Barcelona

Justice's Mailbox; I'm Betting on the Turtle

Tapas, toreadors and trendsetters.  This is a city that has enough style and panache to outfit a whole country.  If there is an architectural style you have heard about and want to see it in one day, go to Barcelona.  Incredible buildings abound.  Pride and confidence infuse the place.  People from all over Spain and the world go there.  Even if they are avant and fashion forward at home, they appear a bit bumptious here.  Class and tasteful flash reign on the streets of Barcelona.  Eat, drink, enjoy is the current trinity of values.  The place is so compelling that thousands of people a day pay 15 or 20 bucks to gape at the inside of Gaudi's cathedral that has been under construction for centuries and ain’t done yet.  The Pope even came a year ago and said “Keep up the good work” or some such encouragement.  Fascinating.  You wonder who are the guys who put together this piece of work that is Barcelona.  They must be some savvy fellows because they are making a pretty good buck off the masses who wander around, jaws dropped, filling the hotels, restaurants and streets..

Monte Carlo

THE MONACO NAVY

What is there to say about the mini-state that made a Main Line girl from Philly the Princess in the real world she always was on the screen?  That and squeezing in enough people to be the most densely populated place in the world.  Don’t get me wrong; this is not Mumbai we are talking about here.  It is the slickest overbuilt rock in the world.  Grand and oh so chic.  It shows how much style can be assembled on one hillside, marginally build-able lot.

What hit me on arriving in the harbor by launch was the Monte Carlo Navy;  the most incredible collection of yachts whose owners simply must be crowing, “Mine is bigger than yours” to anyone who will listen.  The nautical glitz here makes most super yachts you have seen positively modest or possibly even frumpy.

Fiumicino & Civitavecchia---Hard to Spell and Say, Easy to Like

Stayed at La Conchigglia in Fiumicino.  I guess that means Little River, Italy.  A very fine hotel with great just off season rates.  Had what must be the best cold Continental breakfast ever.  It even had made to order cappuccino or any other kind of espresso or regular coffee or tea you could conceive.  This is the hotel where Fellini,  Sophia Lauren and the makers and stars what the locals call the “Black & White” movies of the 50’s & 60’s stayed and played.  During the season it is a snob loaded mob scene.  Just after the season it is quiet but the air still smells of money and style.

Ask me about it  if you want when I get back.  Took a shuttle to the train station in Maccarese to go to Civitavecchia.  30 minutes waiting on the platform.  Machines were all out of tickets so the driver explained that meant the trip was free.  Welcome to Italy where no one or anything has worked for centuries.  But they do know how to live.  No one checks on the platform nor on the train so if you can't  buy a ticket it's not your fault, you didn't do anything wrong, after all.

Civitavecchia is the ancient port for Rome that everyone uses but no one can pronounce.  Great place to schlepp your bags over musical cobblestones on the way from the train to the port shuttles, “only 750 meters away”.  Do you have any idea of just how far 750 meters is?  I do.

Major surprise on the dock was a 40 or 50 foot high full color realistic statue of WWII’s most famous smooch; the Sailor and the girl in Times Square on VE Day.  Why is it there?  I guess the Italians didn’t want to forget the amorous Yanks who helped throw out Il Duce and Hitler’s guys between smooches.