Day 3

 Today I actually really did do pretty much nothing.

I started with a run along the Mediterranean coast, where I discovered that despite all the fretting I’ve done over the last two years, both the beach and the ocean are still there.

The same can’t be said for the King of Shrimp II. During past trips I often wondered if that guy was
aiming too low. King, sure. But of shrimp? And not even the first one? Today my instincts proved correct. The place is for rent.

I feel like if you’re going to be the king of something, go big like this guy did.

Then I went back to my place, took a shower and asked myself if there was any reason I couldn’t just keep wearing the same t-shirt I first put on three days ago before heading to the airport. Hearing no objection, I got dressed and headed out.

I was wandering around and happened across the very first house designed by Antoni Gaudí. He was, of course the architect who was a member of the Barcelona-area artistic royalty group that included Picasso, Miró and Dalí. He went on to design many iconic buildings in Barcelona, including the Sagrada Familia, which is still being built despite the fact that Gaudi died a hundred years ago.

Anyway, I also designed a house so I figured I’d check it out and see, you know, from an insider’s perspective, how he did.

Honestly, the color palette was a little exuberant if not chaotic. And there wasn’t much thematic consistency from one room to the next. 

It wasn’t really obvious what that house wanted to be – a get away? A place to raise a family? A model home? It’s no wonder it was turned into a museum; I’m not sure anyone would have wanted to live there. But not bad for a first try.

Then I went back to my place, realized that I really haven’t quite adjusted to the time change yet, and fell asleep for two hours, which felt terrific.