Karen writes: Monday in Spain

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Well it seems like another concert night here in my small patch of Barcelona.  The same pattern as yesterday, the tuning of instruments and occasional song fragment have been making their presence known for a couple of hours but things seem to be kicking up now.  Streams of people are pouring down the streets, I look down from the 5th floor and it seems like an unending river flowing towards the big square just one building away.  So probably another very early run tomorrow, which isn’t a bad thing, I don’t have much time to get myself used to even the slightly cooler temperatures present in the morning before the day heats up. 

I didn’t have any ill effects from yesterdays run even if it was longer than I had intended. My muscles seem to be in good shape, nothing hurts so perhaps the heat is helping keep them soft and stress free.  I’ve done a heap of walking, like to the conference venue, in search of food, and to follow an interesting footpath or set of stairs.  Walking back from the conference I went up a long set of stairs, then another set, then a set with fountains, then some more, and found myself on top of a hill covered in palatial museums. I could look out over the whole of Barcelona and it turns out that the conference people have arranged evening museum viewings for delegates. Wow, this is just behind where I am staying, I couldn’t have chosen better if I had tried. So I know what I will be doing for the next 3 evenings, there are 3 museums on top of that hill, and all those stairs are excellent heat training, even walking them.  I should point out something I have never seen before, there are outdoor elevators to get up the hills, just like you have in department stores, it left me a bit bemused watching everyone riding their elevators up to visit the museums.


Speaking of bemused, it was a shock to go to the supermarket and find it was SHUT on a Sunday.  Fortunately I had plenty left over from yesterday’s shop, so I returned home to my salad and I fancied scrambling the eggs I had in the fridge.  Imagine my surprise when I went to break my eggs into a bowl and found they were already cooked!  Oh well, good protein if not in the form I wanted it, a bit of cheese melted over them, salad with banana and orange on top of it, and I had a dinner of no particular origin or culture (or culinary value truth be told) which I ate on a balmy evening listening to the band, well, listening to the sounds if not the words.

Now Kate, here's a pic for you, my new favourite snacks...see the chocolate says 'sport' so it must be good for me, and I'm so liking the snack mix stuff, lots of corn in it, how can that not be healthy?

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