Sometimes I write about the exciting things we encounter in our travels. Sometimes, I write about the mundane. As you know, those of you who have joined us are on vacation; we are on vacation, sort of, but also going through the paces of life. And occasionally, we just have to take care of business.

Monday was one of those days. We needed to do laundry, among other things. We have walked this marina quite a few times; there are many stores but they are of two genres....restaurants and chandlers. Nothing else. So, Ken called the marina office who referred him to a local shopping center (think mall) and he spoke with someone who said they do laundry. We checked it out on google maps...and, in fact, it was quite close to the marina, although, since Moonbeam is, as usual, in the Timbuktu of the marina, it would be a long walk out to the end...and then a backtrack. We nosed around and found a shortcut up to a promenade (paseo) and then a walk across the street to the shopping center....a mere 1000 steps on my Fitbit. We weren't sure if it was a service laundry or DIY so I put a bottle of Omo detergent in my backpack, and we took our 'devices' (iPads, iPhones) just in case we had to sit around and they had free wifi.

It was interesting to take this walk. We got to see a side of the Port Olimpico which we had not previously seen, although we have been here for almost a week. There is a lovely beach on the other side...and all of the marina side cafés actually have formal restaurants on the top paseo side.

The laundry had both options but, with only 2 machines and our 3 loads, we opted for service since we did not want to spend the entire day (the Captain's birthday) fooling around with washers and dryers.

In the meantime, I was on a secondary mission. Having made a few packing errors, I have no real shoes...only sandals...and I will be in Spain in October (average temps 64 degrees) and then will fly to NY directly at the end of the month (55-60 degrees). I was hoping to pick up a pair of real shoes. No such luck...but there was a supermarket in the shopping center and since I have a few items on my list which I have been unable to find...I went in. I came up empty...and just left the store. All of a sudden, a security guard came up to me...yelled at me for going out the wrong exit..and asked to search my backpack. No problem. Well....there was this bottle of laundry detergent in my backpack. Oops. I frabbajabba'd about the lavanderia upstairs, and the slightly curled up label...and he let me go. On the way back, I realized that they probably don't sell Omo in España (since we haven't needed to buy detergent in awhile), and, once back at the boat, I looked at the label and saw it was from Australia. So...I could have been hauled in to the police station, but could probably have gotten out within a week or two, with the help of a legal aid lawyer.

In the meantime, Ken had settled in at a cafe with a C and C (cappuccino and croissant) and was happily updating his apps and backing his devices to the cloud....in minutes....compared with the forever it takes on the free wifi at marinas.

Ken's birthday dinner was at Tinglado, a tapas restaurant in the Barri Gòtic. It was rated #49 on TripAdvisor, which doesn't sound that good.....but it was out of 7112 restaurants...so that perspective changed everything. The reviews said it was tiny...that is an understatement....but it was excellent, and before long, we had half of the restaurant celebrating the Captain's birthday.

So...by the end of the day, we had gotten our stuff laundered, got euros from the ATM, updated our apps, backed up our devices, toured the 'hood', celebrated the Captain's birthday (again)...and didn't get arrested. It's all good.