Oh Barç

Game plan:

Get up at 5:15am, Bus station at 6:00am to Madrid at 7:30am, Metro to el Aeropuerto (1 hour)...9:30 flight.

So on Friday morning this is what we did...any cost to avoid sleeping in the airport again! We made it with a little bit of time to spare! All we had were backpacks so it worked out just fine...we printed our boarding passes when we got there and we got to Barcelona at 10:45am. We then had to look for a shuttle that would take us to our hotel. We stayed at the hotel Marriot because one of our friends´mom works for Marriot so we got to stay there very cheap! Well Megan and I are walking up and down the terminals looking for this shuttle. Most everyone else had arrived a couple hours before. So they had told us where to go...and it still wasn´t working! (We later found out that what they thought was terminal c was actually terminal b...yeah. Anyway so while we are walking down the street outside the terminals at the airport this van pulls up and out jumps two guys dressed in uniform and holding machine guns...one walks across the street, 6 lanes, and stops traffic, once he makes it to the other side he just stands there and watches traffic. We are with in rock throwing distance of them. We looked at the side of the van and I suddenly wished that I didn´t understand Spanish...bomb squad. Perfect.

We got out of that area real fast. The machine guns were making me very uncomfortable. In Mexico and other places you see that but here you don´t so you know something is wrong. Within a half hour we were on a shuttle to the hotel and nothing more happened with the guys with machine guns. I imagine something was going on but we never saw anything else. We didn´t care to.

So we got to the hotel, and they had already checked in so we dropped our stuff off and headed into town to do some sightseeing! Barcelona has some very unique things to see! Everything is very different. Even the language is different. It´s supposed to be a cross between french and spanish. It looks more like somebody took Spanish and decided to throw some X´s in there for good measure...it´s dumb really. And a lot of people spoke english or spanish so we got by without a problem but some were a little stinky about the language.

We went into town and went to the famous Las Ramblas...where we were told to not even carry a purse with us because pick pocketing is so bad. It´s this huge street with shops and restaurants and street performers...it´s pretty nutty! We found a little place where you ordered a pita and they turned around and shaved it off of the this huge hunk of meat and then you added vegetables and whatever else you wanted. They were so good! It was weird to see them shave off the meat but it was very tasty!

We then went to the Parc Güell. It is sortof a cross between candy land and Aladdin´s palace...haha someone is going to get upset about that comparison. It is fantastic, and very different, as is all of Antonio Gaudi´s work. He is the famous architect of many interesting and unique buildings in Barcelona. He designed the park and it is basically a huge mosaic park and it was really a neat place to visit and relax...although there were quite a few people there.

Afterwards we went in search of another one of Antonio Gaudi´s famous sites...La Sagrada Familia. Gaudi didn´t finish the massive Catholic basilica...he spent 40 years of his life on it and when he died in 1926 another architect took over to finish the project using only what little of the original plans remain and adaptations...so it is still under construction. Regardless it is unbelievably huge! We couldn´t go inside because the lights weren´t working...if you have not seen on the news, Barcelona had some power issues. Anyway it was unbelievably huge and gorgeous! Also a lot of people. We stopped and got something to drink and some ice cream cones at McDonalds (hence the picture that I will add later). We walked around some more around La Sagrada Familia.

By this time we were pretty tired, everything is pretty spread out in Barcelona...and we had to do some traveling around for sure!

We went back to Las Ramblas to do some shopping and look around. We found this huge Mercado...it had rows and rows of fruit, meat, fish, candy and all sorts of stands. Megan and I got a quarter of a pineapple and ate it in the street. Emily and Krista got bananas.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel to shower and hang out with the group. We all took it easy because a lot of people hadn´t slept the night before and we planned to go to the beach all day Saturday so we didn´t want to go out all night.

Saturday morning we slept in and then got up and caught a train to the beach! Sitges is the area we went to and it was beautiful. We stopped at a supermercado and bought bread that was being pulled out of the oven, chorizo y queso and some chips and waters and took it out to the beach and had lunch! It´s much cheaper to do it that way than to sit down somewhere and it´s the same thing anyway! So I got a Barcelona tan and spent half the day swimming! The Mediterranean Sea is so warm and the water is perfect and the sand is nice...it was just a great little beach day!

I like the ocean but rarely will I swim for a while and I swam quite a bit on Saturday. We spent the whole day there! Oh and I chipped my tooth...don´t know how that happened...but lots of fun for Chelsea when she gets home!

We took a break from the sun and walked around the streets just off the sand. I finally found my Spanish shoes that I have been looking for this whole trip! And they were rebajas (sale)!!! Yeah!

We caught the 7:00 train home and we all got ready and went on the longest, most complicated adventure of traveling through public transportation of my young adult life! I won´t even go into the details...too long. Anyway we finally ended up at an area near Las Ramblas where we had dinner. And then a group of us went out...Megan´s birthday/whoo hoo we´re in Barcelona! We went to a discoteca on the beach called Baja! It is all themed like the ocean...the DJ booth is in a ski boat at the end of the dance floor. You can dance inside and then you can walk outside and sit on the beach...there are tons of people! It was a really neat set up. By 4am it was so crowded...the dance floor was hard to walk through...and we kept having to move because guys would hit on someone...aye creepy european boys! Haha, my favorite is when you´re walking and they stop you and grab your hand and ask you not to leave...happens all the time...very brave. The American girls shot down a number of boys Saturday night/Sunday morning! 

But we had a blast, it was my favorite night in Spain. We left at 5:30am and the place was still pretty crazy! We got home and went to bed around 6:30am...got up at 11:30am and checked out of the hotel. We went into town to find lunch and hang out until our flight at 6. We went and saw two other buildings of Gaudi. One of them we planned to see and the other I wanted to see so bad but couldn´t figure out where it was...as we were walking back to the metro I about screamed because there it was...what luck! We look pretty nasty in the pictures but I don´t care cause I got to see it!

We got back to the airport and waited for our flight. We got on around 5:30 which was on time but we sat there for almost an hour and then left. Oh and when we landed I had my cell phone in my hand because I had put my bag away and it was in my pocket so I was just holding it for the flight, well the weather was rough and when we landed we landed fast and dropped pretty hard. So my cell phone flew under the seat in front of me and it was gone! So we land and I ask people in Spanish and english is they see a cell phone. I walk all the way to the front of the plane...nowhere. So then this flight attendant comes up to me and says "Are you looking for a mobile." Spaniards who speak english tend to have english accents...very funny! So she had my "mobile" and we got off the plane.

There were thunderstorms in Madrid so we were late getting in and then ran through the metro system just to miss the first bus we wanted to get and had to get the next one...then that was late! So we got home at 10:45pm last night...I did some homework and we went to bed. Another group came on a later flight and missed the bus and the train because their flight was late and ended up sleeping in the airport again! We were glad to make it back.

It´s weird to imagine coming home in a week...a week from now I am asleep in my bed in Cave Creek...so strange to me. This trip has been unbelievable.

Well I have to be studying and getting ready for finals now! And later I will be uploading pictures so that this all makes a little more sense!

Vida, Amor, Viaje...and 6 more days