Tour of Barcelona's Futbol Stadium May 7

  Barcelona has a amazing soccer team and apparently several of the Vietnamese brothers and sisters asked to have a tour of the stadium where Barca plays. Doug promised to go along as he can translate for them. So we left the group at Las Ramblas after a hectic walk through the local market. Doug had to hold up one of the Vietnamese cone hats so we could all follow him.

The volunteers from the various sanghas here in Spain are amazing and they obviously know Doug very well and look up to him. I can tell he's been very stressed about all the details. but so many of them have conveyed to me how great he is, how smart, etc. It's wonderful to see him at work and using all of his talents. There was one of the guys who took us on the metro to the arena. There we met an Italian living here who goes to many of the games. His 20 year old daughter showed up also to help guide us through the Barca Experience, apparently one of the big tourist draws here in BCN. This Italian guy, who spoke no English, saved me at the end of the day by driving me all the way back to the Residence which took about half an hour! I was so tired and grateful. Doug had to be back for the press conference where I think he was doing the translating for Thay. They all walked the 20 minutes from the arena to where they were staying. Doug said he hurried on ahead as they were so slow! One of them had to shop on the BARCA store on the way out and bought a pair of bright yellow soccer shoes. They have these really hard plastic cleats on them that looked so painful! I think they play a lot of soccer at PV.
The tour took us past the gazillion trophies the team has own and lots of pictures and videos running of famous players like Messi, Ronaldo, and others. The team was formed back in the late 1800s.

The stadium is huge, seating 135,000 Fans .They told us there would be a one million + renovation next year! The grass was real, even though it looked so perfect I thought it must be AstroTurf. We were able to up in the broadcasters booth with a great view. The sisters and brothers couldn't seem to get enough or enough pictures but I was very tired by this time and hungry.

 

 

After my wonderful ride back I had to wait unto dinner at 8 pm! By that time I was more tired than hungry. While I waited for dinner, I found the washers and dryers and was able to do some laundry. This is a GREAT place! Not sure how much it costs yet, but it's worth it! and just a ten minute walk to the metro.

Can't remember if I mentioned Aon from Thailand. She is staying there so we both found our way to the metro and Sagrada Familia to meet the rest of the group who came by bus.