Around the hotel: Fish and Forties

While I haven't gotten out of the hotel much, I've managed to get a little bit of time in the Barcelona air.

Right outside the hotel is this fantastic boardwalk stretching quite a distance in either direction. As I'm up on the 38th floor overlooking it, I can see the boardwalk fills with people at about 10am and I'm told stays crowded until 3am. Nightlife doesn't really start going until about 11pm and it exists both inside and outside of the clubs.

 The first evening here we went for a walk down to a gas station to get some supplies. It was 6pm and storm clouds were rolling in but the temperature was fantastic. People were out doing active stuff. Because it we were at the beach I shouldn't be surprised at how fit people were but well, I was surprised. The walk was fantastic.

Right outside the hotel is the Olympic Volunteers Park. Part of the park is this rotary with a fountain. I've already described my experience waiting for the show but I took this separate shot from the balcony and liked it. It's an odd rotary controlled by traffic lights so that people can cross over.

The Olympic Volunteers Park officially starts with this statue. From my room I can see this statue and I was sure that it had my name written below. I was right. Now what is the likelihood that somewhere in the world there would be a statue of a multicolored dude holding up some sort of frame with my name, spelled correctly, underneath it? I need to go back and get a selfie in front of Marc here. I just looked it up: It's a statue sculpted by Robert Llimos in 1997 in memory of his son.

I am guessing that during the Olympics the flag poles would have had flags on them. Kind of a pity they don't keep that up but maybe it's too expensive or something.

In front of Marc I noticed something you'd likely find in any American park. An empty 40oz. screw top of course. Don't know what the beer is but malt liquor is malt liquor. I can't imagine it tastes much different than King Cobra.

I've tried a few different lagers while here. One just seems to be called Cerveza (not too original) and the other was Estrella (you can get it at my Bevmo). I kinda liked the Estrella for a lager.

Next we have Frank Gehry's sculpture "Peix" (Catalan for fish). He was one of the architects of the hotel so naturally he included some oddly shaped sculpture to commemorate his genius. I think it's kinda cool. It catches the light at different times of day and can be quite pretty. This was a sunrise shot with low angle sunlight illuminating the belly (you're welcome, Rich).

I'll end with what might be my favorite picture so far. Some graffiti on a bench.