Harris Fellman: the inventor of Tortilla Magic

 I was going over some old photos and found some of my friend Harris Fellman, a comedy magician who is based in Barcelona.  

He has been doing a variety of magic I havent’ seen before, a whole new niche that for want of a better term, let’s call it Tortilla Magic.  

Basically, he does with tortillas what most people do with cards.  

Want to find out more?  read my older article about Harris here on clownlink.   Tortilla Magician Harris Fellman

Harris Fellman, the world’s #1 Tortilla Magician (sorry Old El Paso and Mexican abuelas!)

Don't Lose Your Head At Six

This weekend, Barcelona becomes the stage for a royal revolution as Six: The Musical makes its highly anticipated debut at the Teatre Coliseum.

Running from April 24 to May 11, 2025, this West End sensation reimagines the six wives of Henry VIII as pop divas, each telling her story in a high-energy, 90-minute concert-style show.

Performed in English with subtitles in Catalan and Spanish, Six offers a fresh, feminist take on Tudor history, blending humor, empowerment, and a chart-topping soundtrack.

Six The Global Phenomenon Lands in Barcelona

Since its inception, Six has garnered over 35 international awards, including two Tony Awards, and has been performed simultaneously in six cities across four continents. Its soundtrack has surpassed a billion streams, featuring songs inspired by pop icons like Beyoncé, Shakira, and Lizzo. The musical’s creators, Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow, have been lauded for their innovative approach, with Moss becoming the youngest female director on Broadway and Marlow being the first non-binary Tony Award winner.

Experience the Queens Live

At the Teatre Coliseum, audiences will witness Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr take the mic to share their stories. Backed by a live band, each queen delivers a powerful performance that challenges historical narratives and celebrates female resilience. The show’s modern staging and vibrant costumes add to the electrifying atmosphere, making it a must-see event.

Secure Your Tickets

Don’t miss this limited-time engagement in Barcelona. The show runs from April 24-May 11 at the Colisseum Theatre (Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes, 595, BARCELONA BARCELONA)

Tickets are available through the official site, balanaenviu.com, with prices starting from €44. For group bookings, discounts of up to 30% are offered for parties of 10 or more.

Alternatively, tickets can be purchased via El Corte Inglés and Atrapalo.

Experience the empowering stories of these historical queens as they reclaim their narratives in a show that’s as entertaining as it is enlightening. Join the revolution at the Teatre Coliseum—Six is here to reign!

My Busy weekend with Meetup in Barcelona

 I have been living in Barcelona for the past three years, and I have used the app Meetup sporadically to widen my network and make new connections.  I used to use it somewhat when I was in the States (during my dad blogger days, the NYC Dad Group was based on Meetup, and so was the Chicago Dads Group) 

 In Barcelona, I have done some language exchange groups, eaten dinner and lunch at various restaurants around the city, gone to a couple of online seminars, and even gone to a couple of concerts with a group of complete strangers.  This weekend happened to be one that had a whole lot of Meetup going on, so I decided it might be fun to record my weekend of Meetup as a blogpost (and give some shoutouts to these Meetups in case you want to join.)

All the Meetups I am mentioning are free to sign up for. You just need to register for a free Meetup account.  And if you do join up, let them know you found them through my blog.  I won’t get any financial benefit, but I would like the owners of the groups to know that I am giving back to the community.

While all of the Meetups  mentioned are free to attend, you are responsible for your own food and drink.  Typically every tab is settled separately.  And while in Spain there is no expectation to tip, an extra euro or two is always looked on kindly by the server.

All of these events are primarily in English, although there are plenty of Spanish speakers in attendance as well..

MEETUP #1:  BARCELONA CHILI LOVER’S CLUB   Friday Night

 I have been attending the Chili Lover’s Club for probably a little over a year.  This is my most frequently attended Meetup.  Every two to three weeks, usually on Friday, a group of approximately 30 people gather in a restaurant to eat spicy food and talk about nothing and everything in particular.  Catalan and Spanish food is not particularly spicy, but fortunately, Barcelona is full of ethnic restaurants and there’s plenty of opportunity to get your picante on.  In the past we have had cuisine from China, the Philippines, Mexico, Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, Japan, and Thailand.

