David's Diary: Saturday, January 12, 2002
Part I: Karalee Leaves and Barri G̣tic
Karalee Leaves Port Vell For Vancouver
Early in the week, Karalee had commented on how she was exhausted from being with the children twenty-four hours a day and being Allen's teacher five days a week. On Wednesday, we decided that the best recipe for good boat relations was to send Karalee home to Vancouver for twelve days (perhaps our visit to Iglesia de Santa Maria del Mar provided inspiration). Our house in Vancouver is currently not rented so Karalee has a place to stay and we plan to stay in Barcelona for a few more weeks so the timing works out. Thanks to mobile telephones, time zones, and the Internet, we had an electronic ticket for Karalee within a few hours of making the decision to go. Today is the day that she says so long to all of us for a well deserved break.
We were up early so that Karalee could finish packing and by 9:00 we had all left Dragonsinger ready for an exciting day. For Karalee, we found the taxi stand across from the marina and within five minutes she was saying so long to all of us with one or two tears in all of our eyes. Before we knew it she was wisked off and we were on our own for almost two weeks.
Barri G̣tic
To keep the children's mind off the fact that Mom would be away, I had planned an interesting day away from the boat. After saying good bye to Karalee, we walked to the Barri G̣tic area of Barcelona. Barri G̣tic is Barcelona's "gothic quarter". It is a medieval warren of tiny streets, where it is easy to get lost, with a few small plazas providing light and space to the crowded area. We had walked through Barri G̣tic many times, but in the early morning light it seemed to have a special mood that matched the mixed feelings that we had this morning.