Barcelona/Rome 2012
An early night the previous night meant an early morning was feasible-- and the visit to Santa Maria del Mar, described by Lonely Planet as the "queen bee" of Gothic cathederals, was worth it. It lacks the dramatic light, but as far as the defining look of Gothic, my (unfamiliar) eyes would be hard pressed to disagree.
Walked past city hall and the Arc de Trionf on the way back through La Ribera, plus a Nike running event. Random. Sadly I missed out on hot chocolate and churros-- the one place I found this morning was while lost... decided finding my way was more important. Oops. *grins*
To the airport afterwards, for another baguette sandwich (with Iberico ham!) and then the (delayed) flight to Zurich, then rushing through Zurich to Rome! Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino airport in Rome is much like Barcelona's El Prat Airport-- way the hell out there, so after finding Alicia, we caught the Leonardo Express train to Roma Termini (Rome's central train startion), found food, and tried to figure out how to get to the hotel...
Turns out Rome has something like 280 bus/subway (metro)/tram/urban-railway lines. o_0 We found a tram that took us most of the way, then walked through Rome's surprisingly narrow streets to the hotel. Good thing we had dinner at Roma Termini, or else we would've been unhappy campers...
Side note: yes, three baguette sandwiches is two too many, when I had to skip churros/chocolate and tapas. *sigh* One reason why a rushed trip sucks. Fortunately Rome would be more relaxed...