Chapter Five involves catching up, in a variety of ways.

Well, the first half of my time in Barcelona was as much fun as I'd hoped. The first few days were spent re-familiarising myself with the layout of the city, and seeing how many of my favourite haunts were still there, tracking down old friends, and of course indulging in some of the significant local culture.

I re-visited a few of my old favourites of the galleries;
• the stunning Picasso museum, which is not only a great collection of the artist's work, but also located in a beautiful medieval building,
• the design museum across the lane from the Picasso, which had an interesting exhibition on fashion magazines through the ages. There were video clips for fashion shows from the 80's, 60's and the 20's, a collection of 19th century dolls that had been made to show the latest fashion styles and fabrics to clients, and a collection of magazines, prints and lithographs all the way back to the 16th century.
• another old favourite - although rather over-priced for what there is to see, is the pavillion designed by Mies van der Rohe for the 1929 International Exhibition.

• the incredible Museum of the History of Barcelona, where you enter through medieval buildings, and descend to the basement where the original Roman foundations of the city have been excavated
• and the Catalan National Art Museum - housed in a monumental building that had always been closed for many years of restoration during my previous visits, but now open with a stunning collection of art.

Despite my Facebook postings, it's not all drink and food during my trip, there has been some real culture-vulture stuff going on too!

Another great catch-up was with my dear mate Mel. When Juan first introduced us. Mel was working in the classical section of a CD and bookstore that was the local equivalent of Borders. The retail work was an income for some of Mel's other hobbies which include making movies - he's made one short film that has been shown at a Film Festival in Auckland several years back (a proud moment that - I wanted to jump up and shout "I know that man" when his name came up on the credits. Mel now has his own business importing, distributing and selling classical music CD's and is still working on a few film ideas.

Over the years when I visited Barcelona regularly we had a number of great dinners and parties at Mel's, but more often it was the base for meeting up and heading out. Mel has an incredible talent for finding obscure bars and restaurants - he'd tell us all to meet somewhere central, or at his place, and then we'd be lead down a whole network of dark and lonely streets and passages to some fascinating locale.

The first catch-up on Saturday night was just like this - we were instructed to meet outside the Liceu Opera House, and were lead to a tiny French restaurant in a quiet courtyard tucked behind the nearby Bouqeria market. The atmosphere was great; an old building with lots of character, enhanced by little touches of French odds and ends, and friendly staff, but my god the meal took forever!! Three hours for three courses.... and the starters we chose were all pretty simple; oysters naturel, pate or a duck salad. Main courses were a selection of casseroles or roasts. It all tasted great, but the inordinate wait took it's toll and we were all pretty tired at the end of it.

The next day the weather had turned sour, so I had a quiet moring in and close to the Hostal. Early in the afternoon I had a visit from another old buddy, Xavier. When we first met Xavi was working for himself as a freelance designer. He was pretty talented and multi-skilled, designing packaging, advertising and websites. He has now moved out to Lleida, a country town about 160 km from Barcelona, where he has started up a tattoo and body piercing business! We had a tasty pizza lunch and caught up on many years of gossip. Xavi made it to New Zealand to visit me not long after I'd bought my home in 1998, and we'd had a great time travelling around the country together. I showed him all the pictures of the changes to the house and section which he was impressed by.

We then called in to Mel's place just a bit further down the road. Mel is now living in a stunning mid nineteenth century apartment opposite the Ciutadella Park, and across the road from the Zoological museum. The park is a beautiful site with a number of museums and important features, and also has a pretty interesting political history behind it. It is also around the corner from the Chocolate Museum, which I plan to visit, as I'm sure several of you will be expecting 'souvenirs' from their shop!!

The apartment is on the first floor - on the ground floor there is a very grand entrance from the collonaded arcade that runs along the street-front, with marble walls, a grand staircase, and what apparently is the first elevator installed in a residential building in Barcelona. The apartment is long and narrow, running from the street to it's own private courtyard garden at the back. At the front, Mel's flatmate Patrick has a bedroom and study, then there is a poky little bedroom which I will be using on my return, then Emillio (Mel's partner) has a large room with it's own little courtyard as his study. That courtyard is pretty small and gloomy and is more of a service area, but the one at the back is really large and sunny, and has a great collection of succulents in pots, and a large table for summer dinner parties. Then there is a toilet, bathroom, a TV lounge and a small kitchen. At the end of the hall is a spacious dining room with a fireplace (sadly, not working but the marble surround looks good), and Mel and Emillio have a room each off either side. The dining room and each of the bedrooms have french doors opening in to a long gallery that runs the width of the back of the house, and that in turn opens to the terrace.