Barcelona

This past weekend we visited Barcelona. It was a little bit of a different pace because it was a big city. Almost, but not quite, like Minneapolis. There were busy streets, big buildings and a lot of shopping places. We got to Barcelona at eight in the morning on Friday because we took an over night train there. It was a nine-hour ride, but for Natalie and I it wasn’t all that bad because we had beds. This was actually on accident too because they were the only tickets left for that train so we had to pay eight euro more but ended up with beds! It was basically amazing. We got off the train and the guys were complaining about how little sleep they got because they were warm and uncomfortable. Natalie and I were well rested with seven hours of sleep!
They first thing we did when we got there was went to our hostel to check in. We were a little nervous because this was going to be the first time that we staying in a dorm style hostel. This meant that we shared a room with six other people and it was more like public bathrooms. It turned out really well! All of the people were amazing and the staff was great and so helpful. They gave us a map and showed as all of the places that we needed to go in Barcelona. They also had a “party night” set up for us. We were going to leave the hostel together at eleven and go to a bar and then to a discoteca. That was nice because it was our first night and we really didn’t have a clue where to go.

During the day on Friday we just took it easy because the guys were tired. We walked up and down Las Ramblas, which is the main street in Barcelona with all of the shops and such. It actually rained that day, which was the first time we saw rain since we have been in Spain. So we sat in a bar and had a drink to wait out the rain for a while. After that we headed to the Picasso Museum. This took us almost three hours. It was so fascinating and there was so much to see. It walked you through his life and the stages he went through. I recommend it to anyone going to Barcelona! Then the boys cooked us dinner in their hostel. We had spaghetti and bread. It was great and cheap! That night we went out with our hostel group. It was a lot of fun and we met so many new people. The one bad thing about Barcelona, except for the fact that it isn’t all that safe, is that all of the people there know English. Therefore we ended up speaking a lot of English on this trip.

Saturday we got up and went to go see the cathedral. It was huge and beautiful. After that we made a trek to go see some of the Olympic stadiums. This was really interesting and also very pretty. It was actually quite funny because we ran into some guys that graduate from the U of M. They were wearing gopher-swimming shirts, so we stopped them. In Barcelona we ran into probably five people from Minnesota and three people in OUR group were from Minnesota too. It was crazy. After the Olympic stuff we took cable cars up to one of the highest points in Barcelona so we could see the whole city. It was unbelievable and the cable car ride was fun! At the top was a castle that we got to look around so we ended up spending a good amount of time there. That night we went out to the clubs on the beach and walked around the on the beach. That was a good time and the Mediterranean was beautiful.

My favorite day had to have been Sunday because we spent the whole day at the beach and shopping the little stores. It was a perfect day and there was even an air show going on right over the beach! We ate dinner on the beach while a guy sang, played the guitar and the harmonica. It was so good that Natalie actually bought his CD. The day was just amazing.

After all of this we were off to the train station to catch our night train back to Madrid. This time Natalie and I didn’t have beds and that was not a good thing! We didn’t get very much sleep and the sleep we did get was not comfortable. Regardless, we made it to Madrid where we caught another train to Toledo. We made it back right when class was starting so we ran in just a little late. It all turned out really well, although Monday was a really long day without sleep. Now I just have to get through a week of classes and we are off to Salamanca!! Life’s rough huh… and I have two people to thank for that…Thanks mom and dad!! I love you!!