10 reasons I love Barcelona

1.  It's flat!  Easy walking, my friends...

2. It's on a grid pattern (for the most part).  Even the old city, the Barri Gotic, is perfectly easy to navigate.

3. It has wonderful "grande allees" or boulevards - every third street is a wide avenue.  This picture is the Arc de Triomf.

4.  The architecture - while Barcelona has many famous attractions, such as the Sagrada Familia, it's the beautifully designed buildings that line every street that makes the city a visually exciting place.

5. Shopping - fashion boutiques abound, from high end to moderately priced, and everyone is dressed up (I'd say the people here are more fashionable than those in Paris - don't berate me for saying so!)  This is a great window display - these are security cameras all checking out the Louis Vuitton bag.

6.  The food - finally in Spain we come across awesome tapas!  Yummy!

7.  It's on the water.  Interestingly enough, Barcelona demolished the railway tracks that used to divide the living city from the waterfront! (gee, sound familiar?)

8.  The weather - it's Oct 25th, 22 degrees and sunny outside. 

9.  No habla espanol - most people here do speak some English (unlike our experiences in the rest of Spain).

10.  Finally - they have Starbucks!

I swear, everytime I looked behind me this elephant was following us.  I wonder how he'll manage on the autoroute to France!