BarTHelona

I really don't even know where to begin with Barcelona. I am in love with this city. There is something about being by the Mediterranean Sea after being landlocked for the past two months that was so freeing. Seeing palm trees after being swallowed up by cement for so long. And getting to experience the joy of transportation on two wheels once again-- oh how I have missed my bike.

We were gone for a total of four days, but we were actually only in Barcelona for two days. There was a day of travel on each end of the trip-- a twelve hour bus journey across Spain. In case you were wondering, Spain really isn't that beautiful. In fact, it really looks like a desert. A dry, arid, ugly, brown desert. So there really isn't much to look at while you're stuck in a bus for an entire day, but once we got to Barcelona, there was more than enough to feast our eyes upon. We got to the hotel on Friday night, got settled in, and headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner. This is where it gets interesting.

Apparently the hotel we were staying in was part of a tourism and hospitality school, so every employee we interacted with was basically a student, in training. This made dinner really entertaining. Especially since I have been a server in a restaurant, there are certain things you just know not to do. For instance, you would never talk about the guests in earshot as if they couldn't hear you. You would never have the following conversation either:

"Could I please have some butter?"
"Why?" (said with complete confusion and lack of respect)
"For my pasta"
Server gives guest a look of complete disgust and walks away

And one last thing you would never experience in a restaurant in the U.S. is being served plain pasta with a gallon sized bowl of cold ketchup as the sauce. We really thought we were being pranked. We all just stared at the gigantic bowls of red, jello-like sauce being put before us, waiting for someone to make the first move and put it on their pasta. I just stared at bowl after bowl after bowl, as the servers continued to bring them out to the tables. Apparently, Spaniards really love their ketchup. What the heck?


Okay, so after the ketchup catastrophe, we hit the town. Found the metro and took it to a part of Barcelona called la Rambla, which is pretty much the social center of the city, with lots of people, bars, restaurants, and freaky street performers. For some reason, covering yourself in gold paint and meowing at tourists passing by is a great way to make a buck in Barcelona. We walked along la Rambla, which leads you directly to the docks on the Mediterranean Sea. We spent night 1 just soaking it all in, walking around the water, loving every ounce of it.

Day 2 started with breakfast at the hotel. See, the way meals work on our weekend excursions is that we get breakfast in the hotel, and then we are given a stipend for the weekend (in this case, 60 euro for five meals). If you're smart though, you bring a jar of peanut butter, take bread and jelly, along with a yogurt, muffin, and apple from the breakfast buffet, and like magic, you have a free lunch, and 60 euro to spend on more memorable things. After Andrea and I took this approach to eating on the first day, soon, the rest of the group was sneaking out bread and jelly. What can I say, we're quite the trendsetters. And for dinner, we went to an outdoor market and bought a gigantic head of lettuce, red peppers, tomato, cucumber, mushrooms, aged gouda, avocado, a loaf of bread, and a bottle of balsamic vinager. These goodies supplied us with a total of six meals, all for less than 10 euro. You should have seen the salad making process in the hotel-- it was fantastic.


But anyway, back to Day 2 events. We went to Park Güell, which is an architecturally complex park designed by Gaudi, a famous spanish artist/architect. His style incorporates a ton of curvy lines, mosaic tile designs, and modern design. And I LOVE it. A lot of his work looks like something that belongs in a Dr. Seuss book, straight out of Who-ville.


What can I say, I really like Gaudi and his work, so I took a LOT of pictures. These are only a select few of the greatness that my camera captured. After Park Güell, we went and had a look around the Picasso museum, pretty quickly, then jetted out of there to enjoy our free afternoon. At this point, I was in desperate need of some sturdy shoes, because my feet have been falling apart (I'm pretty sure I broke my toe in Madrid, like three weeks ago). So I spent part of the afternoon in a shopping mall-- just what I wanted to be doing with my precious time in Barcelona. Anyway, after finding some quality sneakers, we made our way to the Chocolate Museum! If you know anything about me and the essence of my being, you would know that I have SUCH a weakness for chocolate, so of course I had to visit. Our ticket to enter was a bar of dark chocolate-- so perfect. I learned every possible detail about the history of chocolate, how it is made, how it became popular, everything. And of course there were tons of chocolate sculptures to look at.

We then made our way to the open market (where we bought out an entire garden worth of food to make our salads). It was so beautiful, all the fresh produce, all the smells and bustling people. I was completely on sensory overload, Andrea practically had to hold my hand and guide me around. From there we caught a metro to go view the Magic Fountains. Thats what they're really called, apparently. What a lame name. Anyway, these fountains put on a show every night, with music and lights...it's practically like a dance performance, but with water instead of people. It was pretty sweet, what can I say.

That's me!

After the magical fountain show, we took the metro back to the hotel to make our epic salads. Taking advantage of our weekends away from home to eat whatever we want is so key. And for some reason, there was nothing more I was craving than a bangin salad. And it sure hit the spot.

In the morning of day 3, we went to see la Sagrada Familia and la Pedrera, two more famous Gaudi creations. La Sagrada Familia is a church that has been under construction for ages, and it will probably continue to be for the next million years. It is so intricatly designed, and there is very little funding for it, so it remains a continuous work in progress. Inside, we took an elevator to the top, where there is a mini bridge that connects two of the towers. We got to see a great view of the entire city, all the while I was freaking everyone out by jumping up on the side of the bridge... it's funny, some of the people you would least expect to be are really afraid of heights, and its awesome to mess with them.

La Pedrera is an apartment building that Gaudi designed, that people use to actually live in. Now, it has been turned into a museum, and it was beautiful. He designed each and every intricate detail of the place, from the exterior balcony gates to the doorknobs on each bedroom door. The best part was the terrace on the roof. I can't even really explain why it was so great, except that I felt like I was in a cartoon movie. Everything was so curvy and modern. Thats the best artistic analysis I can come to, my words really fail me.

On the Terrace

The rest of the day was left up to us to explore on our own, and this leads me to the absolute best memory I have so far since being in Spain. The most joyful, satisfying, elated moments of my time here. We rented bikes and rode all over the city, through parks, along the Mediterranean Sea, past the Olympic zone, and I loved every second of it. I miss having my bike here with me SO much. There is something so inexplicable about the joy I feel when I'm on two wheels, and I have missed it immensely.


Later was delicious salad round two for dinner. And an evening of goofing around in the hotel rooms, which transformed itself into a giant cuddlefest on the bed with some of the girlies. Such an EPIC weekend.


A really perfect ending to the weekend.