This meetup was at a Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Viet (on IG at @pho_viet_barcelona ). It had the additional advantage of being in my neighborhood, just a couple of blocks walk away.  The food was delicious- I had a mango salad with shrimp and an order of Bo Luc Lac (which is a marinated beef dish) Both dishes were great and suitably spicy.  The organizers also encourage people to bring their own spice condiments just in case things are not hot enough for your taste.  The people are very welcoming, and I have made some pretty good friends/acquaintances over the nearly 20 times I have attended. 

There are a few hundred people in the group, and only 30 spots or less per dinner, so they usually sell out.  If you join the meetup group, they will invite you to the WhatsApp group, which is where most of the action happens.  Once a dinner is announced, you should jump on it.

THE DAY OF DISCUSSING DEEPLY

MEETUP #2:  DEEP TALK COFFEE. Saturday 12 noon.

The second meetup was at the cafe of a bookshop close to the Urquinona train stop.  It was my first time at this particular meetup, although I have been eying it for a month or so.  It happens pretty much every Saturday, barring special private events or weather.  The point of this group is to discuss deep and complex issues with a group of people who might have different views than you. The conversations did not disappoint.  Our conversation was far ranging, reaching from the question of wanting to be a dictator on an island and what that would mean, to how democracy isn’t really working, and wondering whether there will be a Revolution like the French Revolution again, in an age where there is social mobility through wealth and the poor have a small opportunity to become rich.  Along the way (and after the fact) we also discussed if it was possible for a company to do well by doing good, block chain democracy (my weird idea of a disruptive event), what the most important part of a relationship is, and whether or not self Love or self Hate are more efficacious in getting productive results.  All this in less than 2 hours. 

There were probably around 25 people at the event (even though only 15 are allowed to sign up) and we split up into 3 or 4 tables  of people and each conversation was free ranging and went where they went.  At my table of 6 there were people from Lebanon, France, Romania, England, Spain (and later) Lithuania and me (US).  It was great hearing different viewpoints and often the same viewpoint but from a different perspective.  I enjoyed it a lot.  And have total respect for those participants who didn’t speak English as a native language.  I definitely could not have the discussion we had (or follow it) in Spanish.

From there I biked over to Parque Citadella to attend a Book club, also for the first time. The focus of the book club is on Physical and spiritual well being.

MEETUP #3: BARCELONA BOOK CLUB  Saturday 3 pm.

This book club is unlike most other book clubs in that you don’t have to have read a book in advance.  Participants are encouraged to bring a book that they have found useful for their personal development, and after an organized introduction period, people put their books on the table, and the group organizer asks people to give a little book review of the book, and what was important about it to them.  From there there is a group discussion about some of the concepts or ideas presented.  We were able to go over 4 books (and one was the one that I brought)

The books discussed were the following:

(The links to the books are Amazon affiliate links. If you buy them from this link I get a small commission)

El síndrome de la impostora by Elisabeth Cadoche and Anne de Montarlot, a book about why women suffer from Impostor syndrome differently than men.  This book does not seem to be available in English, but there are plenty of other books about Impostor Syndrome in English if you like.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, learning to break through your creative resistances to do what you aim to do and move beyond your comfort level.

Seven Steps to Developing Your Intuitive Powers by Betty Bethards, a manual on learning to trust your “gut” (which led to a pretty interesting discussion about your gut biome and whether or not we are being controlled by 2 trillion tiny microorganisms against our will)

The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz, a practical guide to positive relationships.

This was a lot of fun, and the people were pretty interesting.  Apparently the meetup has been going on for more than a couple of years, and meets every two weeks (but most of the time it is at noon, which conflicts with the first one. I just happened to luck out that it was at a time where I could go to both (and right near a train station that was easy access to my next event). 

Normally the group meets outdoors in the park, but when it’s cold or rainy they meet indoors.  We met at a hotel coffee shop, and we had a little scare in the middle, where one of the participants realized that. Her backpack was missing.  We had just seen two people standing near her, and realized they had left. One of the guys ran out and caught the people with the backpack, was able to get the backpack back before something had been taken out of it.  The thieves were like “Oh is this yours? We just found it and were wondering whose it was”. A sharp reminder that in Barcelona you need to be very mindful of your possessions.

