Well, the day didn't exactly go as planned.

We were wanting to go for a hike in the hills overlooking Badalona. First, we slept in. It never occurred to us to set the alarm. But there is a room darkening blind on the window, and even at 8:30am it was black as can be inside the room. That, combined with a lack of sleep on the plane the night before, meant that it would be easy to lose track of time.

So it was close to 9am when we actually got out of bed.

Then to write the blog post and have some breakfast, So it was 11:00am by the time we left the apartment.

Ruth went to charge her laptop, but she couldn't find the charger. The last time she used it was at Toronto airport. We think it was left behind. She's not feeling very good about that. So we needed to find her a new charger.

The building where we are staying is the white one in the center. We're on the first and second floor. The one without a balcony, but our room is actually at the back of the building.

The walkway directly in front of our building.

So we set out walking to the shopping area. Found a couple of electronics type shops, but nobody had the one she needed. Eventually, we came across a computer specialty chain store and the guy looked it up and said he would have to order it in and it would take two to four days. Hmm. two days would be fine, but four would not. Fortunately, we'll be coming across this store in other towns further south.

In the meantime, we're sharing the one laptop.

Next stop was the Orange cellular store for a SIM card. Simple procedure, but you need your passport to register the SIM. I chose the 4 GB data package with 30 minutes of calling for 20 euros ($28.50 CAD, $21 USD). It's normally only 2GB of data, but they have a special that expires at the end of the month. That should be all we will need for this month.

We stopped in and did some more grocery shopping. We found a chain grocer called Dia whose prices seemed reasonable, plus they have their own store brand on many items, including lager beer. I bought one can just to try it out because it seemed unreasonably inexpensive. It turns out that it's perfectly drinkable beer, so I'll be buying more of that in the future. It was only 0.42 euros (6o cents CAD, 45 cents USD) for a half liter can!

It was 2:00pm by the time we made it back to the apartment and had some lunch. I guess there was no hike to the hills happening! Instead, we had lunch and then walked about 5 kms (3 miles) in the opposite direction on the malecon.

I had installed the new SIM card during lunch, and everything happened the way it was supposed to. I got the text messages saying how much I had paid, as well as the ones saying the data package I had activated.

So when I went to test it during our walk, I was surprised that I got messages coming up saying "Could not activate cellular data network" and I could not connect.

Hmm. That'll teach me not to test it while in the store. I know better than that, but the girl guaranteed that it would work. "But if it doesn't just come back and see me". So much for the confidence that it will work!

Looking back at Barcelona. It looks stormy, but it never did rain.

We walked back through town. Found a dollar store (they call them China Shops here, because everything is made in China, and they all have Chinese owners) and looked for a power supply for Ruth, but they only had big bulky ones. Great for an emergency, but we're not about to carry that around.

It was getting close to dusk when we got to the main section of town again. There was something going on, so we went to have a look...

January 6th is Dia de Los Tres Reyes (Three Kings Day) and as in Mexico, it is the day when the children might receive gifts. So there was a lineup of parents and their kids waiting to see the three kings. Or in this case, one king and two queens!

Lining up to see the three kings.

Really good manger scene.

Fantastic detail!

Looking down the pedestrian walkway.

Went back to the Orange store to check the SIM card. Took it out of my phone and put it in hers, and it worked perfectly. Put her's in my phone, and that same error message came up again. She said it's not the SIM card, it's my phone!

We went back home and I got on the laptop. Sure enough, I came across an article detailing a problem with the iPhone that generally only shows up with travelers. I had to delete some registry profiles and reset the network settings. Bingo! It worked perfectly.

And so that was our day. Not what we planned, but it was still interesting. Oh, funny thing that we have noticed. So far, there are not that many people who speak English. In fact, there were more people who could at least speak some English in Romania than we have found so far here in Spain. It's okay though, because we can do most things in Spanish. I did the entire transaction for the SIM card in Spanish. Although it was sometimes difficult to understand what the girl was saying. We muddled through it though.

Today, we're off to downtown and the Sagrada Familia Basilica. I think we'll probably only spend enough for the basic entrance fee, but we'll see when we get there.

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