Miriam and I woke up bright and early Friday morning for our 8 am flight to Barca from Pisa. We finally made it on to the plane (after dumping some of my toiletries, and rearranging our bags so we didn't have to pay 80 EUROS (20 per kg you're over) for heavy bag fees. Well, we sat next to a bunch of guys who were going to Barcelona for their friend's bachelor party. They all had matching shirts counting down to the wedding (which was on my birthday!) and were just generally rowdy and bachelor party-like. They were awesome. They had a toy trumpet, inappropriate hats,silly wigs, and were ready to have a good time. The guy we were sitting next to asked us to sign his shirt. I loved them, despite the fact it was 8 am and we'd been up since approxiamately 5 am.
We landed in Barcelona and headed to our hostel. On the way we met up with our friend who used to go to UMD and is studying abroad in Barcelona, Alex. She was our official tour guide for the day and was absolutely AWESOME! Seriously, she knows everything little thing you could possibly want to know about Barca. We got lunch and then headed up to Mount Juic to see the Olympic Stadium and other stuff up there andddddd to meet up with KEREN AND VERED (can you tell I was just a little bit excited?) We took the funicular, yes that's what it's called, which is basically the same as the metro but it goes up a hill, and it's just fun to say. We walked around Mt. Juic for a little and then all of the sudden I hear "turn around", and Keren is standing behind me. We hugged for too long, and I was just unbelievably happy to see her. Alex showed us around the Olympic Park and then Keren and Vered left to lay down and Miriam, Alex and I did some more touring. She took us to Las Ramblas, a famous street in Barcelona which has the BEST market ever and we got such delicious smoothies. I got a cactus fruit smoothie, mostly because it was bright pink and I could not resist. Then we went down to the BEACH and stuck our feet in the freezing cold water. From the beach, we did more walking around and touring, and then went to the Magic Fountains (like the ice cream place in Summit, but not really). I cannot even describe how cool these fountains are...the closest I can get is that they are like Disney World. They're set to music and the lighting changes and its just incredible. Miriam, Alex, and I sat there and stared in silence and happiness. It was one of those moments where I realized how great my life is and how lucky I am to be galavanting all over Europe.
After the fountains, it was back to the hostel to get Keren and Vered and then all of us went to dinner at the oh so normal time of 10 30 PM, so weird. We ate dinner at a restaurant on the beach that had delicious sangria and then stayed there until about 2 (which is early for Barcelona). We met yet another bachelor party, and they all wore matching clothes too, and they were just as nuts as the one on the plane.
The next morning Miriam and I went back to the market on Las Ramblas for more smoothies, followed by Starbucks :). Then we became stupid tourists, and this is actually painful for me to admit, but we got on one of those city touring busses, which ended up being great because we had such limited time in Barcelona. We saw all of the Gaudi buildings, which were SO COOL. We started off at La Sagrada Familia, his church that has been under construction for 150 years and will not be finished for another 10-20 years. We didn't go inside, but the outside was so gorgeous. It was so different than we have been seeing and was great to see another type of architecture. From there we went to Park Guell, which is the COOLEST place ever. The tile work is amazing and I fully intend to have my kitchen tile look like that in 20 years. The park was teaming with people, and I honestly could have spent all day there exploring. We saw a really cool band there, but finally tore ourselves away to continue our tour. After lunch, we started going up to Mt. Tibidabo, of "Friends" fame, but that failed, so we continued our Gaudi tour. We went to Casa Mila and Casa Batllo, where we actually went inside. The inside was so cool, because it continued the curvy lines that are so characteristic of his style. We got to see a bunch of other stuff from the bus as well.
After Casa Batllo we went back to the hostel to lay down for a while. Keren and I got some much needed catch up time and somehow managed to condense the last 2 1/2 months of our lives into a 45 minute conversation. I went to the fountains and dinner with Keren and Vered. The fountains were awesome again, and this time there was a Disney medley, which obviously made my day. Then we went out for tapas and Miriam met us at the restaurant. The food was delicious and it was so great to spend time with them. I said goodbye to Keren and Vered, which was hard, and then went to bed because Miriam and I had an 8 am flight to PARIS!!!!!
Barcelona is an incredible city and so different from Florence. After Rome, I was convinced I didn't like big cities, which freaked me out because I love New York, but Barcelona convinced me of the opposite. Basically, Rome is just way overrated. Barcelona is so big and has so much life, but I really don't think I could handle the 10 30 dinners and staying out till 6 am on a daily basis. However, I definitely want to go back as soon as possible and stare at Gaudi architecture all day long.
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