Monday, 14th: For reasons I do not know, but I hope to discover when I am in Barcelona, I have agreed to travel with John Flattau and Dalia M to Catalunya tonight on the Talgo. Rush around town, pick up my ticket from Nicholas at Blue Marble and meet his new daughter and the mother, then to the bank to deposit a check. Home and meet Buddy & Cheryl Ratner. We dine in the Italian restaurant (Da Geraldo) in the rue d'Alesia. And to my surprise, John Flattau and Dalia M join us.
Collect three frames from the framer: one is John Calder's obit of Ted Joans, one is a poster for Kewpie's restaurant in Kolkatta, the third is John Giorno's poem about treating strangers as lovers.
We taxi to the Gare d'Austerlitz and sit in a café inside the station and rest before the train is ready for us to board. Two lovely young women sit next to us and I learn that they too will be traveling with us.
Then we find our compartments and soon move to the dining car for our dinner. A fellow named Alphonse shares our table. His son produced the hit movie in France about two tigers. The two Spanish beauties sit across from us. They have been in Paris buying clothes for their shop in Alicante. All in all, a fun dinner.

            Tuesday, 15th: A fairly good night's sleep. There is a knock on the door at 7. I was up at 6 and watched people leave the train at Gerona. John knocks on my door and reports he got no sleep at all. Get up, dress, and go into the restaurant car. The two beauties, Ana and Laura, enter and sit across from us. Alphonse passes our table and gives us a warm greeting and wishes us a successful voyage. We have toast and coffee and the conductor passes and returns our tickets and passports. He reports we are ten minutes away from arrival.
Back to my little compartment and quickly pack. John and Dalia do the same.
We are soon leaving the train, up the escalator, out of the station, into a taxi and speeding away in the early morning sunshine to Las Ramblas and our hotel, the Rivoli Rambla. Check-in goes smoothly and quickly. We get rooms next to each other, 025 (me) and 027 (them). Make a call to Anthony Pilley and he is free to pass and have a coffee with us. Call Amanda Tolon and get her answering machine. Leave a message that I am in Barcelona and that I would love to see her.
We meet Anthony in the lobby and after introductions are made, he suggests we walk the short distance to Café Zurich. Anthony and I met during an Edinburgh Festival some years ago when he had an exhibition in a gallery near Broughton Street and, I think, Astrid Silins took me to see it. Since that meeting I have sent a number of friends, mainly attractive Russian ladies, to see him and he has always been kind and helpful to them. He later sent me a poster he made of La Rambla that I have had framed. It's a provocative poster. He tells us that he has sold thousands over the years. When we are having our coffee, my mobile rings and it is Sasa in Milano calling. She learned from her father that I had called and now she is returning the call. She suggests we might like the restaurant Madrid-Barcelona in the carrer Arago. The four of us talk about the gentrification of cities and what has happened to Barcelona since it hosted the Olympic Games. Anthony has a meeting and must rush off, but we agree to meet in the Rivoli lobby at 13.30 and go for lunch. Our four coffees and croissant quinta comes to less than ten euros. This is much cheaper than Paris.
I go back to my room to make a few calls to people Anthony thinks might help me to find Xavier Corbero, Jaume Subirana, and a few other friends. First call is to Ted Krasny and to his associate, Graham Thomson. Ted answers and he gives me a few tips of people who might be helpful. He and I discuss meeting at a Writers' Association club called Ateneu, located only steps from the hotel in carrer Canuda later in the afternoon. Say 5 o'clock. Ted thinks I should speak with Jill Adams and Garry Smout. They run The Barcelona Literary Review, a online magazine that comes out in English, Catalan and Spanish.
I call Jill and Garry. Garry answers and we talk about his and Jill's efforts. We, too, agree to meet later in the afternoon. He also suggests I call Dolors Udina, who is the poetry and fiction editor of the Catalan edition of the Barcelona Literary Review. I call and get her answering machine and leave a message with her that I am looking for Jaume Subirana and Xavier Corbero. Then try to reach a poet, Melcion Mateu, but no one answers at his number. Call Jorge Herralde, who is the literary editor of the publishing house Anagrama, and his secretary says, as I suspected, that he is away in London attending the Book Fair and then will go to Paris for the Salon du Livre. Leave a message with her to tell him that I called.

