Sense of Direction is a bit rusty I might say

Well my nap in the train took me almost all the way to Barcelona, after all I didn’t get much sleep since the morning before (I really consider the nap on the plane as adding to the problem and not relieving it). I slept soundly and I really needed it. Memories of my last train ride popped to mind. It was an overnight trip from Cairo to Edfu in Upper Egypt, and the 12+ hour train was another story. Just the sense on contrast made me enjoy this trip even more (The sense of contrast seems to come to me in many other places). I got of the train in Barcelona and had to get to the central square, Plaça de Catalunya. I knew I had to get the local train or the subway and made my way up to the station. I found machines that dispense tickets, got mine and tried to sort my way to which platform to go. It didn’t make sense to me and the people around were not talking English. So I did my best guess and finally hooped on one route and actually made it there.

I got out of the station and into the square. It was impressive, big and full of people. I imagined at this time the day it would be empty, after all it a business day and I was out there closer to 10 in the morning. I have to figure out where my hotel was, and decided to do it on my own. I had been known to have a good sense of direction, but this one proved tricky. I had to weave in many streets and actually went by the street I was heading for twice, because it was saw small and the map I saw gave me the impression it was significantly larger. In addition the Spanish spelling was slightly different, and I thought I got a different street altogether. I guess I also haven’t traveled for a long time and been acclimatized to my native Cairo which doesn’t need me to think about direction in most places. Finally after venturing into that small street, Place de Anna, I finally arrived at the Hotel Cortes.

Hotel Cortes was a small 3 star hotel, right in the Gothic quarters in downtown of Barcelona and next to the Rambla, the famous of all of Barcelona’s streets. I was early and was hoping that showing up I could get the room as an early check-in, after being denied at first I asked to leave my luggage and popped online for a little while and I got the room.

I guess the travels I have experienced in recent years were pretty diverse, either in very big hotels or really rugged. This was different. The room was pretty small, even the door was small and I thought I wouldn’t fit into it walking straight (Of course that is a bit of exaggeration I haven’t grown to that size yet, but it was 60cm wide, and yes I was so curious that I actually measured it). The room was also pretty small, and I had contrasted what I was seeing and the lobby (if you can call it that) to the photos I recall seeing online. “Man photography is definitely an art”. However, it looked clean and right next to the action, with breakfast and free internet, and for a good price considering I only booked it three days ahead of time, what else would I need.

I really didn’t unpack, after all I am moving on in 2 days and there is no need to unpack. I showered and seemed to, unintentionally I might add, find my way to the bed.