Barcelona - July 31st, 2013 later:11:47 pm

Before this trip I had more than one man tell me how beautiful the women in Barcelona are. (For some reason these were mostly gay men, who never said anything about the guys in Barcelona.) So I will say this: I have yet to see a woman or man here wearing a baggy sweatsuit on their way to the store. Nor have I seen anyone in a state of embarrassing undress, despite the heat. Some women wear very short shorts and skirts, but given the heat and humidity it doesn't seem gratuitous. Most people here of all ages simply look physically comfortable with themselves which, for Americans raised to live in a constant cloud of body shame, must seem almost unspeakably erotic. Of course as a happily married man all this is kinda academic to me, but there is one troubling thing: I am apparently staying in the gay district of Barcelona, and as far as I can tell I haven't gotten a second glance for a single guy! This is embarrassing. I have got to get back in the gym when I get home.