NON MEETUP EVENT: Circus de Los Horrores

From there I went to a non meetup event El Circus de Los Horrores. 

 It was the very last show at their tent in an outlying neighborhood of Barcelona called La Maccinista.  

I had seen a previous show of theirs in Madrid called Baccanal. This show, called Requiem was pretty great, an adult oriented circus complete with lots of sexual references, devil references, and rock and roll heavy metal vibe..  I will write a separate post about that show (perhaps on my clown link blog, and will link it here if I do so). The interesting thing is that it turns out that this show was THE VERY LAST SHOW.  

I didn’t realize it until the very end, but the owner/major person behind the circus was retiring at the end of the show.  I was very glad that I got to go.  I had known about the show and was putting it off a little, and even thought maybe I should just go the next time they are in town. But it turns out there will be no next time. Nothing is ever guaranteed.

MEETUP #4: BARCELONA WRITE TOGETHER   Sunday 11 am

Artwork by AI of a group of people
Meeting up for coffee in Barcelona.

On Sunday I attended my last meetup of the weekend (unless I have a sudden desire to attend something tonight, but I have no plans to do so at the present time.). This is also set at a coffee shop a 10 minute walk from my apartment, so this is very convenient for me.

Basically people meet at a public cafe at around 11 to write, and at the end of the two hours, there is a little intro time, where you can introduce yourself, and tell people how your writing session went.  I have been going for about a month, and really enjoy the time to work on something on my list.  Even if I don’t have a productive session, it forces me to take time out of my schedule to sit and noodle, and brainstorm, and write it down. And that is good.

Today, I actually wrote this blog post!  Over 1500 words, more or less. I got all of the blogpost done, and before I posted it, I just had to add the photos, and the links. That took me another hour or so (lots of links and photos in this one)

  But overall, I feel pretty productive about that two hours spent.  I have also met some interesting people through this event.

So that was my weekend of Meetup!  I swear that I am not addicted to it (I can quit anytime I wish) but it is a great tool to expand your network, have interesting discussions, and have fun.  I highly recommend trying it out and seeing if it works for you.

Instruction Manual For Nothing at The Chiquita Room (ends Feb 28)

As is often the case in Barcelona, cool things and places are just around the corner, but you have to keep your eyes open.

A couple of weeks ago I was having Ramen with a friend, and as I came out of the restaurant, my friend went right, I went left, and happened to look at the storefront next to the Ramen shop.  It looked like an art gallery, and there was a little sign that said "Instruction Manual For Nothing." in Spanish.  Intrigued, I tried the door, and while it wasn't open, someone came to let me in.

The exhibition is a collaboration of two artists, Xavi Rodriguez and Blanca Vinas.  Both artists use chance, randomness, and a sort of childlike play with materials to create their work.  Both are also teachers.

In the exhibit, Xavi's work is a series of drawings and sketches, rough hewn, scribbled, inspired by comics.  Blanca’s work is best described as playful photography that bends the rules of  “good photography” to make really interesting and abstract works out of found materials, art materials, and  a lot of good old fashioned experimentation.

Works by Xavi Rodríguez Martín at the Chiquita Room.  Photograph from Chiquita Room Website.

Works by Xavi Rodríguez Martín at the Chiquita Room.  Photograph from Chiquita Room Website.

Works by Blanca Vina at the Chiquita Room.  Photograph from Chiquita Room Website.

Works by Blanca Vina at the Chiquita Room.  Photograph from Chiquita Room Website.

As part of the exhibit, there was a manifesto of sorts (the manual for the instructions for nothing) that could have been written by members of the surrealism, Dada, or Fluxus movements.  Of course it appealed directly to me!  (You can download the whole pdf document from the chiquita room website)

I had the good fortune to take a workshop with Blanca a couple of weeks later at the gallery, and got an insight into her process. For the workshop we took random slides of various artworks and buildings and landscapes, and using tape, shaped hole punches, negative scratching, and other methods of manipulating the slide, we were able to create works that used chance and controlled chaos to make works that were larger than the sum of their parts.  The work was done very small, but when we projected them, the incremental changes took on lives of their own.       

