Spain Day 9 Lessons Learned

Lesson 1:  It’s quite a lesson in foreign life when you miss the last bus then the last train then find out taxis wont transport children without a car seat.  This we learned at 1am in downtown Barcelona twenty miles from our temporary home in Mataro. 

Before you call CPS I hastily remind you that the Spanish take a siesta every day.  On this particular day our children, bodies confused by jetlag, slept for 6 hours.  We would have woken them but we were sleeping too.  Anyhoo…what to do…

 

Lesson 2:  When driving a borrowed car in a foreign land (no more buses, trains or cabs for us…see lesson one), it’s best to familiarize yourself with all the workings of the borrowed vehicle.  That way you won’t lock yourself out in a no parking zone with your youngest child pounding on the window begging to get in so she can go to sleep.

 

Lesson 3:  When driving in a foreign land it’s good to decipher the parking rules before you leave your car in a no parking zone for four hours while you go to the beach and explore an ancient castle. 

 

Lesson 4:  If you’re really, really, sorry about parking in the no parking zone tell the very nice parking cop.  He might take pity on you and reduce your 60 Euro (about 85 dollars) fine to 12 Euro.

 

Still wondering how we found our way home to Mataro in lesson one?  R went down the taxi line until he found a driver who happened to have children and their booster seats in his trunk.