Barcelona, 9th December 2019

Monday, 9th December 2019

Today we leave Segovia, headed for a place called Sant Just Desvern, a town, just on the outside of Barcelona. Our drive is a 702 kms or  a 6hr and 15 mins, but we know we will take a little longer than that. We leave Segovia early, as it is a long day of driving.  We share the driving, and after some time we find somewhere to have some breakfast. Where we stopped was different, in that the resturant was on top of the sevice station, and was quite nice. I am still amazed, that at any time of the day, one can purchase a wine or beer. Anyhow, after we have eaten, we continue on our journey, and arrive in town of Sant Just Desvern at 2.30pm.  Along the way Bob has been trying to contact our host, to try and organise an earlier entry into her place, as we had organized a 5pm entry. But alas we have no luck, as we get no reply to Bobs message, so we decide to go to a shopping centre to fill in some time. The road system around here is a bit different, as there is trams running in the middle of the roads, so one can not just turn to the left or right at a corner. You either continue on to aroundabout, or as we soon found out, use the extra lane, which is specifcally designed for traffic to turn across the two lanes of traffic and tram lines, with traffic lights assisting, as we eventually found out. We get to a shopping centre, and park the car, and make our way inside the complex.
There are 3 floors to this shopping centre, with all manner of retailers and food places.  We go to Starbucks, as we know they do a decent size coffee, and the coffee is usually good. After we have finished we wander around the centre, filling in time. Still no reponse from our host, so we decide to  see if we can find the place, and this proves to be somewhat of a challenge. We follow the directions of the gps, and 3 times we go around the block, are unable to find the correct street.  Eventually we do get it right, and try to find the nuber of our accommodation, and again, we draw a blank. From first impressions, parking looks like it is going to be somewhat of a challenge, and it is not until, we pull up and put the hazard lights on, I get out and take a walk to see if I can find the said number of the unit. I do, so now, the next thing is to find somewhere to park the car. We park at the top of the street, not sure if it is in an allowable spot, but we only intend to be there a short time. We talk a walk to explore what is around where we will be, and there is a Barber, so Bob makes an appointment for a hair cut tomorrow.
Our host has contacted us, and tells us that someone will be with us shortly, and we wait, and wait and wait. We are starting to get a bit iffy about this place. Eventually a woman comes and introduces herself to us, and she is not the person that our host has mentioined. But she has keys and we are keen to go inside. Anna, shows us about the place, and answers questions we have, then leaves.
The unit appears to be nice enough, but we have one flight of stairs to stuggle up with our luggage. a decision is made to try and bring the car closer to the door, and fortunately Bob is able to get a park that is close enough for us to manage the luggage and other goods we have. Once all this has been taken inside, we call it a day and relax.

Tuesday, 10th December 2019.

Bob has his hair appointment this moring, and comes back with a good hair cut. He found out about the buses that run into Barcelona, and what number it is that we need. Bob also mentions that the Barber was very much a perfectionist in cutting his hair, and that we was from India.
We go out a bit later to explore more of the area about us, and two doors down from the barber, is a nail place, and I mention that it would be nice to get my nails done for christmas, so, with again prodding from Bob, (he would call it encouraging ) and he said he would like me to do this as it would be his Christmas gift to me,  I go inside to make some enquiries. Knowing full well, that there will be a language barrier, I am a little prepared with my phone for translation. Between the young lady and her phone and my phone, an appointment is made for the afternoon, at 5. Wow, I have come so far, when it comes to communicating with people now, even if they don't speak the english.
We continue our walk, and find a grocery shop, to get a couple of things, then head back to the unit.
5 pm comes, and I leave for my appointment, knowing this is going to be a quiet appointment. Josselyn ushers me to th chair, as we get started on doing my nails, both hands and feet. Josselyn, nows a little english, but not much, but more than i know Spanish. I ask her if i can have prints on my nails, as I have read the brochure I took earlier, and the thought of having some Christmas theme on my nails, would be nice. She shows me some pics on her phone of what I could have, and I make my choice. It is interesting sitting in the chair, listening to the other ladies chatting. There is one customer who speaks english, and Josselyn enlists her help to explain a couple of things to me. I am offered a cup of coffee before we start, and I am sure that she gets it from the bar that is next door.
After 2 hrs of getting my nails done, and my feet also, I am so happy with what has been achieved. I invite Josselyn to take pics, so she can dispaly what she is able to do on the shop website.
I go back to the unit, and tea has been cooked.

Wednesday, 11th December 2019.