Sit in the balcony and read today's International Herald Tribune and watch the flow below of humanity up and down the Ramblas. How many millions have made this stroll? And how many have purchased Anthony's poster. Later he tells me that he has produced two others.
Go downstairs and meet John, Dalia and Anthony. We are taken on a long meandering walk through the narrow streets of the quartier gothica to a restaurant named Salvadore. It's a funny place, but we all four like the atmosphere. Then a short walk to a place called la Maison du Café. John is tired and he and Dalia depart for the hotel. Anthony has coffee and I have hot chocolate and chorros. The hot chocolate is so thick the spoon can almost stand straight up. The chorros are delicious and perfect for dunking in the chocolate.
He and I walk back to La Rambla. He departs for his home and an appointment with a builder. I return to the hotel for a short "power nap" and then to my meeting with Ted Krasny.
The place is easily found. There is a warm old-fashioned quality to it. Not a lot of people about. Stand at the bar and tell Jordi, the barman, that I am waiting for Ted, the American. OK, no problem. I have no idea what he looks like nor does he know anything about me. A young man enters and stands next to me and orders a coffee. His name is Joan Miquel i Noguera. He has almost completed his medical studies. He must travel to Madrid to make a decision regarding his future area of speciality, but still has not make up his mind yet on what it is to be. He speaks excellent English and discover he worked as a waiter in a restaurant in Pinnar, near Cardiff. We talk about Barcelona, London and Paris. He will travel in a few days to London with his family. I suggest he call me when he comes to Paris and give him the Chicago Tribune article. Discover he lives outside Barcelona and travels into the city by train. Time flies and no sign of Ted. Or of Garry who also said he might pass. Leave the bar and go outside and sit in an open-air terrace. Joan comes out and joins me and we talk some more. He has to depart. I have a coffee at the bar and wait a bit longer. Then decide to return to the hotel. Leave a note with Jordi to pass to Ted and slip out.
In the evening, John, Dalia and I stroll across the Plasa de Catalunya, up the Paseo de Gracia to dine in the Madrid-Barcelona restaurant that Sasa has recommended. We stumble across a Gaudi building and this is exactly like I like discovering things. By accident. We continue on our way and I am beginning to suspect we have walked too far. Ask an attractive woman for directions. And yes, we have walked past Arago. Ask her if she would like to join us for dinner. She smiles and says that she is off to meet a friend and cannot. This is a pity. We immediately find Arago 282 and the restaurant. Our waiter is named César Gomez and he is a sweetheart. Warm, friendly and helpful. John wisely has a salad. Dalia and I foolishly share a pasta dish for starters. Then she has lamb cooked in garlic and I have a veal dish. I could have stopped with the pasta dish. The restaurant fills and buzzes with life and energy. We pay, thank César and slowly continue our stroll toward the hotel. We pause at Passoig de Gracia 33 to purchase Italian ice cream from Dino. Two small tubs for 5 euros.
Earlier I had managed to catch Almanda Tolon at her home, but could not talk her into going out with us. She does agree to come to the hotel on Thursday evening. Also reach Jill Adams. She, too, is busy. Late finishing the new issue of The Barcelona Literary Review. But she will come with Garry tomorrow night and we can go out for tapas. It's an early night tonight for all of us tonight.

     Wednesday, 16th: Early morning breakfast feast with John and Dalia. We read The International Herald Tribune and stuff ourselves. I keep thinking of Susi Wyss and how much she would enjoy the morning breakfast table. Because John was unable to sleep on the Talgo coming down from Paris, he has decided to take the day train with me on Friday. But Dalia will take the night train back on Friday night. The hotel reception staff (Natalie from Flanders, Suzanne from Germany and David from Spain) advise us to take line 3. It's a quick metro ride to the station (Barcelona Sants). The fellow at the international sales desk is fast and efficient. We elect to take the metro back to La Rambla. But we purchase the wrong tickets from a machine and the controller will not let us use them. A wee pain in the ass. So when we have purchased new tickets, the total cost would have equaled a taxi fare. Still the metro is fun. When we arrive back at Plasa de Catalunya, Dalia gives our train tickets to a musician playing in the metro. Maybe he can use them.
