Twenty European Cities

Back when we were first married, Frank gave me the 1990 Foder’s guide to 20 top European cities.  Of course, this being 1990. Foder’s should properly have named the guid the top Western Euopean cities.  Prague, Budapest, both of which I have now visited, weren’t mentioned, and the city in Germany was alphabetically listed under WEST Berlin.

With that caveat, some of the cities in the book I knew reasonably well – Rome, London.

Others I had been to one or perhaps twice; long enough to cross off the list:  Dublin, Vienna, Milan, Zurich.

Over the years since then, others in the book have made it to the itinerary:  Lisbon, Madrid, Stockholm.

And finally — since 2014, in fact — only one city from that now remarkably out of date book has remained: on the to-do list:  Barcelona.

Well, we’re here.  And as if to make up for it being last, we’re here to spend Christmas in Barcelona.

First impressions:  Excellent! Wide boulevards, plenty of tree-lined avenues and room for pedestrians; every geography has its “Paris,” but Barcelona really stands up to the test. It helps that we are staying near the main shopping street, and only a few blocks from Sagrada Familia.

Yesterday, when we saw the opera house in Valencia, Frank suggested we check out what was playing in Barcelona, and we just came from a production of L’Italiana in Algeri.  Pure Rossini froth; nothing substantial, but great for the experience, if nothing else.  And here’s one for you:  Curtain was at 5:00 p.m.  I was trying to figure out if this was a Sunday matinee or what, when it suddenly dawned on me that in a country where the dinner hour gets going around 9:00 p..m., it makes sense for the theatre to be pre-dinner. So we got out of the theatre at a very congenial 9:00 p.m.