Where you going? Barcelona.

Tapas meal with gazpacho and a nice glass of rioja.
The Magic Fountains of Barcelona.
A beach very close to my hostel on the north side of Barcelona in an area called Badelona.
The most popular beer in Spain is called Esperanza Damm -- this was a Limon version.
Barcelona won the Spanish soccer league my last night in the city -- crazy parties in the streets and a great atmosphere!

I arrived in Barcelona at 10:30 pm without a place to stay and with no idea how to get downtown.

Luckily, I've become pretty comfortable with the uncertainty of travel and I figured out how to get downtown for only 5 Euro and then managed to find a cheap hotel in the center of the city using an internet cafe as my guidebook.

After a very long day of traveling in a hungover state, I was extremely happy to be in my hotel room and to take a long, hot shower. After my shower, I went just outside the hotel to find a quick bite to eat and ended up at a Pakistani kabab stand where a transvestite hooker and his.....her.....friend were waiting for their food. I later heard that I was in one of the more dangerous parts of the city but it turned out that the Pakistani guys at the kebab stand were very nice and they hooked me up with a ton of food!

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The next morning I checked out of the hotel and made reservations at a hostel just outside the main center of Barcelona -- about a 15 minute ride via metro. I purchased a 15 Euro, 3-day metro pass and went out to the hostel.

The hostel was a great place to stay and for only 20 Euro per night (for a 4-bed mixed dorm-style room) was a really good deal. Comparatively, my room in downtown Barcelona was 65 Euro and that was considered cheap!

I dropped my stuff off, chatted up the very friend hostel staff and ventured back to the city center to do some sightseeing.

I should explain that I had plans to meet up with a friend who was teaching English in Belgium and her boyfriend but they unfortunately weren't able to make it and that's why I ended up having a 3-day stay in Barcelona by myself.

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Now that I had my home established for the 3-day weekend I was free to see Barcelona! The number one thing on my list to do was to eat at Tapas 24.

Tapas 24 is run by a chef who used to work for Ferran Adria at el bulli -- considered by many to be the best restaurant in the world. Carles Abellan worked for Adria for years and then went off to open Tapas 24 and Comerc 24 --- Comerc being the higher-end, molecular gastronomy, restaurant and Tapas 24 obviously being that tapas joint.

For those of you who don't know, tapas style eating is very common in Spain and it involves small plates of food -- typically with strong, bold flavors that might not be as enjoyable in large servings.

As a single, I was able to skip the long line and was seated at the end of the bar. My waitress was awesome! She explained the daily menu to me in English and recommended a few things. I really wish I had my camera with me that day because the food was presented beautifully!

I had a peach-mint juice that was incredible. The common starter was toasted bread rubbed with tomato and served with olive oil and pepper. I also enjoyed a couple of ham-cheese croquetas.

Then we got into the good stuff! I got a plate of chicken tandoori skewers with an amazing spicy, yogurt sauce that was just perfect. Perfect!

And then came the piece de resistance. The long, white plate of baby octopus. Probably 10-12 of them, all lined up in a row -- waiting to be eaten by me!

I have had and even have prepared baby octopus and it tends to be a little chewy and rubbery. Tapas 24 avoided this and grilled them to perfection. A little olive oil gave them a crunchy exterior and they were served with a bit of their own ink.

After the meal, I told my waitress, "Los sepionettes son fantasticos!" (the octopus was amazing!)

She smiled back and replied in English, "I know."

Truly amazing. Thanks for the recommendation, Mercedes!

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I made countless observations over the next few days and recounting all of them wouldn't really be worth the effort. Ultimately, I was kind of down in the dumps from time to time because I wasn't able to experience these incredible moments, places and food with friends or family. Either way, here are some things I experienced over the rest of the weekend:

Picasso Museum - Got in for free because it was a special day for the Barcelona museums. Truly understood after walking through Picasso's works in chronological order how talented he was. He mastered the techniques of the masters and then took art to a new level by looking for the essence of shapes. Art didn't have to be a replication of reality -- it could evoke a greater feeling and Picasso was a master of this!

