Fall Break 2007: Part V: Barcelona

Barcelona was a lot different from Italy. Our B&B was actually someone's home and we shared 2 bathrooms with the people in three other rooms. Our host's name was Ferran and he was very friendly and helpful. He gave us his mobile phone number and told us he considers his guests friends and will help them out with whatever they need. He advised us of good places to eat, told us how to get to the beach, and lent us sunblock and sarongs. He was great.

When we first arrived, Ferran gave us a map of the city and pointed out good places to go. For dinner, he told us of a tapas restaurant. We went there and had to wait 50 minutes for a table, but it was so worth it.

The next day (Friday), we walked around and explored the city. We walked down La Rambla, which was pretty disappointing. There were street performers and tons of tourists and American restaurants, but that was about it. We walked all the way to the Barcelona shore and saw the water. Then we walked around the Gothic area and saw the Cathedral (but we didn't want to take a tour) and we toured the Picasso Museum. For dinner, we went to a great seafood restaurant on the water (Ferran's suggestion).

On Saturday, we went to the beach. We took the Metro to the train station and took a train to Sitges beach. The weather was beautiful and made me wish I'd brought my bathing suit. (Although, European beaches are very free and any amount of clothing is acceptable. A lot of people wear literally nothing at the beach. So it was quite an interesting experience.) The sand was so soft and the water was blue and glittery. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, while at the beach, my Venetian glass necklace broke, and I'm pretty sure the glass fell into the Mediterranean. I was sad, but glad I still had the earrings.

We stopped for lunch in a little restaurant, and the service was really not that great. Italian service was much better, but in reality, the US really has the best customer service I've experienced. The waitress came over to take our order while Katie was in the bathroom and seemed annoyed when we asked for a few more minutes. Also, I think she understood and spoke more English than she let on, and enjoyed seeing us flounder with Spanish. So that was a disappointing lunch.

We went back to our B&B, showered and took quick naps, and then headed out to explore Barceloneta. We were hoping to do some shopping, but the neighborhood was mostly restaurants. We stopped in a bar and had a few drinks and hung out for awhile. Then we went dinner at a seafood restaurant. The food was delicious, but the people next to us were obnoxious and made fun of us throughout the meal, probably because we were American and didn't speak Spanish. I think they thought we didn't know they were mocking us, but it was pretty obvious. I discreetly spit out a fish bone into my napkin, and they thought that was hysterical. At another point, Katie finished a sentence with "in the summer" and the woman next to her started singing "in the summertime, when the weather is hot." Then when our waiter came over to tell us desserts, he said it in English and made a big deal about it, and the people next to us thought it was hysterical. And our waiter was on their side and laughed with them at us. It was really rude. We had planned to go out afterwards, but that put a damper on our night and it was already 10:30, so we just went back to the B&B.

On Sunday (yesterday), we went to Park Guell, the Gaudi Museum, and La Sagrada Familia. I love Gaudi's architecture! Park Guell was beautiful. We wandered around it for over an hour. The Gaudi museum was in his former house and held pieces of furniture he used and/or built. It was interesting. And La Sagrada Familia was amazing. It is huge. Construction on it began in 1882 and is still ongoing. Everything about it is so detailed and so... Gaudi. Gaudi is very creative and definitely thinks outside the box.

After this, we were tired and ready to go home. We got to the airport 4 hours early (around 6pm) and finally arrived in London Luton at 11:10pm. The customs line took forever (45 minutes) to get through. Then we still had an hour-long bus ride back to Victoria, where we could've taken a bus home, but we decided to take a cab instead, since it was 11 pounds split between 3 people and we were tired. We arrived back at our dorm around 1:30am and we walked in the door and the security guard said, "Hey did you just come from Barcelona?" and we said "Yeah! How did you know that?" He looked shocked and told us that he just picked a city out of the air and it happened to be the right one. lol. I called my parents when I went home and then went to bed.

Then I woke up this morning and had class at 2. It's back to real life now. My internship starts on Tuesday and my parents are coming then, too, so I'm excited!