Call Dolors Udina and she tells me that Jaume Subirana is now the Director of the Institute for the Promotion of Catalan Literature. I call the Institute and am told that Jaume is away for the day and I can reach him tomorrow. I leave my name and hotel telephone number. Call Ted Krasny and he apologizes for yesterday afternoon. He thought that I would call him again. But he is available today for lunch and will come to the hotel at 13.45 to collect me. Sit on my warm balcony and read the Cuban chapter (An Elegiac Carnival) in Pico Iyer's book, Falling Off the Map. Also read the Allen Ginsberg diary items in the book, India in Mind, edited by Pankaj Mishra.
Ted collects me and we walk to a place called Lluis de les Moles (carrer Lluis de les Moles) he knows not far from the hotel. He is an excellent fellow. We have a good lunch and a good talk. It seems he has been in Barcelona a long time. Originally from the Washington, D.C. area, he has lived in a number of places, but it seems that Barcelona has won his heart. We go for a walk to have a coffee. He suggests the Maison du Café, but it is packed and I tell him that I had hot chocolate here yesterday with Anthony Pilley and let us try another place. He takes me to a café in the old Jewish ghetto. Then we walk to his office. No one is there. I check my e-mail site to see if I have had a message from Buddie Ratner. He was going to give me the name of a Russian fellow who was a friend of Ted Joans. Ted does tell me about a woman who has "a paladar" in her home every Thursday, he thinks. Her name is Maria Lluisa del Rio and she lives nearby.
When I get back to the hotel, I call Maria Lluisa. We speak in French and we agree to have lunch together tomorrow. And I will attend her paladar tomorrow night and maybe bring John, Dalia and Amanda Tolon.
In the evening, Jill Adams and Garry Smout come to the hotel. He is from somewhere in the Midlands in England and Jill is originally from Indiana, but she has wandered a bit about America and the world. They met the morning she arrived in Barcelona some ten years ago and have been a couple since shortly thereafter. They are also partners in The Barcelona Literary Review - an on-line literary magazine in three separate language editions. They are very attractive and I fall for them straight away. The five of us walk to a very old tapas bar where we all have sardines. I also have a sausage. Then we walk to a small place opposite their home called Can Fly. It's run by two women. More delicious food is produced. And we talk and talk. Not too late we walk back to our hotel and John and Dalia elect to have an early night. The three of us stroll back down the Ramblas to the Opera Café and more talk. Somehow we discuss the film, De-Lovely, and I am pleasantly surprised to learn that they love the film as much as I do. I tell them about my taking the entire cinema (65 places) and filling it with friends and that everyone loved the film. Jill says that they can give me a DVD of the film and they will leave it at the hotel for me tomorrow. That's very nice. Jill leaves us for a minute and when she returns, she finds us in deep conversation with two couples from New Delhi. Very quickly all of us are talking and having a great conversation. I invite them to dine the next time they are in Paris and one of them, Rakech Bagai, gives me his card. He is a printer. I pull out Pico Iyer's book which is a Penguin India and show it to him. He reports it was printed by a cousin. I tell them of my recent trip to Mumbai, Calcutta and New Delhi. Much later they leave. Jill and Garry walk with me almost to my hotel and then they turn off to head for their home. It's been a great evening!

      Thursday, 17th: It's bizarre, but I am the first up this morning. Out my door at 8.30 and knock on John's door. A very sleepy John opens the door and says he will join me in a few minutes. After our breakfast feast, return to my room to have a lazy morning. First I have a bath. Fill the tub with warm water and let relax. First time in a long time. Because I really do prefer showers. Call Maria Lluisa and she will collect me at 13.00 at the hotel and we will lunch somewhere. Call Jaume at the Institute and leave a message for him. Call Ted Krasny and we have a good talk. Then my mobile rings and it is Jaume. He will pass by the hotel late afternoon and we can go out for a coffee.