I have included a number of photographs of the slides below, made by myself and other participants of the workshop.  (I have marked the ones I made for your reference.).  I took these photographs in the dark, and didn’t edit them or change the colors of them in anyway, so they may be a little off or off kilter.  I love how random chance plays a large factor in their composition and display.  

The exhibit ends in just a few days, so I highly recommend checking it out if you get a chance.  I am not sure what their next exhibit will be, but I for sure am planning on checking it out.   This place is an interesting place.

Http://www.chiquitaroom.com

Find out more about Blanca Viña

Find out more about Xavi Rodríguez Martín

This is one of mine.

This is one of mine.  It was a black slide, and I scratched off what I didn’t want as an experiment.

This is one of mine.

Angus Nelson's Mid Year Gut Check: Don't Try

Angus can be found on the internet at http://www.angusnelson.com

 I have forgotten how inspiring and awesome Angus Nelson can be.

I've seen him talk a few times at Dad 2.0 and some other blogging conferences.  I've had a few one on one conversations with him, and had a great breakfast with him a few years ago when he was passing through Chicago.  He's thoughtful and inspiring and great and smart and (all that jazz)

This past year, he and his family rooted themselves up from Nashville where they were living and moved to Lisbon Portugal.  I don't know the whole story why, other than he wanted a change, he needed a change, and this was a change. I follow him on Instagram and facebook and all the other socials and  he's having the time of his life there.  

Having moved to Barcelona Spain with my family about 6 months before Angus and his family for many of the same reasons, I have been feeling more of a kinship with Angus than ever. 

 Apparently the Instagram algorithm realized this recently, and showed me a video that Angus did about a week ago about using the word try as a way of not really committing or owning your desires and your plans.  

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Angus Nelson (@angusnelson)

This spoke to me on a number of levels.

 I am guilty as charged. I do this a lot. I do it to hedge my bets, to not disappoint my wife (Hey, I said I'd try to get that thing for you. I did try. I didn't promise. I said I'd try)

My dad was a "We'll see." guy. Dad can we go for ice cream? Dad can we go to Disneyworld? Dad, can I buy a comic book? My dad would say "We'll see" and that often meant no , but it didn't rule out No enough so it wasn't a definite no. It left open a possibility for me, it forestalled a potential disappointment or argument from the kids, it put off a potential conflict until a later date.

 I fear that I operate often with the same parameters-- sometimes a little unwittingly, but more because it makes sense to me-- the world is rife with possibility and who knows what will happen?

 I can see, however, thanks to Angus's no nonsense gut check, that it might be (no it is- let's not mealy mouth) that willingness to be indecisive that is holding me back.  I need to commit to more things.  I need to fail more.  I don't need to try.  I need to do.

Thanks for the reminder Angus!

You should totally follow Angus on instagram, where he's got some more great gut checks for you.  He's also got an inspiring podcast.

 I thought about compiling all of his gut checks here for you, but I decided that you can do that yourself.  I have faith in you.

Barcelona: When Terrorism Hits Home

This is not the blogpost I wanted to write about Barcelona.

I wanted to write about the fantastic museum my son and I saw yesterday morning, just off the end of Las Ramblas, (yes, the same street as the terrorist attack)  the Maritime Museum of Barcelona (MMB), which features an amazing exhibit about one of the galleys that was built there, and a full length replica of one of the amazing galleys(you can't go on it, but you can view it from a number of angles.  The exhibit is interactive, has computer games for kids to play (when you build a ship, where does the raw materials come from?  A game about all of the trades needed to build the ship, and an explanation of the process of building a ship)  It also has 6 other exhibits,  as well as a great cafe, a submarine in its courtyard, a historic ship on the harbor, and is housed in a building that has been there for 2000 years.

I wanted to write about the Bjork exhibit that I saw yesterday afternoon, at the Center for Contemporary Culture of Barcelona (CCB), a VR tour into Bjork's mind and discography, where I and 20 other strangers were led into her strange, sometimes overwrought, strangely optimistic world. It features a collaboration with David Attenborough, an explanation of her app about her last album, and a new way of thinking about composing music.  Here in Barcelona, I've worn an Oculus Rift at a museum about 10 times in 4 different exhibits.  Barcelona is state of the art when it comes to museums.

