February....

The second of my ten cities to see in 2012 was Barcelona, the capital of the Catalan region in Spain.

The two hour flight from Heathrow was smooth, as was the thirty minute bus ride from the airport to Placa Catalunya, where I met up with my cousin (resident in Barcelona).
The temperatures (I don't 'do' cold!) were not much higher than the 0-2 degrees that I'd left in London, but the brilliant sunshine and basic fact that I was away was enough to keep me smiling!
As I gazed at the sand coloured buildings and chic shopping boulevard (Ramblas Catalunya), I chuckled with cousin Barbara about wanting to sit in a corner of a cafe and adopt the position of a moody writer. I explained that I was seeking inspiration for my literary pursuit (this blog). We agreed that it was pretentious, random and even contrived, but of course absolutely necessary for any 'great' writer!

Before I could sit and brood over my (imaginary) copious notes in a cafe I would need to see a bit of the city, I decided. So I made a mental list of places to see and got a two day pass for the official Tourist Bus routes.

The first 'must see' site was architect Antonio Gaudi's famous Sagrada Familia. This cathedral, surrounded by local shops as well as a McDonalds ( I ate there, of course) is considered to be the greatest of Gaudi's designs.
I shuffled and gazed, took photos and read bits of information, alongside about 150 other tourists on a bright Tuesday morning.
As an uninformed observer I had little idea of how to look at the building, and even less of an idea of how to describe what I was seeing to myself. Big. Church. There was Mary, oh, there was baby Jesus.
How could I write about this place, about which I had neither clue nor precise vocabulary?
Far from being a moody writer in a bohemian cafe with notes enough to screw up and throw away- I was more like an annoyed year 8 student being asked to create and 'write a story' on a Friday afternoon. 'I don't get it', I whispered, stepping forward to examine the tiny figurines dotted around the original face of the building.

Having located myself as an ignoramus in the field of Gaudi's distinct style of neo- Gothic and Modernist architecture, I gave up my grandiose fantasy of becoming a best selling travel writer. I hopped on and off of the tour bus for two days, ate sushi for the first time and continued to gaze, in uninformed awe, of a beautiful city.