Barcelona

Barcelona:
Our trip to Barcelona was absolutely wonderful. It has to be one of my favorite cities thus far in my travels and in the US. My four friends and I flew out of Granada in the evening - our plane was an hour late. We got to walk out to the plane on the tarmac, always a favorite. We got to the airport, except the airport we booked was one of three in Barcelona and not the one in the city. So we had to take an hour or so bus ride to the city. We got to Barcelona itself and took a short cab ride to the hostel. We were in a hostel with 4 bunk beds in it and we were sharing the room with three German girls and two Americans. Our hostel was very centrally located and not bad for the price. The shower was amazing! We went out for some Chinese and started realizing already how much more expensive it was there than what we are used to in Granada. After dinner we met up with some other friends who were in Barcelona for a beer. Then my friend Krystle and I went to a club and met up with my friend Max who has been studying in Barcelona since August. I know him from ASU. He loves it so much that he is intending to come back to stay premaritally. He got us in free to the second club we went to, but the drinks were super expensive so we only got one. Krystle and I went back to the hostel. In the morning we woke up and went to breakfast with two of the German girls in our hostel. We had great pesto sandwiches and fresh OJ. Then we headed out to tour some of the city. We got Metro passes ( I love easy and fast city transportation!) and saw the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. This building was so impressive and has been under its initial construction for over 200 years. The architecture was intense!! There was a dog park and little food stands throughout. Mom- I got LEMON ice cream! We saw one of Barcelona's opera houses which was another beautiful building. Then we went to one of Barcelona's parks called Parque Gaudi. It's up on a huge hill so we had to climb a ton of stairs. It's such a huge hill that there are even outdoor escalators. We got to the top and could see a lot of the city. It was such a beautiful and sunny day! The park is enormous and is famous for the mosaic art. There were performers and all sorts of cool sculptures and buildings. We spent about two hours there. We headed back to one of the main roads, Las Ramblas and had a coffee and specialty pastries. Later that night we all headed out to a club called Catwalk. It had two floors, one playing house and techno music and the other playing American hip hop. Someone pick pocked my front pocket some Euros. I was so mad, but realized that there was nothing I could do about it and to make the most of the night. The club was so cool. At one point in the night they dropped bubbles on all the dancers. We took the Metro home at 5am and settled into bed. The next morning we woke up early, but Krystle and I were the only ones not hungover and ready to do more sight seeing. She and I went to an open air market where many fresh and specialty foods were sold. Giant eggs, artesianal chocolates (which we bought a few of...), meat, fish, smoothies, fruit, lettuce and veggies galore. Krys and I bought chocolate, bread, fuet (a type of meat similar to salami) and cheese and went heading to the beach. On the way we saw a protest against animal cruelty where people we walking down the middle sidewalk with their dogs. We went to a park by the beach and ate our food. Everything was amazing, but the chocolate was phenomenal. One was apple flavored and my favorite! Then we met up with the others to go ride the gondolas over Barcelona. It was on top of a mountain and had an amazing view. We ended up at the Olympic park where the 1992 games were held. On our way home we saw the History museum and a famous Catalan dance and music performed in a plaza. It was all very romantic and interesting! We topped off the night by waiting around for our bus to the airport at 3 am. We were so tired because we had been up since about 11am and had gotten less than 15 hours of sleep in the last four days. So what happens to me? On a full bus, I get stuck next to a guy who was throwing up the entire time. He not only was throwing up, but didn't have a bag, so it was going all over the window, the floor and himself. I felt like I might be the most unlucky person on the bus. However, there was someone else throwing up in the back. So we finally made it to the airport at about 5:30 am and had a snack from the cafe. We go through security and get to the line and they tell us we have to go pay some sort of fee because we were using American passports or something. (It's often so hard to understand because of the language barrier, and in Barcelona it's not Spanish, but Catalan...). So finally we are running to the plane at the "urgent last call" and my friend Bonnie's carry on luggage is too big! So we cram and stuff her's into each of ours and make it onto the plane.
Over all, the trip was awesome and I practically loved every minute of it. We met awesome international people, got to experience more Northern Spain as well as much of what the city had to offer! I loved it!