I wanted to write about how much my family and I have been loving our 3 week sojourn in Barcelona, of having the luxury to explore a city that is so full of culture and architecture and food and life that it would take another 9 weeks just to get to know, and we probably wouldn't even see everything then.  About how we were leaving in 2 days, but we are already planning our return.

I wanted to write about all the fabulous adventures that we are having, and how I am so far in the weeds about writing about this stuff.

But as a rock and roll icon once explained, over bass and drums,

"You can't always get what you want."

Instead, I'm writing about how close we got to what was clearly a terrorist attack, and how we had to explain to my almost 9-year-old child why the store closed down and no one was allowed on the streets.

Las Ramblas, the street where it happened, not only runs through the center of Barcelona, it runs through the center of our Barcelona experience   We are living in an apartment about 1/2 mile away, up the same street (Ramblas de Catalunya)  The subway line, our bus line, even one of the supermarkets we shopped in were right there at the Plaza de Catalunya.

The day of the attack my son and I traveled under the street where s we the attack occurred at around 12 noon.   We have walked the stretch the van drove countless times in the 3 weeks that we have been in Barcelona.   Out of the 20 days we've spent in Barcelona, we've touched Plaza de Catalunya and Las Ramblas on about 17 of them.

WHERE WE WERE:

When the attack occurred, I was in a museum 3 blocks away, and had walked on the street where it happened, trod on the Miro mural that is now marred with victim's blood at around 3 pm that same day.  I went into the Boqueria, just off the strip, to buy a juice and a snack to take to the museum.

My wife and son were out shopping on Las Ramblas, getting treats and gifts for family on the way home.  They had eaten at the McDonalds on Las Ramblas (my son's first McDonalds in 3 weeks, a near miracle!) at around 3:30 pm.

It is not quite a miracle, but incredibly fortunate that we weren't there when it occurred.  We could have been.  If I had left the museum early, I would have probably walked over there to walk home (or if I were feeling really tired, pick up the subway and go 2 stops.  My wife could have easily been on Las Ramblas getting ice cream or candy instead of the Gothic Quarter, two blocks away.

I wasn't with my wife and kid when it happened.  They were in a candy shop when they heard a lot of yelling.  They said there was an accident on Las Ramblas.  They went to an ice cream store nearby, and that's when they closed the shutters and told people to wait.  If you have to be locked in somewhere, an ice cream store is a pretty good place to be.  While they were in the ice cream store, my son cried twice-- once while in the store and once when leaving.  My wife was freaked out also, but stayed strong for him.  My wife was in NY during 9/11, so she knows about terrorism.

My watch kept on buzzing during my VR time (I had joined the museum's wifi) and when I had a moment, I noticed I had some inquiries asking if I was OK.  I checked wifi, texted my wife, and that's when I learned what had happened.  I got ready to leave the museum when I was told we couldn't leave yet-- the museum was closed   I finally got to leave, and gave Plaza de Catalunya a wide berth, ended up walking up a street I hadn't yet walked up.  My wife and son did the same, but on the other side of Plaza de Catalunya, stopping at a friend's house along the way to get a cold drink, take in the news, and check in with family and friends.

AFTERMATH

When we were all finally home together, (AROUND 8 PM) we had a nice big long family hug and a chat about what was going on.  My son was rightfully scared, and I explained to him that people do bad things to get attention, to wake people up a little, to scare people into not living their lives.  But it's important that we continue on with our lives because if we don't, that means that their bad tactics worked.  And we can't let that happen.

I've said similar to him before when I've had to explain some of the sad state in our world, (9/11, Donald Trump, London Bridge)  but I've never meant it more.

Today, my son asked me if there was another attack. We opened the windows, and it's a bright sunny day.  Many of the museums, and the big festival that we were going to go to has been cancelled to mourn for the dead. We'll spend the day packing, and eating, and walking around this great city.

 It's our last day in Barcelona for a while, but we'll be back.  

