Day Three-Barcelona

We got a very, very late start today. Granted, we stayed up very late talking to a young man from Dubai. He spoke perfect English because he was educated at the American school somewhere in the UE. When I said how much I love Europe, and that I am a teacher, he kept trying to convince me to teach abroad. Apparently the American schools are now looking more and more at older teachers, rather than newbies. I could not get him to understand that I would NEVER leave my children and grandchildren at this stage of life. Jon tried to get him to understand by telling him how we are needed for after school care etc. He couldn't get it. He kept saying, "You could Skype with them." No...yes I could but it's not the same. I finally asked him how old he was..32. Ah...that explains it. He doesn't get it yet.
Anyway, we finally went to bed. Our room is small but very clean, quiet and dark. Before we knew it it was after 12.....5 am body clock. I thought we had adjusted but apparently not. We lounged around the pool, drank coffee, woke up and set out for the museums.
First stop was the Picasso Museum. A fascinating place in a historic building over 150 years old. It was fun, having a long interest in art history, to watch how his art progressed over the years. Next door was the museum of Contemporary Art...another fun place.
We were making our way down to the harbor. We stopped in for a minute at a huge cathedral...kind of a mini-Notre Dame. Beautiful.
We sat down in a plaza for a bite to eat and a glass of this wonderful Spanish wine, and soon struck up a conversation with a young couple from London. As I said yesterday, I love the history and culture of European cities, but I really love the conversations we have with people from around the globe. It is so interesting to get their view of the world and of our country. We chatted at length about Brexit (they didn't vote for it) and they told us that it was really a protest vote against the old guard in London, and the inflation that makes it so very expensive. No one really thought it would pass. Of course our election came up. They expressed amazement that we still have such expensive health insurance, even though, "We know Obama tried to help." It wasn't the first time we have heard in the last few days that people in Europe are terrified of Trump getting elected. And comments about the racist nature of our country.  Second group of people that said they would be thinking of us in November. Please don't post your rebuttals to what they said. I am just reporting honest conversations. They have never been to the States, but want to drive the Pacific Coast Highway. They cannot really comprehend the distance. We talked up visiting Chicago; an often overlooked major city.
By then the sun was going down and we thought we should head for more familiar areas. Walked back to a tapas place we have come to love and enjoyed some Spanish appetizers and of course, more wine.
Now it's time for bed. Tomorrow we travel by high-speed rail to France. Loving this journey.