I've been to Barcelona a week ago for a short vacation. Both me and Eva have been there apart before, but Bram wanted to see the city too, so we went with the family together this time. Our hotel was located near the centre with Casa Mila and Casa Batllo. There were a lot of interesting restaurants and bars in the neighborhood, but this 24 hour bakery nearby was frequently visited by us too.
Bram had chosen the spots to visit, while I tried to see if it was possible to find some G-Shock stores. A main goal was to find the 24 Kilates store, which is near the harbor. Two years ago I had been very close, but have missed the store, before I went to the 2009 Shock The World in Barcelona. It is also near to a very good place where you can eat delicious Spanish ham (Pernil in Catalan, Jamon in Spanish).
At the second evening Bram wanted to go to the Egyptian Museum. Well, we are in Spain, so I didn't feel for going to that museum. We agreed to rendez vous at the hotel at 19:00. It was only 17:15, so I thought I had oceans of time. So, while Eva and Bram went to the museum, I went to a mall called "L'Illa de Diagonal".
My actually goal was to find a scarf, as it appeared to be cold after sunset in Barcelona, though it was very nice and sunny during daytime. From the Casio website of Spain I learned there must be a shop called "Neus Cubells Agramunt" selling Casio G-Shocks too. After a good 20 minute walk from our hotel, I arrived at this mall. It was quite bigger than what I expected.
First I went to the Decathlon. I had never visited a Decathlon before, as I live far from bigger cities, so these kind of big stores are not near where I live. To my surprise I found G-Shocks in the outdoor watches department, but only a G-7900 and a G-2900. A scarf was much harder to find, but finally I found where I was looking for. Just in time, because the sun was going to set already.
There were many, many shops, spread over three floors. Carefully I have looked on every floor. I saw many interesting shops. Above was a small Happy Pills store to lighten up your day. It sells candy in shape of medicine in plastic emergency cases and pots. Very funny concept.
A small Swatch store had these Kid Robots on display. I love those toys. At the ground floor there was an exhibition of Porsche cars. A friend of me drove one 20 years ago. Of course I took a little look at those cars.
When I reached the other side of the mall, I went to the Corte Inglés department store and found another interesting scarf. I couldn't resist to buy that one too as it looked even warmer than the one I bought (for €2.-) at the Decathlon.
After searching about every corner on every floor of the mall, I still had not found the Neus Cubells Agramunt store. when I passed the Super Dry store for about the third time, I could not take my eyes of this shirt (again) and dropped in to buy it. Spanish XXL. That's a little tight XL in The Netherlands, LOL. I saw a X-Large hoody in Japan several times in a similar color setting, but, off course not in XL (why then that store name?). Good thing is I could pay with my Dutch bank card. I still can't see why some Dutch people shout loud they want the Dutch Guilder back. One currency in European countries make this possible!
It appears Super Dry is actually a UK based brand, though they had me fooled for a while... They had nice headphone too. I have to look into that too. Would be cool to rotate with my magenta WESC headphone.
Well, I had made a little miscalculation with the time. I expected that L'Illa was only about 5 to 10 shops. It happened to be more like 100. As it was already 18:35, the sun was setting. It was time to rush back to the hotel.
I noticed this bike. Someone stole the front wheel. I remember Adan told me this was typical Spanish. Well, I can tell you you have to put a lock on both your wheels in the bigger cities in The Netherlands too. Somewhere in this city, there is a front wheel hanging in a bike stand...
I think this Gin shop has to upgrade to OS X Lion, Snow Leopard is so 2009. When I arrived at the hotel (17:50), Eva and Bram were already in the hotel room. The hotel lady had let them in already. After a short rest, we went into town for some tapas and a drink down town BCN.
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