Selfie of the 3 of us near the top of Park Guell

PS- while writing this blog post, I asked my son to write his journal of yesterday.  He's cried a couple of times more and doesn't want to write about what happened because he doesn't want to remember, so clearly, this isn't over for him.  I'm okay with him not writing today, but I want him to remember, because I want him to remember what you do when cowards and bullies and bigots and racists and crazy people try to terrorize you.

Stand your ground, continue onwards, and persevere.

Our hearts are with all those families who were less fortunate than us and were affected, injured or killed during this tragedy.

Barcelona is Amazing! Wish You Were Here!

We've been in Barcelona for a little over 2 weeks, and I have barely written about it on this blog.

And what's even worse is that we have less than a week to go!  So much still to do, and so much to write about!

I apologize!  I have so  much to write about-- I've been loving spending this extended time in Barcelona, and you can find photos and brief observations on my personal facebook page (many of them are public, so even if you don't know me personally you can take a gander), my twitter account, and my instagram.   (And I urge you to follow me on those last two if you don't already!)

The view from #tibidabo amusement park! You are looking at #Barcelona #beauty

A post shared by Adam G (@kafclown) on Aug 14, 2017 at 8:03am PDT

Rather than write a step by step chronological account of our time in Barcelona (as I did for our shorter 6 day London extravaganza:  See here for a sample post about a couple of our London days.)

I think that I'm going to try to write about different themes of our time in Barcelona.  The food.  The art.  The fun.  The joys and troubles of parenting a kid on vacation in a foreign country.

The Magic Fountain of Montjuic:  It first started entertaining people in 1929.  Now, thousands of people attend every show!

My son, in the Nativity Tower of La Sagrada Familia.
It's a long long long way down!

Some of those posts might morph into longer reviews (for example, we spent a delightful day at the second oldest amusement park in Europe (Tibidabo) and had a whole bunch  of fun.  That's worth a whole post in itself.  Or the day we went to go see the Castellers perform (it's an ancient Catalan tradition where teams from different cities practice making human pyramids of different shapes and dimensions.  People from all walks of life get together to perform on this team as part of a civic pride and just fun.

Or La Sagrada Familia, the masterpiece of architectural madman and genius Gaudi, who designed this massive and breathtaking church knowing they would not be completed in his lifetime.  It is expected to be completed in 2026, 100 years after his death!

Or just about any of Gaudi's works, which are all over the city!

Selfie in front of La Catedral in Barcelona's Gothic Quarter

Or  Las Ramblas, one of the main touristy streets of Barcelona, which has all kinds of walking and touring right outside of it (and most importantly, leads directly into the Gothic Quarter, a series of winding streets and shops and cathedrals and colleges and tapas bars and markets and all sorts of other great stuff for a tourist such as myself  (and my intrepid son) to get lost in and around.

I love getting lost in the Gothic quarter, because you never know what will be around the corner of the little winding street.  It could be an ice cream shop, or the public library with homeless men playing chess with tourists, or it could be some 15nth century sculpture garden that has somehow managed to remain undisturbed for all these years.

On Las Ramblas, there is a fountain (The Canaletes Fountain)  whose plaque reads (translated) "If you drink water from the Canaletes Fountain, you'll fall in love with Barcelona forever and no matter how far away you go, you'll always return."

Let it just be said:  I drank from the fountain!

I drank from the fountain, and have fallen in love with Barcelona! #barcelona #love #goodtourist #wanttomove

A post shared by Adam G (@kafclown) on Aug 11, 2017 at 8:40am PDT

So bear with me, and stick around, as I slowly get around to writing about this amazing city.

 Even after I've returned to my own city!
(cue the song My Sweet Home Chicago by Buddy Guy and Jr. Wells!)

Overnight Trains in Europe: Or how we spent 48 hours of very hard travel.

OUR LONDON TRIP This post is part of the travelogue of our London Trip 2017. If you'd like to read the posts in chronological order they are below. Part 1:Travelogue London: Arrival Part 2: Travelogue London: The Tower of London/Golden Hind/Play That Goes Wrong Part 3: Travelogue London: Hampton Court Palace Part 4: Travelogue London:  Buckingham, Hamley's, Posh Tea, and an Old Enemy Part 5: Travelogue London: The Making of Harry Potter (coming soon) Part 6: Travelogue London: 48 hours of very hard travel by train.

