Gaudi, with a Chance of Rain

Darn! I slept through my alarm again but Virg heard it. Luckily I still got up early enough to get a run in. Today I decided to head north to Park Guell, where Gaudi had built a park. I asked for a business card from the hotel front desk and marked my location with my Garmin and off I went. I had scouted out a route already on the map so I knew more or less where I going. At one point there were sets of stairs and at the top of the stairs were the words "Terrorists Tourists" and I decided not to continue up the steps (although later I discover the stairs went straight to where I wanted to be). The park was quite and had a number of runners. Runners in Europe aren't as friendly as runners in the US. They won't smile, wave or acknowledge your existence...they just run.

Coming back my knee bugged me some going down stairs but otherwise I faired great on my 5 mile run. Running back to the hotel was a little trickier because I turned south too soon. I knew I was heading in the general direction but the roads were curving and crossing more. Once I got close I played a game that I had just played with my nieces and nephews on an Easter egg hunt the Sunday before...hotter and colder. With the Garmin setting showing distance to a marked location I ran and if the distance increased I knew I was getting "cold" and running in the wrong direction. Technology is so awesome!

After breakfast the group hopped on the red tour bus and headed up to Park Guell. That morning in the hotel everyone but me decided to leave their umbrella's in the room since we hadn't needed them and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a short but very uphill walk up to the park and it was swarming with people. We wandered around and decided to sit and have a diet coke and enjoy the beautiful, sunny weather. At the first thunderclap in the quickly darkening sky, we decided it was time to start walking. The sky broke open shortly after and POURED. Although it remained cool the rest of the day, the sun eventually came back out but not without raining off/on for a couple of hours. Tomorrow is the same weather forecast as today, partial sunny but we'll be smarter and figure the weather prediction is Gaudi, with a chance of rain.