mar

PART 1 : ARRANGEMENTS

So now it can be revealed...I was the person meeting mar in Barcelona on Wednesday! It was a close thing though! I arrived in Barcelona on Sunday evening and once in my hotel I tracked down mar's email and suggested we could meet. mar's first response was positive but then she remembered that she had another appointment in her local town during the time I'd suggested. I didn't have any other times so it looked as if it was not going to happen.

I then 'did my stuff' in Barcelona and finished early, so planned to go back to England on Tuesday, instead of Wednesday. I'd already set the wheels in motion, when mar said she could re-arrange and meet in central Barcelona. As luck would have it, I managed to change the plane back to Wednesday evening and so we were now on to meet...


PART 2 : WAITING

Next step was getting from my hotel to the cafe where we'd arranged to meet. mar had arranged to meet me at 14:00 in the cafe and I arrived around 30 minutes early and sat in the sunshine sipping a tall drink and admiring the view of the nearby Gaudi House.

There were a LOT of people around and I found myself staring a LONG time at quite a few people whilst I tried to figure out who was mar and Mr mar, who were both to meet me...Would they arrive together? were they already here? were they that couple sitting over there (no, they're leaving)?

And so it went on until 14:00. I found myself thinking at five minutes to two (hmm its five minutes to go), like it was some kind of rocket ship take-off.

PART 3 : WE MEET!

So precisely at two o'clock, two people arrived and stood outside the restaurant. They were looking in through the door and I was sitting in the sunny terrace outside the restaurant. "Here we go!", I thought, and launched myself towards the two people, "Hello mar?" - I found myself saying - "Its rashbre!". And so with a joyful greeting we started a great lunchtime conversation in the sunshine of Barcelona! Bloggers can meet, even across the distance from London to Barcelona.

PART 4 : RATHER A LOT OF TALKING

I don't think we really stopped talking the whole time. After a few minutes of general introductions (hmm what are our real names?) and a suitable explanation of the craziness of bloggers and meeting via Michele's to Mr mar, we moved away from our first restaurant to another one in the Ramblas, which was a locals' (you have to know it) restaurant which did great Catalan food. Click here to take a look around.

In amongst the general chatter, I learned about the adaptation of Spanish wine from the heaviness of winter to the friskiness of spring and summer, via the addition of a little sweetened water. This is something I've never tried before but will be experiencing back in England this weekend. A kind of 'pre Sangria' season. I also know which of the Spanish champagnes to drink and have experienced food only available in Catalonia.

mar and Mr mar are just as fabulous in real life as the way they come across in mar's lively blog. Of course we talked about 'blogging' but so many other topics and generally having fun.

PART 5 : LEAVING
All too soon we had to split up. mar to go back to her town, Mr mar into Barcelona and me, via my hotel and then back to the airport and London. I liked Barcelona anyway, now its even more fun having found friends in this beautiful city. Thank you mar, for a lovely afternoon!

UPDATE mar's version here