Party time

Alice and I with a street performer.

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After a delay with our flight from Rome, Cameron, Alice, James and I finally arrived in Barcelona.  We found that it would take an hour on an expensive bus to get from the airport to the actual city and ended up arriving in the neighbourhoods at about 11:30pm.  We caught the metro to Las Ramblas and then wandered around in circles as helpful locals gave us wrong directions.  Eventually we found our apartment which was pretty cool, complete with washing machine and stuff, and then went out to get a late kebab from a nearby shop just off Las Ramblas.

We woke up ready to explore the city.  Walking up Las Ramblas was entertaining as it's filled with the living statues.  Some were great such as a man who looked like he was made of marble sitting on a toilet reading the newspaper.  Any time someone put money in the bucket he'd let out a fake fart.  Very entertaining!  We walked through to Gaudi's unfinished building, La Segrada Familia, which was absolutely amazing.  Wandered around there and then headed to Gaudi's park which looked like it was out of a fairy tale with gingerbread looking houses everywhere, tiled fountains and round ceilings.  Had a rest in the sun in the seating area there with the locals, looking over the city and the water.  Made dinner that night and had... of course... lots of wine!

James and I with the view of Barcelona.

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Walked down to the beach the next day and spent the whole day there which was great.  Eavesdropped on Americans trying to pick up chicks with bad lines such as "Do you have a spare towel?  I forgot mine".  An aussie guy came over and gave us a flyer for a bar on the beach that had cheap cocktails so we headed there that night and tried the lethal drinks out.  Shut at 12 though which was a bummer.

Went to see Gaudi's house the next day and managed to lose each other in the metro system, meeting up again at the bus stop where we bought 7am tickets for the next day to San Sebastian.  Then we wandered through the Gothic quarter, taking in the cathedral and the other architecture.  Saw a really cool puppet show done by a street performer to opera music.  we decided to make a big night of it, so, filled up on cous cous we headed out on the town, getting lost twice while trying to find the nightlife.  We finally found a club where we went downstairs, which looked a bit Japanesey and had a really nice liqueur that we can't remember the name of.  Had a few quiet drinks there while people finished their dinner, but when all the dinner guests had gone, the tables were put away and it became a pumping dance floor.  We met some Spanish gay guys who talked to James for an hour or so until they figured out he wasn't gay and then a group of English guys who we danced with.  then the English guys said they were going around the corner to the club called Catwalk and they had a VIP area so we joined them there, no cover charge, no line but a lot of vodka!  We decided to just party all night rather than have only a little sleep and so we only left the club at 6am when it closed.  Forgetting about our 7am bus we strolled slowly back to the apartment, getting into a panic when we arrived as we realised we only had a half hour to get to the bus station (and the boys getting angry because I insisted on having a quick shower first).  We raced out to the metro got on a train and got off a stop to early, got back on and carried Cam's bag while he raced down to the station to stop the bus, but it had already left.  We raced over to a taxi rank and got him to drive us to the next station on the edge of the city, but he drove really really slow and wasn't impressed by James massaging his shoulders and calling him Big Boy.  Cameron and Alice ran in while James and I carried their bags, though Alice's small bag broke open with her camera, wallet and makeup spilling all over the floor.  We stumbled through with the bags and got on the bus with one minute to spare!  We could win he Amazing Race for sure!