What It Means To Be Bill

Aahhh... to be Bill!

So... speaking of "sunny ol' Spain," we finally arrived at BCN - Barcelona International Airport - on Sunday morning, Dec. 5, at around 10:30 a.m. Not surprisingly, given that the authorities had shut down and cleared the airport the evening before and only re-opened it that very morning, there was a pleasant absence of teaming crowds and we fairly flew through baggage and customs.

We had meet two women from our flight who were also booked at the Gran Hotel La Florida, so we decided to share a taxi to the hotel. A 15-20 minute drive from the airport to the near summit of Tibidabo and we were "home."

What can I say about our accommodations... about our location...? The two links above provide a gateway to explore what it is to be... er... moi.

(*GRIN*) (*CHUCKLE*) (*LAUGHING OUT LOUD*)

Seriously... kick ass hotel... kick ass room...

Check-in involves drinking - always a good thing! There's no "check-in counter;" rather, there's a concierge station where each guest/couple/family is given undivided individual attention - along with a refreshing "welcome cocktail" - followed by a personalized tour of the facilities inside and out which ends at your room - your luggage having already been delivered.

No key cards; real keys!

We were given a beautiful 5th floor mountain view room with three (rather than the usual two) near floor to ceiling windows affording us the most amazing view of Tibidabo Amusement Park and the Temple de Sagrat Cor.

(Note: At night, the Temple de Sagrat was lit up so that wherever one was in the city miles away and far below or even out on a ship in the Mediterranean one could see it. Of course, from our room it appeared as if we could simply reach out and touch the feet of Jesus... as the crow flies Temple de Sagrat was perched only a few hundred yards beyond our windows!)

Besides affording us stunning views of the park and the cathedral, our room was quite large - larger indeed than most of the rooms shown via the hotel website. Our king bed was unbelievably comfortable - a wonderful mattress, fine sheets and a fluffy, dense down comforter along with down pillows made for restful sleep as well as providing a fine lounging position while reading or watching TV on our wall mounted 37-inch plasma screen.

As for the huge marble bathroom...

From the main bedroom we would open the sliding glass door to enter the "initial" bathroom area which comprised the sink setting on one wall and an over-sized tub on the other. Separated from this area was a stand alone marble shower stall featuring an adjustable rainfall double shower head set-up; also given a separate space was the actual toilet area which comprised... er... what you'd expect... but also (this being Europe!) featured a bidet.

Of course robes (big enough even for me!) were provided - as were slippers (too small for me!) - and thus attired I would saunter back and forth between my room to the indoor/outdoor heated pool, spa, and fitness center.

Yep... you guessed it... while in Barcelona in December, yours truly spent a fair amount of time relaxing in this beautiful infinity pool while gazing at the city of Barcelona 500 meters below and beyond her the blue of the Mediterranean Sea.

In addition to the outdoor portion of the pool there was of course the indoor portion; a large jacuzzi hot tub adjacent. Plenty of sturdy metal lounge chairs boasting thick cushions insured a comfortable venue to read and snooze. As for the locker rooms...

(*GRIN*) (*HAPPY, CONTENTED SIGH*)

...both men's and women's offered both "wet" and "dry" steam rooms as well as waterfall and multi-jet showers.

(*ANOTHER CONTENTED SIGH OF REMEMBRANCE*)

I gotta tell ya, folks... it really is GREAT to be Bill!

Anyway... you get the idea.

As to Barcelona and vacation itself... stay tuned! I'll be adding separate posts detailing our adventures as time permits!