open areas

  1. unwound | flickr

    This vacation was originally intended for us to do two things: see all the things we didn’t see the last time, and make up for the fact that when we were here last year we were both under a lot of stress and not at our best.

    Then the whole Sandy thing happened and we got on a plane bound for Barcelona exhausted, emotionally drained and working on our last good nerves. And when we arrived here, we both had colds.

    So suddenly this trip has become about two very different things: revisiting the close and familiar, and unwinding, letting go and relaxing.

    Today we walked down to Port Vell again. We walked around a bit, enjoying what felt like a  late summer day. We had coffee at an outdoor cafe then decided to take a boat tour of the harbour. We paid for the tour and got on board the boat (really, a gondola type vehicle) for our half hour tour. We were the first ones on so we took a seat up top, sat in the warm sun  and talked while the green waters of the Mediterranean Sea slowly rocked the boat. 

    We talked about how when we were first dating I used to have recurring dreams about us being together in Spain. Then we talked about dreams coming true. We talked about our past, our present and our future, all the while the rocking of the gondola and the warmth of the sun lulling us into a state of complete relaxation.

    What seemed like half an hour later, the lady who sold us our tickets boarded the boat, came and sat next to us. “Looks like you’re the only passengers for the 12:15,” she said. “Can we convince you to come out for the 2:00 instead?”

    We looked at each other, shrugged. “Sure, no big deal. We’re not going to make you take the boat out for just us.”

    She was grateful enough that she refunded our money and gave us free passes for whenever we wanted to come back.

    It didn’t matter. That half hour we had on the boat without it ever leaving the dock was just what we needed.

    I know we’ll see a lot of things the rest of this week; parks and mountains, sculptures and castles and art and even a burlesque show. But it was those quiet minutes on a docked boat that I’ll remember the most.

    Unwound.

    2. Tagged:  barcelona   barca2012 

    Posted 6 months ago 45 notes

    1. joelhamill reblogged this from openareas and added:
      Good to see some relaxing going on over in Spain. After Sandy and the nor’easter she needs it.
    2. scholvin said: Spectacular pictures, Michele.
    3. openareas posted this