a day like today

Over the past two years I have grown so used of flying back and forth between Barcelona and Athens that I can practically set my flight sleeping schedule according to the cruising altitude, knowing exactly when to bring my sit to the "upright" position before even being told. Today in particular I was quite reluctant in doing so, mostly because it was sometime around 5 in the morning when we started our descent to "El Prat" Airport.

In any case, this late -or early depending on one's point of view- flight was actually better than what I expected. The weather I encountered upon my arrival, on the other hand, was not. I picked up from where I left, almost two weeks ago when it was cloudy and windy. Only now it was very cloudy and very windy. As I tried to give myself as many tasks as possible to avoid going to bed at 11 am, I found myself riding a bike up on the Rambla only to remember that a day like today, four years ago I was walking down the same street for the first time in my life. Back then in 2004, Barcelona was just a -promising- holiday destination, I was a tourist and in the company of Kostas enchanted by this beautiful city. Today, I have been in this place for almost two years, enough not to consider myself as a "guiri" anymore. Nevertheless, the joy of walking down the Rambla remains unspoiled by any habitual interference, like having to go to the supermarket or carry 10 kilos of groceries back home, while "bicing" (yes, I still do that) through the tourist-infested streets of the Gotico.

It looks like, 4 years after that first acquaintance with the city of Gaudi, the magic is still here.