We arrived in Barcelona on Thursday morning, and went  directly to the hotel which is walking distance to the horse show.  Then, we moseyed over to the grounds, which were the site of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. It brought back lots of good memories. The ring is now grass again. The stables are quite a long walk from the arena, as it is a big complex on the site of the polo club.

On Thursday, the Nations Cup horses basically went in various classes to get a feel of the ring, footing, etc.  A we walked into the showgrounds,  our national anthem was playing, so we knew someone on our team had gotten off to a good start.  It turns out that Laura Kraut had won the first class, a speed class, on Cedric, so that was great.  Ken Berkeley was fourth in that same class on Parlay, his second horse, which was a grand start for his first outing in his team jacket.
 
Friday brought three classes, small, medium and large tour.  Laura and Ken won ribbons again as they are the only riders with extra horses here.  The large tour class was the [Longines Grand Prix], which comes before the Nations Cup at this show.

[A Spanish rider, Ricardo Jurado, won the grand prix on Procasa Julia des Brumes.  Ken Berkeley was a highest-placed American, in 16th with a first-round 4 faults.  Beezie Madden on Judgement, Christine McCrea on Vegas and Todd Minikus on Olinda all had 8 faults in the first round, and finished 24th, 25th, and 27th.  Laura Kraut and Anthem collected 14 faults for 42nd.]

We had no clears for the jump-off, but [chef d’equipe] George Morris was happy with the way everyone rode and the way the horses jumped, as well as a few of the “good bumps” in the ring that were encountered.  If you are going to have a rail down, you may as well make it a good one in preparation for the important class coming up.
 
The competition days are long here, with classes going at night–often until after midnight–so early mornings are rare  for most people. Everyone has to adjust their schedules, eating habits, etc. Restaurants close between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. everywhere and most people dine around 10–that is way past my normal bedtime, much less my dinner hour!
 
There was a break between events on Friday, so we took the metro downtown and to the harbor.  Aacquiring metro tickets was a challenge–trying to understand the Spanish directions and getting the correct coinage, not to mention trying to get on the correct subway. We got off early and walked down the Ramblas, which is the place to be in Barcelona.  It is full of markets, shops, street vendors, musicians and people during the day  and even more people at night (I am told!). It is just fun, and we ended up at the harbor and then walked along the port, coming eventually to the beach where we were able to run along the sea on the packed sand.

It was spectacular–the waves were high sinca a monsoon was out there somewhere so there were not many sunbathers. It was as if we had the beach to ourselves. The water felt quite warm as I dipped my fingers in it.
 
The weather has been beautiful. I have noticed that the city is not nearly as clean as it was during the Games, but it’s still a lovely town with wonderful architecture that is easy on the eyes. People are friendly enough, but they don’t speak as much English here as in other parts of Europe we have traveled this year–but that’s our problem, not theirs.
 
The Nations Cup is tomorrow afternoon [Sunday] and the U.S. team has drawn the last position. I believe George has everyone ready and I feel extremely positive about our chances here.  It is all about clear rounds and this group can do it.