Non-Chronological Blog Post: FC Barcelona Game, etc.

At Camp Nuo, ready for a game.

It's Sunday. We intended to leave Torrijos at 6:45 this morning for our return to Barcelona. I set an alarm for about 6:00 before going to bed around 1:00. This morning I heard Gywen moving around and I decided I should look at the time. Unfortunately, my phone had shut down for some unknown reason. After holding in the power button for about 15 seconds it fired up, but it took a while to boot and "authenticating 1 of 1," whatever that means. When the phone finally worked it was 6:23. We jumped up and quickly got ready, and we were on the road at 6:56.

Similar to Indiana, Spain is in the wrong time zone geographically. Bless Dean's heart for driving us to Madrid in the dark. We arrived in the heart of the city at dawn and pulled up to Atocha Station at 7:5 - shortly before the Police closed the nearby streets for some bicycle event. Dean saw us inside and we said our goodbyes before going through security and finding our platform. Boarding was easy, and we were in our seats by 8:11 for the 8:30 departure.

As we were pulling out, we got basic breakfast sandwiches and coffee from the train's cafe car. We snoozed some and then I finished writing the last blog post just as we pulled into the station in Barcelona.

Today's big event was the FC Barcelona match against Las Palmas. In Sants train station, we found an official FC Barcelona shop so Barry and I went in to get the things we would need to be properly outfitted for the game. We each got a shirt and I got a hat, plus we loaded up on other things including a magnet, keychain, drawstring backpack, and souvenir mini soccer balls. There was a lot of other cool stuff, but we had to stop - they got enough of our money. Now wiht an additional bag of stuff to carry, we made our way to the Metro and on to Plaça Catalunya and the final few blocks to NH Hotel Centro.

Our rooms were ready early, so we checked in at about 12:30 and went upstairs to change into our new FC Barça gear. Then it was off to lunch before the game. The famous bar Els Quatre Gats is nearby, so we walked there and got seated at a table in the bar. We ordered a few tapas and drinks just like people have been doing there since 1897, including Gaudí, Picasso, Casas, and everyone else famous from Barcelona.

Soon it was time to take the Metro back past Sants to the stop nearest Camp Nuo stadium for the game. This game was nearly 50% of the impetus behind this entire trip, and was the event around which all of our other travel plans were made. It would fulfill a dream of seeing Lionel Messi - arguably the world's greatest active player, who is currently scoring a goal every 60 minutes on average - play in person. The energy in the stadium (which seats nearly 100,000) was bound to be electric. Sure, it was a low-stakes game versus a team that hasn't beaten them since the 1980s, but today is the day of the controversial, illegal, non-binding vote for Catalan Independence. Through the years, FC Barcelona has come to represent Catalan pride and the independence movement. The crowd would no doubt be fired up and chanting "votarem" along with other cheers and anthems promoting to desire for democracy and independence. We had our new gear and our tickets for row 3. We were ready.

Fans waiting to get in.

The gates were to open at 2:45 for the 4:15 Kickoff. We arrived at 3:15, exactly according to plan, and were surprised to find the gates to the stadium still closed. We joined the thousands of other people waiting calmly and patiently in the street, watching a steady stream of guys go pee on the nearby wall as we waited. Pun intended, I guess. Time passed and we began to remark on how strange it was that they hadn't opened the gates yet. Eventually, after wondering aloud, a Swedish couple next to use told us that English language media was reporting that the game wasn't happening. There was no mention of any problems on the FC Barcelona website or and of the local media, as far as we could determine. As this conversation unfolded, Dean began to text me with information confirming our fears: we would not be seeing a game today. A possibility was raised that the came would be postponed until tomorrow, but the truth won out as the most likely scenario - even in the total absence of any communication from stadium or team officials or police on-site. The game was to be played "behind closed doors," with no fans in the stadium, announced publicly 20 minutes before Kickoff, but not announced to the assembled fans at the stadium gate.

Needless to say, this was a huge disappointment. With no announcement, there was no cue for the crowd to disburse. A few people began wandering away, and after seeing a policeman drive up on a motorcycle I approached him for confirmation about what was going on. He was super friendly and seemed empathetic as he told me the game was going on today, but without spectators. We began the slow walk back up the hill to the Metro and rode in silence back to the hotel. Once there, we had no plan. But the concierge told us that a nearby Irish Pub was television the game so we finally decided to walk over there after Gywen offered to buy us drinks. We watched the second half of the game with the gathered faithful and watched Barcelona score three goals to win 3-0. Messi scored two, and I really was emotional both times he scored, knowing that we could have - should have - been there watching live. We may never have that chance again.

We walked back to the hotel after the game, past Plaça Catalunya, noting the eight police vans lined up in waiting in front of the pub, and five more in the Plaça, where TV satellite trucks were lined up, too many to count. A big screen was assembled, on which people were being interviewed in Catalan. We rested at the hotel before heading out to LA Rambla to grab dinner at the first place we saw. (I tried "mountain style" paella - not bad.)

Back here in the room, I can see on TV news channels in Spanish, Catalan, French, and Arabic that there are thousands of people now gathered in the Plaça, just under 500 meters from where I safely sit, but there is no English-language news to tell us what's actually going on. Bits of news gleaned from Twitter, foreign-language television, and online sources tell me that the police tried violently to stop voting at several locations today, injuring at least 844 people. It's an unfortunate and ridiculous situation, which I have vented about on Facebook.

It's now way past bedtime, and we've got a long day tomorrow. Hoping it will be a better day.