< November 2001 (Salvaged from the wayback machine)>
25th: Just finished my Exams. I have just returned from Barcelona Spain this last week. It is a vibrant city with plenty of attractions if your in any way intrested in architecture or art. Coupled with these are the vibrant street artists populating the famous Las Ramblas walk. There's also plenty of opportunity to be fleeced of you're Spanish money if you're slightly gullible to the street "entertainment" of little balls under matchboxes.
If you're thinking anbout buying an FC Barcelona Football shirt don't be embarrassed about hagling a little in the shops on Las Ramblas. The first full day I was in Barcelona I took the opportunity of exploring the Camp Nou, FC Barcelona's stadium (an excellent tour in my opinion). In the Nike store there replica shirts were selling for about 9995 ptas. On Las Ramblas the shirts were marked up at 14000 ptas. Hmm the official Nike store charging less for replica shirts than the small operators, was this believable, I think not! I'm sure they've sold a few shirts at that price to British and American tourists who were, how shall I say this, suckers. It was fairly easy to haggle down to around 8000 ptas and if you were prepared to spend a little more time bargaining you could probably get it lower, but hey I had a holiday to get on and experience!
I'm planning on getting a new PC this week so When I have that up and running and my photos get back from development I'll put up a few pictures or the trip. There is some crazy architecture in Barca that's for sure.