Today, we are going into Barcelona by bus. By car, this is a 30 mins drive, a distance of 19.5 kms.  Our plan is to go into Barcelona, and get the hop on hop off bus. We wait at the bus stop which is nice and close, and hop on board when it arrives. Paying for the trip can only be done with cash, as they don't have card facilities, and we don't have a travel card, that most of the other passengers have. We are giong to take this bus right into Barcelona, until it stops. This works out very well,  as it stops at the University, and this is close to what seems to be the centre of the city.  We take a moment to gather our bearings, and head of towards a shopping centre. Along the way, we ask a couple of guys working on the footpath where the hop oh hop off bus stop was. We were given directions, and headed off. We found a Star Bucks, and decided to have a cuppa and a bite to eat before we got on the bus.
We find the stop for the sightseeing bus, and purchase tickets, and go upstairs to take in the sights. The tour is about an hour and a half, and we saw a lot of interesting buildings, and structures. The style of  some of the buildings was unusal, and some where very elaborate. Barcelona is a city of 1.6 million people, and is the capital of the community of Catalona. It is a very beautiful city, and  I enjoyed the views from the bus. We were going to do the second tour,  but decided, it would be best if we headed back to Sant Just Desvern, as we were not sure how long it would take to get back on the city bus.
We head back to the bus stop, and it starts to rain a little, but we don't get to wet,  and we seemed to have timed it very well, as we don't have to wait to long for the bus. We get onboard, and decide that we will get of a couple of stops  before where we need to, as there is a Aldi, we can get some groceries at. So this is what we do, and when we have finished shopping, we get the bus and continue on to our destination. It worked very well, and the bonus is that we didn't have to move the car. We have sort of been very reluctant to move the car, as finding  a park when we return could be a real challenge.

Thursday, 12th  December 2019

Spent the day not doing very much.
We are having challenges with the Internet at the unit, and have messaged the host to see if there is a problem.
We did go for a drive to the shopping centre, to find the Orange shop, to get some credit for the wifi box we have.

Friday, 13th December 2019

Today, we are going back into Barcelona, as Bob has made a chiropractor appointment for his back. We again catch the bus into the city, which fills up the closer we get to the city.
We disembark at the same place as on Wednesday, and head of to find the Chiropractor. Walking down the streets following the directions of the gps, we come across a street full of christmas stalls. We will come back to and explore this  after Bob has fiinished with the Chiro. There are so many little narrow streets, and the shops just keep popping up in unexpected places. We find the chiro, and go upstairs to the practice, they are an English couple  and have been in Barcelona 6 years.
After we are done there, we eventually go back to the christmas markets. It is remarkable, as there is so many stalls all dedicated to Christmas and ornaments and decorations. Many stalls selling miniture figurines and nativity scenes, AND Christmas trees. It was a joy to see, for someone like me coming from Australia, and seeing all of these things.
We wander down some more streets, and eventually we go back to the bus stop to head back ot Sant Just Desvern. Again, the bus fills. We get off at our designated stop, and go  back to the unit. There is still no internet despite our host saying that someone was coming to look at it.  Our host seems to keep late hours as she sends emails at midnight.

Saturday, 14th December 2019

We have decided to leave a day early from Sant Just Desvern. The fact that the internet isn't working, and the parking situation and that we feel that there is not much else of interest here, and we would only be leaving one day early. 
We have decided to head for a place called Argeles- sur- Mer, which is on the way to our next longer stay. It is in France, just over the border, and is a distance of 204 kms, or 2 hrs and 10 mins. It was great seeing the mountains covered in snow.
 We have booked a motel, and arrive at the motel, just after 2. The motel is basic, but is clean, and has a bed in it, that  is all we need.  In the evening, we take a drive around the  town, and find a nice little place, that seems to be very festive.  We find a place to park the car, and wander through this little town, that has many Christmas lights and decorations around. It is lovely seeing all the pretty lights and the effort gone into decorating the town. Some of the deocrations are so simple, and some are more complicated. Most of the businesses have a window display and the town center is a mass of lights and displays. Of course I have to get the madatory Christmas pics with displays, and the lights above the streets. 
We find somewhere to have something to eat, and we have done it agian. We are a bit early for some of the resturants,  however, we get a meal,  and a beverage, and all is good. After we have eaten we head back to the room and day is done.

Sunday, 15th December 2019

We leave the hotel after we have some breakfast, for our next league of  our journey. This is the start of our Christmas stay in the snow, and is somewhat exciting. The drive from Argeles - sur-Mer to Vernet les Bains is a 1 hrs 10 min drive, or 77 kms.
We stop at a place called Perpignan, and get some lunch, and to recharge our French sim cards. The staff in the Orange shop were busy, and of course there was the language barrier, but with some persistance from Bob and some translating, we get our recharging done. We make our way again, and Bob has contacted the host of our next place a few times over the last few days just asking about Christmas day and if she had any suggestions for the day. Again, he contacts her, regarding getting in early, and she has no problems with that, as we can check in by ourselves, and they live in the States.
We arrive in Vernet les Bains, in the early afternoon, and again, we are challenged with finding the place of where we are going to stay for the next 3 weeks.  We park the car, and get out and take a walk to see if we can find it, and of course we do. We walked right past it, when we were looking for it in another area. So we follow the check in procedure and get the keys and go up the stairs to our accommodation.
We return to the car, and decide to try and get a closer park, as it will be do difficult to carry the luggage and other goods we have from where the car is currently parked.  Fortunately, we are able to get a closer park, and we start to unload the car, and ferry all the things upstairs. There is a balcony, and only one way in and out of the place, but that is common place with the accommodation we have been staying in.
While we were looking for our unit, we found the office of tourism, which we will go to tomorrow to get some local suggestions about what might be available on Christmas day.