Spring Break '09 - Stop #2 - BARCELONA, SPAIN - "Wait we where in Spain???"

BARCELONA, SPAIN


Barcelona flew by. I seriously wouldn’t believe I was there if it weren’t for the pictures! When we first arrived on Wednesday, everything was going smoothly, Sarah and I were going to meet Dewey and Annie at the hostel at 2pm and then we were going to go out sightseeing. Sarah and I made it to the center bus on time and then navigated through the metro system with a little more ease than Rome! We got off at the stop we were supposed to but the directions I had said the hostel would be right outside of the metro stop… I didn’t see any hostel called “BARCELONA DREAM HOSTEL,” I didn’t see any hostel period. I again was beginning to wonder if we had been fooled (not into a campground this time – but into no hostel).

I found the nearest kiosk and whipped out some of the 7 years of Spanish I have taken! Knew it would come in handy sooner or later!!! I asked where or if the guy knew where our hostel was and how to get there. He explained and pointed us in the right direction!

We finally found it and then we checked in but Annie and Dewey had already checked in so they were in the room. We got in there and then left to go get some food from the grocery store for lunch and Dewey, Annie, and Sarah took a nap. I could sleep so I uploaded pictures to my computer and then by the time I was done with that everyone was getting ready to go out for the night.

We met up with some of Dewey’s friends that he met in Prague and went to a bar called the ‘Black Sheep’ and hung out for the rest of the night! We were at a club and Sarah, Dewey and I were talking on some of the couches on the side. We had to wait for the metro to open at 5am and it was only 2:30am so we needed something to do! We left and went to look for La Sagrada Familia! We found it and then walked around the center for a while! 5am finally came – longly awaited! We got back to the hostel and I was out before I hit the pillow!

I am the 'Black Sheep!'

Sarah, Annie, and I at the Black Sheep!

Thursday we woke up ‘early’ to go sightseeing (it was about 9am – but with only 3 hours of sleep it was very early). We had to check out of the hostel in the morning because we only were staying for one night. Our flight left at 7am on Friday so we were just going to stay at the airport. We stored our stuff in lockers at the bus station all day and then began to search for the few things we wanted to see in the city.

As our luck would have it, it started to pour. We went to a restaurant to eat some Paella. It was 9 euro but we had 2 courses and a dessert with it! Paella is yellow rice with a sauce on it. It has a bunch of different types of seafood on it like: clams/muscles, sting ray, and whole shrimp (with the eyes and all). It was very different from what I am used to having but it tasted pretty good. However I ate clams/muscles and I still don’t know how I feel about that.

We left there once it had stopped raining and went to La Sagrada Familia (Church designed by Antonio Goudi) – it is so much prettier at 2pm than at 2am! The architecture/design is beautiful and the outside of the building looks like a bunch of leaves falling off of it!

La Sagrada Familia

We went to Antonio Goudi’s, a famous architect, apartments that he designed and these were beautiful as well.

Goudi's Apartment #1

Goudi's Apartment #1 - Close Up

Goudi's Apartment #2

Dewey Thoner, me, Sarah Frost, Annie Mahoney in front of Goudi's Apartment #2

The bench was made of a bunch of little stones! It was actually realy comfy!

We saw so many things in one day it doesn’t feel like we were there long enough to do anything. It is a beautiful city and I cannot wait to go back someday and spend some more time here!

'The Giant Shrimp' down by the port in Barcelona

The bus for the airport left the city centre at 3:15am so we decided to stay out with Dewey’s friends again until that time. When we first got on the bus we had to give the driver our ticket so he could validate it. However, I pulled out the wrong ticket and it wasn’t working (obviously). So after holding up the line for what seemed like an hour (it was probably 5 minutes), I found my ticket and then my seat! I sat down and was out in a matter of seconds. I felt completely rested as soon as we got to the airport but as soon as the plane took off I was out again.

The flight was very empty and we all had a whole row to ourselves so it was nice because we could actually lay down and not try to fall asleep in the awkward positions you have to when you have to sit up! I didn’t wake up until the wheels hit the ground in Paris!