Our trip started out rocky with a delayed flight from Pisa to Spain...and it was raining and Nicole's umbrella broke for the second time walking to the plane.. And when we were on the bus from the airport to Barcelona city bus station we sat in traffic for almost an hour because of a blocked off road due to some sort of accident..and then when we finally got to our hostel via cab (since the metro closed at 2am) we walked in on 3 people already sleeping who weren't our roommates Emily and Nina (they came a day earlier and we were supposed to stay with them). It's ok though because it was our first true hostel experience! We stayed with a boyfriend and girlfriend from France and they were very nice.
On Saturday we had beautiful weather. We went to Park Guell, which is a big park that has artwork and buildings designed by the artist Gaudi. It's really colorful and unique and a lot of it looks like a clay mosaic..it reminded me of Whoville! It was really interesting and it's something very different that I haven't seen yet. Then we walked about 3 miles to a sandwich shop that is supposed to be the best place in Barcelona. When we finally got there, the line was down the street so we ended up not eating there buuuut we got to see a lot of Barcelona and we got our workout in. We ended up going to a Spanish restaurant and ate good Spanish food, which I've never really had before. We also found a cup cake shop called Florentine, so we obviously had to go there. Saturday night we met some really fun people at our hostel. We met two 18 year old girls from Canada who took a gap year and are backpacking through Europe. We also met Sebastian and Alessandro, a couple that was staying at the hostel for the weekend. We hung out for awhile in the lobby and then I suddenly, out of no where, got really sick. I think I had a food allergy or something :/ I decided to go to bed but my friends went to a Dublin Pub and listened to a band play American music.. They said the band didn't know the right words to the songs so it was really funny.
Sunday after we checked out we went to the Sagrada Familia (Church of the Sacred Family). We went with our new Canadian friends. We were able to walk right in because we bought our tickets online, so it worked out well. The church is the most beautiful one I have seen so far! I would not be able to pay attention during mass if I went to church there. Gaudi also designed this church and I think he was on acid or something? It's just crazy/amazing that someone came up with this design! After the church, we walked towards to beach and saw this hamburger shop that had a big crowd. We decided to grab it to go and eat by the beach and it was a great decision. I would never have thought a hamburger would make me feel better after having the 24 hour flu, but it did! We got some stares from people because we looked like the fat Americans eating burgers on the beach..guess people in Spain don't do that. Then we went to the boardwalk and walked along the beach. It was really crowded with rollerbladers and bikers and surfers. We walked trough the gothic quarter/old town before heading back to our hostel to grab our bags and head get to the airport. On the subway back to our hostel we ran into a family who had the cutest little blonde haired girl. She was probably around 4, and she was looking at us very intently. She was so cute when she spoke spanish because she had such a high pitched voice. Her dad noticed her looking at us and told us that she was listening to us speak English because she is currently learning it and was trying understand us...she is 4! It was crazy how much she knew! She sang "Yellow Submarine" to us and I almost cried from her cuteness. She said all of the colors and counted to 10 perfectly with a perfect English accent...I was amazed. She should entertain people on the subway and get paid because she was more entertaining than the clarinet player that came on asking for money after she got off.
Even though I got sick, Barcelona was still awesome! It's different from the other cities that I have been to so far and the weather was great for us. This was the last country were going to that does not speak our language. We're off to London on Friday! Ciao!
Pictures:
1- We were entertained by the bus next to us while waiting in traffic. The driver got impatient so he stepped outside for a smoke break.
2-28: All of these pictures are taken in Park Guell. The pictures of all of us in the cave looking scenery is of us modeling..the TV show Americas Next Top Model came to Barcelona for a finale one year and had the runway show in this cave, so we were inspired. There was also a karate class going on at the top of the park and a really fun band was playing. They sounded like Los Lonely Boys to me. The picture of the guy wearing the crazy outfit is a gypsy that followed us for a good 10 minuets..he just wouldn't give up. We spent most of our afternoon here because its so big!
30-33: We saw a ton of cool looking buildings and churches on our walk around Barcelona.. The architecture is pretty amazing there and to me it's way different from other European countries.
34-35: This is the Arch de Triumph in Barcelona and the walkway through it. It reminded me of the walk to the Arch de Triumph in Paris a lot, except with palm trees.
36-40: This is old town and the sandwich shop we walked to.
41-42: This is tapas di patatas bravas and pallea, original Spanish food and it tasted really good! I loved the tapas.
43-46: Our cupcake store.. And a candy store called Happy Pills..I thought that was clever.
47-60: Sagrada de Familia..aka the most beautiful church I have ever seen..it is constantly under construction because it technically was never finished so the outside does not do the inside justice, although the appearance is still so unique. They hold mass in the bottom floor of the church so it's not interrupted by tourists.
61-62: A park we walked though while heading towards the beach..it had hippies dancing around smoke so that was fun to watch!
63-66: This hamburger was worth the walk..it was just what we all needed. I don't crave American food really but I do miss the variety that is available there. We sat on the steps and listened to a band while we ate.
67-74: Barcelona Beach! It was so nice out and there were people doing things everywhere...there was even a work out area on the beach too.
75-76: A gelato museum..or so it said on the sign..the candy was too pretty for me to eat.
77-79: This is a cathedral in Barcelona and some pictures on our walk back to the train station. I wish I got a picture of the little English/Spanish speaking genius baby!
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