Not that I am complaining, I will take the back to work-itis after a long holiday over any other illness, any day. And what a glorious Semana Santa stay-cation it was, spent in Barcelona, while the rest of the city headed off to more exotic locations (including a snowy UK).

Although the weather didn't completely cooperate, as a friend succinctly put it the other day, the current weather, like the economy is ´mierda' (crap), I was able to get in ample indoor TV and film watching time, as well as invites from friends to go over theirs for dinner (which is NEVER a bad thing, I'll be cooked for, and happily). In the end, I only had two brushes with cloudy weather over the break.

The first, when I went to Masnou to the beach and literally 10 minutes after getting the towel down on the sand, the clouds rolled in, so I changed locations for Ideal restaurant, atop Tibidabo, a decent (although the meat dishes are not the best) Italian restaurant, with a spectacular, large terrace and brilliant views of the city below.

My second cloud encounter was a bit more dramatic, and came on Easter Sunday. I had trekked down  to Marbella beach and sat reading my book (Three Cups of Tea, a must read) on a bench, as kids whizzed past on their bikes and groups of families strolled by on the boardwalk. At the exact moment I shut the book, I looked up and saw a large gray cloud looming above. I got up and started my walk back to Barceloneta, when the cloud too decided to tag along behind me, bringing with it some thunder and lightening for added theatrical effect, and so, I headed back, in Truman Show-style, the cloud, its rains, thunder and lightening trailing me, until, well, I paused to open my umbrella and it the storminess caught up with me. I ended up hiding out under a restaurant awning.

Other than that though, Barcelona was the perfect spot vacation location. The tough bit, is and was, getting back into work rhythm, I am still distracted, but confident that at least by St. Jordi on April 23rd, I'll be at 100% productivity.