When we were planning our trip to Europe, my wife had heard that France is phasing out the Overnight trains, as more and more people fly.  So she thought it would be great if when traveling from London to Barcelona, that we take advantage of this fact and do the overnight train from London to Barcelona.

Our plan was great

Saturday 7:30 am:  Take tube to Victoria Coach station with all of our stuff.
Saturday 8 am: Lock stuff in left luggage.
Saturday 8:15 am:  Take bus to Harry Potter Studio Attraction
Saturday 1:15 pm Take bus back to Victoria Coach station
Saturday 2:30 pm Take stuff out of left luggage
Saturday 4:30 pm Take train from London/St. Pancras to Paris
Saturday 10:30 pm Take sleeper train from Paris to Toulouse
Sunday 8:30 am take High speed train from Toulouse to Barcelona.
Arrive in Barcelona around 1 pm.

THE BEST LAID PLANS FALL APART.

Our bags

However, we were informed by the Harry Potter tour company that Ride London was this weekend, and due to road closures etc. we would have a hard time getting around and they were going to drop us off at Baker Station instead.

So we decided to add a step:
Friday 7:30 pm Take taxi to St. Pancras and leave most of our luggage there.

Because luggage is  12.50 £ per item, and left luggage at the Harry Potter attraction was free, we decided to leave our biggest luggage only at St. Pancras.  We did that, and it wasn't terrible, and we ended up taking the bus back from St. Pancras around 10 pm.

IT SEEMED LIKE IT COULD WORK

Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour

Next morning, we wake up bright and early and manage to take a cab over to Victoria Coach station.  There were some roads closed, but we managed to make it work.  The station was INCREDIBLY crowded, not just with our tour but with tours to Stonehenge. We did manage to make it to Harry Potter on time, and back on time.   We were loaded down with our 2 carry on suitcases which were loaded up and very heavy, and each of us had two backpacks (AA had his backpack and a little carry on to hold his wand)

The only snag was that in one of those packs was my pocket knife, which had to be checked separately.  They were very nice about it.  NOTE TO SELF:  Wands are okay at Harry Potter, knives are right out)  The tour was great, by the way, and I'll feature it in another post.

St. Pancras station

We got back to St. Pancras without any real incident, although we were already loaded down.  Then we got our three big suitcases.  So now, I've got two big suitcases, two backpacks, Stephanie is wheeling two small suitcases and two backpacks, and AA is wheeling one large suitcase and his backpack and his Chewbacca body bag.  We are loaded up!   We go through customs swimmingly, they offer a nice cart which we take, although it doesn't fit all our bags, so I'm still wheeling two big suitcases through the line.

We wheel our way onto the train when it becomes clear that I have to carry all the suitcases up the train steps, as they are four little tiny steps and no one else can do it.  Okay.  We can make it work. )  So we are on the train for four hours,  then I have to load them out in Paris.  Down the steps again.

The sleeper car

We take a taxi across the streets of Paris and find the train station.  We haven't eaten anything yet.  We have about an hour.  The conductor comes up to the cafe where we are waiting for service and says "Night train, now boarding."

So we rush over to the boarding area, abandoning our meal plans, but nothing goes on.  We buy some sandwiches, but AA wants Chicken Nuggets (he saw a McDonald's sign.)  I walk around the station looking for the place, feel like a real American shlub asking people in Paris where McDonalds is in my terrible French, and finally find it.  I grab his Happy Meal and come back, where they are hustling us on to the train just in time.  I go through, and we find our train with the sleep car and it all looks good.

Our sleeper car says Rodez, but I assume Rodez is after Toulouse.

BOY DID WE ASSUME WRONG.

There's a french speaking guy who is going to Rodez who ends up sharing our car with us (we think it's weird, but we didn't buy the last couchette and we knew it might happen.  )

We all go to sleep, and around 5:30 am, we realize that there were two sleeper car areas and at 4 in the morning,  the train split up, and we were on the wrong side of the car!  We were supposed to be on the Toulouse side, but no conductor ever came to take our ticket or let us know.

