Thursday, October 3 - Barcelona, later that night
At five minutes before eight, Rob grabbed his phone and his wallet, checked to make sure his key card was in said wallet, and headed to the door. He stopped suddenly and realized he was a bit nervous.
“Knock it off,” he said aloud. “Stop being silly, it’snota date!”
Once again shaking his head, he left the room, walked down the hall and pressed the elevator button. When he arrived in the lobby, he looked around, but didn’t see Ben. He strolled around a bit, noting the bar crowd had picked up a little, but it didn’t seem like it was too much for Carlos to handle.
He turned around, heading toward the front of the hotel and saw Ben getting off the elevator. He waved, then joined him and as they walked through the hotel doors, Ben gestured to the left and said, “There are several good places down this way.”
“Sure,” Rob agreed. “Even though I’ve been here before, I don’t know much about the city, so any way you suggest will be fine with me.”
“I’ve spent a lot of time in several cities in Spain over the years,” Ben replied. “I love Barcelona.”
“Alan and I were here a few years ago. We stayed for a couple of days after a transatlantic cruise that started in Florida. On that trip, we visited Sagrada Familia—that was magnificent!”
“Yes, it is beautiful,” Ben agreed. “Did you think about going back on this trip?”
“No, I went to Montserrat yesterday instead. The views from up there are phenomenal.”
They had been walking for a few minutes when Ben stopped in front of a restaurant. “How’s this? I’ve been here before and the food has always been good. They have a nice bar area—if there’s room we can sit there and get some drinks and then order some things to share.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They entered and Ben spoke to the hostess in fluent Spanish. She led them to two seats at the far end of the bar and left menus with them. Ben turned to Rob, “Do you want some wine? It might make more sense to just get a bottle.”
Rob readily agreed, adding, “Order whatever you think is good—I like both red and white.”
The bartender walked over, greeting them with a hearty,“Buenas tardes, señores.”
Ben and the bartender, whose name was Antonio, chatted for a bit and the bartender finally walked away.
“I ordered a bottle of Manto Negro, it’s usually a bit lighter than a Tempranillo, thought it might be worth a try. I also ordered some olives and cheese to start us off.” Ben told him.
“That sounds great. If they have some of the Catalana tomato bread, I’m definitely interested in that and I’d love somejamón, but other than that, I’m open to try just about anything.”
Antonio returned with two glasses and the bottle of wine. After opening the wine, he poured a bit into Ben’s glass. Ben took a sip, nodded, and Antonio poured wine into each glass. Rob picked up his glass and took a sip, then nodded his approval.
“Wow, this is very good. I think I need to take a photo of the label so I remember it.”
He reached for his phone and Ben picked up the bottle and tilted it a bit to give Rob a better shot of the label. Rob snapped a few photos, making sure he got Ben’s face in at least one of the photos.
“Thanks. I’ll have to look for this when I get home.”
“Speaking of home,” Ben said, “Where do you hang your hat?”
“Southeastern Massachusetts most of the time...a little town called Westport. But I also have a condo in Florida. How about you? Southern California?”
“I do have a house just outside of LA, but I don’t stay there much. There’s a family home in England that my brother and I inherited from our parents. I stay there as often as I can. And I’ve been thinking about getting a cabin somewhere in the States but haven’t yet decided between the Pacific Northwest or New England.”
“Well, you can always come to Massachusetts and check out the area if you want, although there is a lot to be said for the Pacific Northwest, too!”
Antonio returned carrying plates laden with an assortment of olives and some cheeses and set them down between the two men.
Ben asked Rob, “Do you like shrimp?”
Rob nodded and Ben turned to the bartender and spoke rapidly in Spanish, although Rob was pretty sure he heard the words for bread and ham.
When Antonio left, Rob said, “I’m glad you speak Spanish so well. My vocabulary is very limited, I usually end up pointing to things on the menu.”
