Germany week 34 Barcelona day 1 & 2

Germany week 34 Barcelona Day 1 & 2
Hello all
Well we landed in Barcelona.  Finally an airport that was an actual airport close to the city from Ryan air  although I am not complaining.  I couldn't have seen nearly as much without good ole Ryan Air.  We found our hotel and you know this is always a "not know till you get there type thing."  Well this place is a condo and is fully equipped with a kitchen bedroom, living and big deck.  It is super and location it is right across the street from the large park with the Barcelona Zoo, walking distance to the beach, and best of all there is a couple of very reasonable restaurants, a grocery store and the hop on hop off bus stop right at our door.  Fro us the location was ideal.  It is also walking distance to the Las Ramblas the major thoroughfare in Barcelona.
The first day we had to sit at the the little outdoor cafe and drink coffee and eat lunch waiting on the guy to come and open the door.  That was really nice and gave us a chance to get to know the layout and ask the cafe owner lots of questions.
We got into our place and walked to the park.  They have their own Arc de Triumph here it is called Arc de Trivoli.  See below.  The gold topped building was put here in 1888 and  this city houses 3 million people and is called the "Spanish Riviera."  The day was gorgeous and we walked all around our area first day.  We went down to the beach and of course Gregg found the casino so we had to visit there a bit,.
The second day we got the two day pass for the hop on hop off bus.  It took us all day to do the lines--they run 12 hours to go the routes.  The have three routes so we took them all.  We had to come back to the condo for a bit since it seems that my visa did not work here because the credit union said there was too much fraud in Spain so they would not allow it to go here.  Since they did not accept American express I had to go cash which depleted most of my Euros so we sent searching for an exchange.  Now that was a mess they really try to rip you off.  Finally we found a place that the cafe owner guided us to --a reputable place and we were able to exchange the money at a reasonable rate.
We went the three different bus routes.  They went to the highest point , by lots of museums, by the Sagrada family church that was huge --see picture below it is the one with all of the spikes.  We also went by the Olympic stadium they hosted the Olympics in 1992.  By the time we got through with all three routes and dropped by the beach and casino for about 45 minutes it was time for the last route on the hop on hop off bus.
One funny thing they said on the tour was that "most restaurants and shops are open until 9pm and most stay open during lunch."  It seems that it is really true the Spanish take the Siestas in the middle of the day.  Lots of shops closed around 12 or 1:30 and opened back up two hours later.
To say the least Barcelona is beautiful and has so many different things to offer.  I would definitely put this on my list of Europe to visit if any of you are thinking of coming.
More tomorrow.

Hugs from Germany via Barcelona,
Susan