Barcelona – Day 2

Well at 2am this morning I finally got into my hotel room. What a fiddle yesterday was, but today more than made up for it. I woke at about 9:30 without any idea what time it was, seeing as my room has no windows. By 10am I was mixing with the tourists in the centre of the city, trying to navigate my way to the Picasso museum.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though every other foreigner in the city was heading to the same place. The narrow streets were overcrowded and when I eventually got to the museum entrance, the queue was 200 deep at least. Sack that – let’s go for a wonder.

So I did, and stumbled across some old blokes playing boules in a park. They all seemed rather chirpy and clearly at ease with the world. What stuck me though was how smartly dressed they all were. Ironed shirts and pullovers, one guy even in a suit. Clearly today was the bi-weekly Barcelona pensioners’ boules tournament. What a way to spend the day.

I quickly realised my mistake of forgetting sunglasses for this trip. Copenhagen now is pretty damn chilly, but certainly not Barcelona in October; thought it isn’t unbearably hot. I passed two guys – pale, blonde, fat and most obviously Danish – walking through the city with shorts on. They were screaming ‘tourists’.

After a visit to a museum of 20th Century Russian art – grossly out of place but interesting all the same – I clambered the big hill in Barcelona to the Olympic Stadium, which housed the 1992 Olympic athletics events. The picture here shows the typical bowl like any other stadium. However, what is most interesting is the outside, and in fact the whole shell of the stadium itself. Most unlike the ‘modern’ stadiums with huge steel structures and glass panelling, Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium is built with stone to form a classical Greco-Roman style, with turrets and gateways and open social areas. It is completely opposite to the Nou Camp, which I will now get on to.

Oh my good giddy aunt! I have just come back from one of those life experiences you will never forget: this was on a par with the first kiss, the first ‘time’, and yes… even the first verruca. Sitting in a press conference in the deep heart of the Nou Camp, before heading off to pitch side for one-to-one interviews. Sitting in the dug out is one thing, but having a sneak peek into FC Copenhagen’s dressing room is something else. It was enormous. In fact, it was almost too big. You could lose half a squad in that place.

I had a chance to sit at the back of the dug out and reflect on where I was. I appreciate it a lot, and of course realise what a privilege it is to be here. As my fellow reporter Torkil deduced, there are 4,600 FCK fans who would kill to have been where I was today.

A great day in Barcelona. Now let’s just hope for a 3-0 thrashing tomorrow.