I cannot speak Spanish !!!!

 Welcome to Espana, bitches (where's the Italian? :-( 
 On the beach, squinting in the hot Spanish sun.

 More beach.

 I am not normally one  to pose in clothing, but I had to for this one. That vest is baller, and I bought it in Barcelona but it's Italian made.

 Near the main port of Barcelona, where the cruises go out from. This is a monument to Columbus.

 The port. Beautiful, PERFECT weather.
 Casa Battlo, another work of Gaudi.
 The Barceloneta stop beach!! Many, many naked people.

 Remembering Italia always! No I was not wearing this when the guy came up to me to ask a question.

 Art of Joan Miro, Barcelona's main artist (other than Dali)

 The various olympic torches, in Barcelona's olympic museum. When I was done with this, I watched tennis live from Beijing on a 100" TV :-)

 Outside Barcelona's olympic stadium.

 Inside Barcelona's olympic museum. The shoes and cleats of some of the world's finest in soccer, including Ronaldinho and Beckham.

 The Olympic Stadium in Barcelona. The olympics were held here in 1992, summer games.

 My friends, on our last night out in a pub.

 La bandiera italiana - at a parliament building, Piazza Venezia

 Helen and me...at Rafael's tomb in the Pantheon - Rome.

 Bienvenidos a Espana, gente

 These pictures are clearly out of order. This is from the Sagrada Familia - Barcelona and Mont Juic.

 Last pictures of Italy.... sadly. Look, it's the leaning tower!
 The Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's masterpiece and still under construction.  Gaudi = Barcelona's defining architect, his stuff is all over. I waited 50 min to climb to the top (well, to take the elevator, then climb up)

 This is one of several pics that I could've shown to you LAST YEAR had I not lost my camera. Amazing views of Barcelona from the Sagrada Familia. 

 Going down the Sagrada Familia....narrow staircase, and my shoe.
 Futbol Club Barcelona - - - the home stadium

This is bad. I went to a cafe yesterday and couldn't get like 3 words out without an 'eh.' The woman started LAUGHING at me and asked if I was learning Spanish. WTF? In the end, she prepared me a great dinner. It's freakin impossible to find ANYTHING to eat here without HAM or SEAFOOD in it. Spanish cuisine was never my favorite. Tomorrow evening I fly to Paris - - - first time, and I am extremely excited. Today I went to the beach and walked around town more. I got a sick tan today at the beach, and saw lots of topless people...yes people, not just males. Europeans are very 'free' with their bodies, probably the one thing I miss about America. The more time I spend out of Italy the more I wanna go back. Yesterday I searched high and low for a pizzeria, and eventually found one. Today at the beach, I don't know why, but a man came over to me and said "italiano?" and asked where he could rent a chair (in italian). I was not wearing anything screaming Italian, but that was cool. Yesterday, I bought lots of clothes in Barcelona....75% of it was made in Italy. Great stuff. Today, I came home at 4 to pack and do some secondaries. Here's some photos, and next time I write it'll be from France. Let's see if the French live up to their stereotypical obnoxiousness. Yesterday, I washed my 2 pairs of clothes that I have in my knapsack for the next 7 days. Pretty gross, eh? Guess how I did it? YES, I bought detergent in the market and washed my clothes in my hotel sink. Funny eh??? You'll be glad to know, the Spain pictures (obviously, as this post shows) are LOADED on my computer. So in the case that I god forbid am so stupid to lose my camera in this country, I have the proof I was actually there!!!!!!

Ciao ciao.

David