WE woke up in Rodez, NOT TOULOUSE!

This screwed up all of our plans.

  We end up wheeling our stuff into the empty Rodez train station and discover that the next train to Toulouse is in two hours, and we'll miss our high-speed connection.  Not only that, the ticket place doesn't open until 10 am on a Sunday, and we have to leave at 8:35.  (and it's 6:35!)

We wait in Rodez two hours.  My wife maps out an alternate plan-- get to Toulouse, find the train to Narbonne, where we can take a train to Barcelona, and arrive around 4 pm.  Okay less than ideal, but doable.

We take the train to Toulouse, (lugging all the luggage up the train again) where the conductor says Okay, you can travel on your old ticket here, and talk to the station manager when you get there.  The train to Toulouse ends up getting in about 25 minutes late, which leaves us almost no time to make our connection.  We hustle up and find the train to Narbonne.  This involves lugging all the luggage down about 50 steps, and then up about 50 steps, which means I am super tired at the end of it.  We get on the train to Narborne just in time, and we just get on board, even though we have no seats.

IT GETS WORSE

 There's a huge crowd, there's a madhouse, and we just make it on board.  That's when I realize I am missing my wallet.

Now whether it was lifted from my pants in the mad crowd, dropped out of my pants in all of the lifting, or if I just left it on my seat on the way to Toulouse, it doesn't really matter.  It's gone.  Not getting it back.  (I just checked with French rail website, which says that in order to claim something missing, you have to go back to the station if they have a lost and found, show an id, and pay a fine.  Considering that I'd have to travel seven to ten hours to do so, and who knows if it's even there, it seems unlikely.

I feel like a dolt.  It had 3 credit cards, my driver's license, my Global Entry Card, about $150 in cash in various denominations. (dollars, pounds, Euros) and some other stuff as well.  I've canceled my cards and will have to get replacements for the license and global entry.

BY THE WAY:  In the very unlikely chance that a French citizen found my wallet, looked my name up on the internet and reads this blogpost, please send back my cards.  My address is on my license, and take whatever you think is the right amount of reward from the wallet!


DE LA MANIÈRE: Dans la chance très improbable qu'un citoyen français ait trouvé mon porte-monnaie, j'ai regardé mon nom sur Internet et lit ce blogpost, envoyez-moi mes cartes. Mon adresse est sur ma licence et prenez tout ce que vous pensez être la bonne récompense du portefeuille!

We ended up having to pay for the trip from Toulouse to Narbonne, a ridiculous amount of money ($150 Euros)  Ridiculous considering it cost as much as the trip from Paris to Barcelona, on a slower train!  and then we are still not guaranteed a seat on this train, or the Barcelona train.

We get to Narbonne, and we have a two hour layover.  Another 85 steps (up and down and up) on the train track.  Each time I do this I am sweating bullets.  We ask the conductor if we can get on the next train with our ticket and he says "We have to talk to the Spanish conductor if he will allow it."  The next train with seats is at 7 pm (gets in at 11 pm)

STILL WORSE

Fortunately, the Spanish conductor does allow us on, but standing room only.  And not only do I have to lug the suitcases up the steps.  I have to lug them up to the second floor.  and on the way up, Stephanie's brand new Samsonite splits open and her stuff goes everywhere!

This is not a picture of our broken suitcase,
but it looked something like this (but the suitcase is
a different color, and had different stuff coming
out of it.)  Other than that, it's similar.

We manage to rezip it for the nonce, put our stuff in the middle of the aisle, where it is incredibly hot, and stand for the 2.5 hours it gets to Barcelona (towards the end we found some seating in the dining car and near the luggage racks).  We then unload one last time, and end up in Barcelona at around 5 pm, 25 hours after we got on the train from London.

Considering that all this happened, Aaron did remarkably well.  He was a real trouper!
 No major complaining, read his Ipad and his kindle, sang songs.  We are going to keep that kid!

Next time, I'm flying! 

 At least I won't have to lug and relug and lug and relug the fershlugginer suitcases!