, we look like tourists, so different.
It is amazing the way we are noticed, wearing our Barca gear around town. We are generally asked were we are from and they seem to be interested in our logo which is obviously different from theirs (identifying the United States Flag.) People are very friendly with us (they think we are players!)
Tomorrow is a new day. It is our first day with FCB and their Academy, and I can't sleep with anticipation. We are all too excited! Not to mention our first Game watching Barcelona play. We meet tomorrow for two toastes and juice, so lights out.
Coach Greg
