It all begins again. Deanna and I walked to the city instead of taking a shuttle. It is a long walk. We had planned on going and seeing a park up on the mountain, but the weather was kind of iffy so we walked along the waterfront. As is the usual case, we needed to get food. Deanna wanted to get a good meal and we found a restaurant that looked decent…the waiter greeted us and showed us the menu, he was nice. I ordered chicken and Deanna got the steak he recommended. I also got a cappuccino…tasty. When we got our food it was, standard/sub-standard. My chicken was ok…it was about 7euro. Deanna’s steak was fatty and flavorless for around 14euro. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but we weren’t going to eat there again. The waiter came and asked if we wanted dessert. We both asked for cappuccino. He came back with these two half cappuccinos. I know they were half because I had already had a whole one earlier. I just wanted to get the check and leave.
We asked for the check and he acknowledged us, then proceeded to go to three other tables showing them fresh fish. I was at the point of giving him 2 minutes to bring the bill before he would need to chase us for the money. After taking his time to bring it we saw that our steak, chicken, salad, bread, and cappuccinos came to 49.05 (about $70). We put our money together. I put 45euro on the tray while I got coins out of my pocket. He picked up the tray in a hurry and walked off. For taking so long to bring the check he sure had time to grab it. He came back saying there wasn’t enough. Yeah…I know. I put 4.10euro on the tray and we were done. I wish I remembered the name of the place so I could tell you not to go.
My favorite part of the day was watching the street vendors…the illegal ones. I know they crack down on unlicensed street vending in Italy, and now in Barcelona too. The vendors appeared to be mostly African with a few Indians…selling purses, sunglasses, or belts. All of their merchandise was on a 4x6 sheet. If they were selling purses they had ropes attached to the corners of their sheet so they could quickly pick up their stock and run if the cops came. The sunglasses guys would cover the sunglasses with another cloth then roll and fold up their sheet. Sunglass and belt guys usually had a backpack that their folded sheet would fit into and they would blend into the sea of tourists.
These guys were constantly on the move as police patrolled. At one point we saw a police car by a tourist bus stop we were checking out. Then I heard a commotion and looked behind me to see about 30 guys with their huge sheet-sacks of purses running across the street. Slowly followed by three police on foot. It seems like a constant cat and mouse game. As soon as they catch one that only means that the rest of them have free time to sell.
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