Barcelona part dos

Aside from the whole bag snatching incident (see Barcelona pt.1), Barcelona was pretty cool.  We got there the day before the San Joan celebration on June 24.  The evening of the 23rd, we went to the beach and partied with the rest of the city!  Which means we sat on our blanket and watched the fireworks going off left and right.  Everybody brought their own supplies of very impressive fireworks and just lit them wherever they sat.  No cordoned off places, no police to watch that no one gets too close, no mommas saying "don't do that" nor "that'll burn your hands off".  Everyone was having the time of their lives!  There were young and old dancing in the beach bars, kids and adults, lighting and throwing m-80 firecracker bombs, guys of all ages pissing in the surf...(ok, could have lived without that particular part of the celebration).  It was just a giant party and everybody was invited!  Really fun.  When we left at two, there was no end in sight, and actually, the fireworks continued ALL night and much of the next two days. 

In addition to that, we completed the requsite tourist things:  took a couple of walking tours, went through a couple of museums, went to the beach during the day a few times, ambled down Las Ramblas and saw Gaudi's park Guell (my personal highlight).  

The metro system is fabulous, the city is pretty clean (despite the eau du piss occasionally), and as the police and tourist information people say "they use no guns or knives" to steal your stuff.  Just stealth and cunning. Gotta watch that, cuz if you don't, you'll be yelling at the poor girl trying to make drinks for other unsuspecting tourists in Starbucks.