May trip to Barcelona
(23 November 2025)
I instigated a trip to Barcelona with friends during the May public holiday weekend of 2004. Round trip by plane, accommodation in a hostel on a narrow street near La Rambla. A strange, joyful time, and a prelude to one of my worst periods ever. My last normal university year, the last year of many strange things and normal things.
The trip was planned around the Fundación Tony Manero concert at Sala Salamandra in Hospitalet, on Saturday, 1 May, and the La Liga match at Camp Nou (Barcelona–Espanyol) on Sunday, 2 May.
We had a blast. After the music, at the bar in front of the concert venue, I was served an unforgettable, absolutely amazing bacon and mayonnaise bocadillo… At Camp Nou, we would watch Ronaldinho play. We observed how friendly and nice he was to his teammates, and we laughed when he congratulated them on their successes, or encouraged them after their mistakes, by making the hand gesture of extending the thumb and little finger.
The city was beautiful, and everyone there was kind to us.