A long one today. Started the morning with breakfast at the hotel and then headed down to the train station to catch our ride to Barcelona. The atrium at Atocha has a nice plant installation with an indoor pond complete with turtles. And, oddly, a sign admonishing travelers against leaving their own turtles in the pond. We took one of the AVE trains to Madrid which travel at about 300 kph and are very comfortably appointed.

Arriving in Barcelona we got settled in our hotel which was right across the square from the Barcelona Cathedral. This meant that every time we left the front door there was always something interesting going on. We went around the corner to another hotel that had a patio with a better view of the Cathedral and had a light (but terrible) lunch with our view of the Cathedral and a guy playing the Spanish guitar on its steps. Afterwards we walked a big loop around most of town to see the sights. I’ve heard mostly great things about Barcelona but there have been some dissenters. I immediately loved the place. I would consider it my favorite stop so far this year. Istanbul was cool just for the size and craziness of the place but as a place to come and spend some time Barcelona is tops.

In our wandering the coolest parts were the Mercat de Sant Josep and the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar. After all of this walking we tried to secure some tapas but after being turned away from every place we actually wanted to go we ended up at Lonja de Tapas which was just ok and expensive by Spanish standards.

Thanks to technology I realized that there were a number of other people I knew in town so we made plans to go get drinks in the evening. Stone, in addition to suffering from the weakness that afflicts people who live in D.C. for any period of time, was fighting jet lag so he went home to sleep. I stopped at Porteno a cool cocktail bar and then met the rest of my mates at Cactus Bar. Strolling around Barcelona at night I was struck by the entrepreneurial spirit of the guys who buy six packs of beer and then stand out in the street and resell them beer by beer. Way to go guys.

The series of events that led to me realizing that I had other friends in town and the ease at getting everyone together for a drink really struck me. It has been one of a mounting number of events that have helped jolt me out of my malaise and start to make me question whether or not I can go back to my old life.

It was a painful start to the day after so many sleepless nights. I managed to wake up and gather my effects and start to the train station. There were no cabs so I had to walk the forty minutes to the train station. …until I was just about there and I finally caught one to take me the rest of the way. The trains in Spain are wicked nice, go several hundred kph and included complimentary breakfast service. Which was highly necessary.

I arrived in Madrid at about the same time as my buddy who I hadn’t seen in… probably a year. We got settled at the hotel and then just wandered around the city. Walked down to the Royal Palace and Cathedral, the big Retirdo (I think) park etc. We had lunch at some random cafe and tapas at another. He was feeling jet lagged and I having not slept all week both crashed early.

Woke up around 8am and still had a ton to do. Even more pressing now because I wanted to attend our official “welcome” event in the evening before heading to Madrid in the morning. Finally just couldn’t keep going around 4pm so I wandered through town to find some lunch. I stopped at Cafe Infanta and had some crazy good duck samosas. I had to swing by the office to print some things out and then I headed over to el mundo 26 for our welcome beers. Afterwards, I walked all the way up to the Black Note Club which I was hoping would become my Valencia hang out. The place did not disappoint. Great live blues, everyone dancing couldn’t ask for more. Headed out of there to attempt the 40 minute walk home. After a bit I got tired of walked and attempted to rent one of those city bike things. Rode about 50 feet before realizing I was too drunk to ride a bike and promptly crashing into a dumpster. Picked myself up, reoriented and set out ago. After about 30 minutes structures were becoming scarce and I didn’t recognize where I was. Checking the map I realized I had become disoriented after crashing and had accidentally rode out of town. …set out on my return journey and returned home with enough time to get 1 hour and 45 minutes of sleep before I had to wake for my train.

Worked right through the night as the election wasn’t called until the morning in Valencia. The whipsawed reaction in the markets created a lot of work for me on the econ side and this coupled with the fact that I was trying to front load all my work before going to Madrid on Friday made for a perfect storm of insanity. Survived off of old pizza and wine that I had previously bought and finally passed out around 4am.

Even across the Atlantic this Election Day was spent like all the rest. Holed up somewhere watching the returns, just now those didn’t begin in earnest until 1am. The shocking result put my schedule into a tailspin for the coming days. Luckily I live across the street from a good pizza place, Il Chiottone so I was able to avoid starvation during my seclusion.

Got a late start to the day after our first night out in Valencia. Wandered around through old town. Something about Valencia is really familiar and comforting. Maybe its the weather, the slow pace or that fact that I can finally (almost) understand what people are saying. I stopped at Trencat for some lunch and coffee before heading over to our new workspace, Wayco. It’s nice but not as spectacular as some of our other places. Spent the rest of the day there before leading out to tacos with some folks in the evening at La Llorona where I had what was possibly the best carnitas taco of all time. Afterwards some of us continued out for drinks a a mezcal bar that I forgot to save and then on to another craft beer place called Olhops.