Barcelona Day 2

It immediately became apparent that we made a good choice staying in the Gracia neighborhood. It was so much quieter there, and so much more like a real neighborhood. Within a one minute walk of our hotel were a bakery, a pizza place, a supermarket, and a subway station. There were also several great restaurants in the area. One we went to twice is a local chain (there are four in Barcelona I think) called Macchina Pasta Bar. This is what we would call a fast casual place in the US, you order at a counter and pay and then they bring the food to your table. In this case, you pick your pasta, and your sauce, and any additions you want. It was actually really good. The second time we went there I got the lasagna, and I have to say it was some of the best I have had in a long time., and probably the best I have even gotten in a restaurant.

Casa Vicens, the first private house Gaudi designed, was located literally around the corner form our hotel. Here is an exterior shot.

This had recently opened as a tourist attraction. Our tour guide said that the association that bought and renovated it paid $37 million (presumably euros) for it. Once I head that I felt better about paying the admission fee, which was high at 16 euros each. With that said, I don't mind helping fund historic preservation, given my background, and it was well worth it, as the house was amazing. We toured it later, more photos to come.

This band was good, and we listened to a couple of songs by them, but i am mainly putting this picture in because the lead singer looks a good bit like my buddy Tuco. It's not a great picture, and I'll try to pull a better one out of the video.