While I was tempted to spend our last full day in Barcelona traveling to the Montserrat Monastery northwest of the city that was justifiably reputed to be beautiful, stunning, and therefore not to be missed, the long journey by bus, train, and some other mode of public transportation was too daunting for me, my traveling companion, and my multitude of blooming bedbug bites.
Instead, I opted to be a horrible tourist and forgo Montserrat for something as ridiculous and unnecessary as rest and sleep. And it therefore came to pass that we ended our vacation in Barcelona the same way we started it... with excellent food and a walk along the Iberian sea:
Castelldelfels ("castle of the sea") gave us a stunningly beautiful day, devoid of any white or wet stuff in the sky, replaced with a long, long stretch of sunshine and almost deserted beach. The weather was sufficiently warm and comfortable and the beach sand smooth enough for me to exit reality and enter la-la land for quite a while. I stopped to pick up some beach glass and shells along the way, feeling a wee bit as if I were in a Spanish version of Florida. Albeit without obnoxious seagulls to disrupt my peace.
It was hard not to think of the weeks ahead -- the long flight back, the scramble to pack up, the long drive back to Washington, and the grind that spring quarter would inevitably become at work.
But, for the moment, there was no grind, no exhaustion, no frustration... just my reliable happy place, merrily at work, filling my spirit with all the good stuff that it would need as I travelled back to reality in the U.S.
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