It wasn’t the most memorable trip in the world and definitely not the worst.  I found Spain to be like most other countries.  Barcelona was a party city with young people staying up until Sunday on the day before a holiday.  Madrid was more about museums and family life.  It was a carnival type atmosphere there.

My hotel room in Barcelona was small and cramped, but the city was picturesque.  My hotel room in Madrid was spacious but the city was spread out with less opportunity for unique photographs.  I could easily figure out Madrid’s Metro system, whereas Barcelona’s Metro seemed complex.

I expected the cities to be dressed up for the Christmas holidays.  Not so.  Barcelona had some lights handing on wires over streets, but it was rare to find a Christmas tree.  The churches weren’t even decorated with Christmas trees or garland.  I do believe the tradition of Christmas decorations might be limited just to America, with Americans going all out.  Honestly when I was over in Spain I forgot it was Christmas time.  Except for a Christmas market in the main squares it seemed like any other fall day.

One of my aggravations with people is them needing to get a photo “just right” using a selfie stick, especially in a high narrow place.  Twice I was delayed because a fellow tourist was taking an absurd amount of photos thereby blocking my passage or opportunity to take same photo shot.  Even though I use a selfie stick for my GoPro camera, I am generally against them for portraits.  It just looks bad and narcissistic to put a phone on the end of camera and take gobs of photos with it.