O’DAY’S TRAVEL WOES #66: KITTENS! WE’VE GOT KITTENS!

November (1995) (continued): The Barcelona hotel the NAB chose was quite nice, with a spectacular location on the waterfront. (Randi Reiten and Lucy Smith have very good taste.)

On Tuesday I took a brief walk outside. On one side of the hotel was a Hard Rock (“Tarda Rock”) Cafe. On the other side was a Planet Hollywood. Sure was glad to escape superficial Los Angeles for sophisticated Europe.

I went back inside the hotel to escape.

Although I finished the last of my seminars on Tuesday afternoon, my flight back home wouldn’t leave until Wednesday. So early Tuesday evening I went for a walk along the pier near my hotel, looking for a good place to eat.

As I strolled along the pier, I glanced to my left and was stunned to see the most beautiful night’s moon I have ever witnessed: a deep blue sky over blue water, and perhaps 30° over the water a huge, burnt-orange moon. Absolutely spectacular.

Barcelona restaurants typically do not begin serving dinner until 9 o’clock or later; most of the restaurants were closed.

Pans & Company

I ended up eating at Pans & Company, a chain of sandwich-style take-out restaurants. (In fact, after the previous night’s foodless reception, I slipped out of the palace and walked 100 yards or so to another Pans & Company to assuage my hunger.)

Pans & Company features a variety of sandwiches made with fresh baguettes, quite good, inexpensive. I bought my sandwich and drink and sat at one of the hundreds of little outdoor tables.

As I began to eat, five cats approached me and sat on the ground next to my chair. One was black-and-white; the other four (including two kittens) were pitch-black. All of them meowed throughout my meal, pleading for food.

Cute kittens. You happy now?

In fact, one of the kittens jumped up onto my tiny table to inspect my dinner more closely. A moment later he was joined by the other kitten and one of the adults. All meowing plaintively.

Yet another cute kitten. With a hobby.