Barcelona!

Two weekends ago, my friend Jackie and I flew to Barcelona for 4 nights. We arrived in the Gerona airport sometime after 10pm not knowing that the Gerona airport was over an hour away from Barcelona. We found this out by asking how much a taxi would cost and learned that it would cost over 130 euro. We took the bus instead. Because it was a new city and so late at night, we had no idea how to get to our hostel, so we took a cab instead. We stayed at Ideal Youth Hostel right off of Las Ramblas. It was a 10-person female dorm, tiny, with one bathroom on the entire floor. Once we put our stuff in our room, we went to search for food because we were STARVING. We ended up eating at a restaurant in a little plaza off of Las Ramblas. The paella and sangria were delicious. We walked around Las Ramblas a little bit more until we were too annoyed of the Indian men illegally selling beer by the can along the street. Then we went to bed.

The next morning we got up and had our fabulous breakfast of two pieces of toast and a mini-muffin at the hostel. Mmm filled me up (ha ha). With our maps in hand, we found some cathedrals, some Gaudi buildings, and found a really cool indoor market. It had everything from fresh fruits and veggies to fresh meet and seafood. I watched a woman place a shark head on a table and chop it right in half. Wow. We bought some gummie bears and then ran into the Sagrada Familia. This cathedral was RIDICULOUS. It was designed by Gaudi, has been in construction for over 100 years, and is not even close to being done. This thing Dominates the city. You can see it from every vantage point.

After we could finally take our eyes away from this thing, we trudged up the hill towards Park Guell. It was steep. We were hot. We ended up eating at this small bar/cafe in the middle of no where, far away from the tourist places where they didn't speak English. This was fine for us because I know some Spanish, and Jackie has a minor in it. It would've been perfect had the old man not talked Jackie into ordering Gazpacho. I told her it was like a tomato drink, but she swore it had fruit in it. Wrong. It was what I knew it was, and that was not too tasty. We had tortillas which were really like an omelette pie with calamari. Very good. We also had some croquettes and empanadas. The empanadas were delicious, but we were unsure of what was inside of them. Something red. After we were done with our food, the old men brought us some shots of something between tequila and rum. Buh.

We finally made it to Park Guell! It was on the top of the hills on the north side of the city. Park Guell along with a lot of the city was designed by Gaudi. Gaudi's playfulness with the landscape and his architecture is very unique. He uses columns but twists and leans them. There was an amazing view of the city and the sea, so we sat at the top for a while and watched two men from Easter Island in butt-flaps sing music and dance. We were in that tired, cranky mood, so we napped on the grass by Gaudi's house (now a museum). Our nap was just what we needed, so then we headed back down the hill towards Las Ramblas.

We side-tracked a few times to see some more Gaudi things, and finally ended at the top of Las Ramblas. We were exhausted, smelly, and didn't have a plan of action. We then decided to clean up, eat dinner, and maybe go out after that. We put our dresses on and went looking for a place to eat. It was already pretty late, and the paella was pretty pricey everywhere we looked, so we finally settled for the same restaurant we ate at the night before. We ordered more paella and a liter of sangria. Our waiter from the night before gave us another half liter for free. Go us! Sitting at a large table behind us was a group of men eating. They kept looking at us which I found hilarious. Towards the end of our 2nd half liter, one of the bald men filled up our sangria glasses and another gave us shots of sambuca. We found out that the table was for a bachelor party, and two of the guys sat at our table and talked to us. We found out they were Italian too.

After another shot of sambuca, we began walking with the two 30+ year-old guys towards the beach. Matio, the one I was talking to, knew Spanish, and apparently liquor gives me confidence in my Spanish-speaking skills, so I was talking up a storm. He actually understood it, and I understood him! Amazing. They bought us bottles of Bud which I found hilarious, and then Jackie and I left sometime after 2am because they were going to have to take a taxi to where they were going and we aren't stupid enough to get in a vehicle with strange men. Once back at our hostel room, we were standing on the balcony and decided it'd be a great idea to try to spit on people on the sidewalks below. I don't Think we got anyone, and later I found out that spitting in public is a 1500 euro fine. Oops. I also didn't recall doing this until the next evening when I was standing on the balcony. O man. All in all it was a fantastic, cheap, safe night! Hooray for blondes.

The next morning we woke up, hungover, too late for our tasty hostel breakfast, so we went to Dunkin' Coffee on Las Ramblas. We got donuts and iced coffee, and it was definitely my American indulgence. Mmmm. We went to the Picasso Museum (fantastic!) and grabbed lunch at the indoor market. After lunch headed toward the west side of the city towards a large park called Montjuic and the Olympic Stadium. Let me tell you. Loooonnnggg walk! Goodness it was terrible and hot, but we made it! It was huge, and we got lost many a times. When exploring around the Olympic stadium we went too far around and couldn't get out in that direction, so Jackie said she thought we'd have to turn around. My feet were burning, and my crankiness reaction was 'I am NOT walking up that hill. No way!' Well, of course I had to. Jackie was right like most times, and that was the only way to get out. I pretty much pissed and moaned the entire way up.

We finally found the entrance of the stadium and bought bags of potato chips at the stadium's cafe. It was well-needed. We headed to the Magic Fountain for its show that we heard was pretty cool beginning at 9pm. Words cannot describe how cool this fountain was. It wasn't just one fountain but this huge terraced fountain display that led all the way up to a large museum. It began with 'Circle of Life' from the Lion King, and the fountain danced with the music. There were other songs from Disney, several Spanish songs, OneRepublic, and other randoms. Once it got dark, the colors were magnificent too. I could've watched it all night. We pretty much crawled our way home due to exhaustion and ate at a cheap Turkish restaurant. Delicious.

Pictures and more updates will come soon. I plan on posting another about Barcelona and my final weeks in Europe. Adios!