MACBA - Modern Art museum in Barcelona. First floor was just okay in my opinion. The second floor, however, featured an incredible exhibit of a Canadian artist, Rodney Graham. This dude is truly a genius. He completely took me on an intellectual exercise in what art is. How an idea like infinity can be turned into music. Or how the very idea of light can be toyed with to create a canvas and then have that canvas disappear. He did a translation of a translation and found that the meaning of the book completely changed. He threw vodka bottles at gongs. He created a piece of music that won't play the same loop for over a billion years. Ask me about this guy sometime and I'll talk your ear off!

Magic Fountains of Barcelona - This is like the Bellagio fountains being tied to the Capital Building in Washington DC. Truly an incredible evening watching the fountains, people watching and enjoying a couple beers in a fantastical place. Wish you could have been there with me!

Las Ramblas - This street is home to street performers, little shops, restaurants, theatres and much more. It's really the heart of Barcelona and I had a blast watching some of the amazing street performers. A must do if you visit Barcelona.

La Bocqueria Market - Just off Las Ramblas, is La Bocqueria. This market has incredible, fresh food. Everything from jamon to seafood to fruits. The best part is that a couple places buy up the fresh ingredients and will prepare them for you in a relatively cheap setting. I ate at a vendors grill in the back of the market and had my favorite dish of the trip -- razor clams! They were long clams, grilled to perfection and served with olive oil and just a little lemon juice. I sat next to a nice German couple and we talked for a while as we enjoyed our fresh seafood and white wine. These razor clams might have been the best food I've ever had!

The Beaches - I went for a couple runs over the weekend, preparing for my half-Ironman that would occur on June 6, and ran down the coast each time. The beaches of Barcelona were incredible. And they happened to be topless. Let's just say I ran about 4 miles before I realized that I should probably turn around and head back at some point. Beautiful, beautiful women in Spain!

La Sagrada Familia - Gaudi is the most famous Spanish architect and his unfinished La Sagrada Familia church is a truly modern approach to building a cathedral. Many people don't like it but I think it's a new attempt at creating something beautiful. The Spanish are constantly looking to create something new and La Sagrada Familia is a great attempt at new architecture!

FC Barcelona - My last night in Barcelona was the championship game for FC Barcelona -- the local soccer team. If they won the match, they were champions of La Liga. I nearly ended up with a ticket from a French group that was staying at my hostel but couldn't find them at the stadium to purchase the ticket. At least it saved me 60 Euro by not going, but it would have been fun. I ended up watching the game at a bar outside the stadium and FC Barcelona scored 4 goals and easily won the game. It was a blast wearing my FC Barcelona shirt and cheering with the locals as the home team won the Spanish premier league! As the game ended, I took the metro back to Las Ramblas and watched the youth of Barcelona go crazy! It was an amazing scene as the streets filled and everyone joined together in songs, cheering and a celebratory concert in La Plaza Catalunya.

My parting thoughts about Spain are kind of academic. I think Italians are clinging to an old world that has, in reality, passed them by. They are no longer a major player on the world stage but they were once upon a time.

The Spanish, however, feel reborn following the repressive dictatorship of Franco. From Dali to Gaudi to Ferran Adria to Pedro Almodovar to Joan Miro, the Spanish are looking to the future and asking....what's important? What does life have in store for us that can be beautiful?

I felt privileged to experience a culture that truly thinks outside the box. That questions authority and the ways of the past. That looks for truth in the simplest of foods yet analyzes the most complex ideas of the human mind in paintings and art.

As I traveled home, I looked forward to seeing friends and family and to a certain extent, getting back into the routine of daily life. But I also returned with a rebellious attitude that I continue to carry with me and hope will never leave.

Spain reminded me to live with passion and energy. To enjoy food and art and activity and travel and people. To throw "what's normal" out the window and ask myself, "What do I want in life?"

We all arrive at this place called life and we don't really have a place to stay. But we make do. We make sure we survive. And when we're at our best, we make sure we live -- and that we live and love passionately. Just like the Spanish.

Enjoy the ride,
Damm