Decide to go to the Opera Café and have a horchata. Sadly they do not make them and I must make do with hot chocolate and chorros.
Back to the hotel and wait in my room for the arrival of Maris Lluisa. When she calls, tell her I will be downstairs in one minute. She prefers to speak French, so that is what we do the next few hours. We stroll slowly to the Café de l'Académia. We are too early, so we walk around the area and she shows me amazing places. Lunch is one of the best I have had in Barcelona. We talk about her paladar and I tell her about my salon. I also tell her that I will call her tonight to say how many people will be coming with me. And, to say, if in fact I will be coming at all because I am not sure what Amanda Tolon has planned. After our meal we walk past her home and I continue to the hotel.
About 16.30, Jaume Subirana calls. He is downstairs in the lobby. I go down straight away and after our warm abrazos, he asks where I would like to have a drink. I tell him it is his city and he is to choose. He tells me about a bookshop nearby that has a coffee bar inside. Perfect. I love bookshops. We walk a short distance to carrer Elisabets 6 to a beautiful bookshop called La Central del Raval. Jaume shows me around and introduces me to a fellow who co-launched the shop with his wife. Then we sit and have a coffee and catch each other up to date. He has only had his new appointment six months, so he tells me he is extremely busy trying to establish plans, projects and guidelines. I ask him if he remembers Karolina Blåberg and we talk lovingly of her and the Lahti Writers' Reunion. I tell him that she speaks Catalan and he had forgotten. Now he is pleased to get this news. He wants to invite her to a poetry conference/meeting in Barcelona. I pull out my Nokia and press Karolina and suddenly we three are talking. The miracle of modern communications. Jaume tells me that he will be traveling to Paris in May and in June and that in June he will arrange to stay in Paris on a Sunday so he can come and dine. We talk about Jill Adams, Garry Smout and Dolors Udina and he tells me that he thinks they are doing a great job with the Barcelona Literary Review. Jaume gives me two new cards - one to pass to Karolina when I am back in Paris. (And this I do.) He shows me a new novel by Ecco that has been translated from Italian into Catalan by one of his friends. Then he must excuse himself and rush back to the Institute.
I walk slowly back to the hotel. Call Anthony Pilley to thank him for all his hospitality and kindness and he suggests I walk the short distance to his apartment for a cuppa tea. He lives behind the opera house in the carrer Santa Margarita. About fifteen minutes later I have made it up the five flights of stairs. We sit and I give him a report of our activities. He shows me around the apartment and shows me photos of a farm he has North West of Barcelona. I begin to feel tired, so excuse myself and return to the hotel to nap.
By the time Amanda arrives, I am feeling ill. I think I have eaten too much and my body is saying "enough already!". Amanda goes across the street to a pharmacy and purchases something for me to take. Garry Smout calls and brings the De-Lovely DVD. I thank him and Jill once again. And remind him that they are always welcome in Paris to stay in my home. Also remind him that he has promised to cook one of the Sunday dinners! We three sit on my balcony and talk. I learn about Amanda and her two sons (Uli and Pablo) and that she is busy and tired from too much teaching. Tell her about Jane and Anselm Hollo. I am not feeling any better, so very reluctantly decide to call Maria Lluisa and tell her that I cannot come and dine chez elle tonight. She says she understands. I also tell Amanda that I am going to go to bed and ask her to excuse me as well. She and Garry depart.
Later John and Dalia check on me. They suggest that I dine with them in the hotel's restaurant for something light to eat. I guess that I should have something, so join them and have a bowl of fish soup. They had lunch in the market today and it seems that someone attempted to pick John's pocket. It was a failed attempt, but his wallet fell to the ground and John managed to secure it. A close call. Now it is early to bed…