Barcelona!!!!!

In love with this city.
I know I say that about all my trips..but really Barcelona was amazing.  It is probably my second favorite after florence.


Alex and I arrived thursday night, checked into the hostel (great location right in the gothic quarter) and went straight for tapas.  We went to a place called Taller de tapas and it was sooo yummy. We got artichoke shavings, tomato bread, fried calamari, and spinach with chickpeas. I love tapas.  Then Caitlin arrived from Florence!! So happy to see her.  We all crashed early that night so we could rest up for the weekend to come.  The room in the hostel was like a blackout room...the blinds totally blocked out all light BUT in exchange for that the walls were paper thin and we could hear everything outside and throughout the hostel. no fun.

Friday morning we woke up bright and early.  We walked down La Rambla which was about 4 blocks from our hostel.  Decided the best way to see the sites was to do the hop on and off bus tour.  I didn't realize how big the city actually was... I thought it was going to be more of a florence of prague size but it was pretty big.  The bus brought us to the gothic quarter first..which us smarties realized that our hostel is in the heart of the gothic quarter..like actually right there..hahaha.  After that we got dropped off at the beach...oh how i missed the sand and water...it was gorgeous...a little cold for beach weather but it didn't even matter. We walked down the beach for a while and just took it all in. After the beach off to the Sagrada Familia....the absolutely gorgeous unfinished Gaudi church. Gaudi is amazing and I love his work, I have never seen anything like it.  It reminds me of who-ville from Dr. Seuss.  After that we got some tapas... sooooo amamzing....i loved the sausage and we got a coffee crepe with vanilla ice cream! I dont even know what it was it was just delish.  and of course got some sangria : )  Afterwards we headed to Parc Guell, my favorite place in the city, probably could have spent the whole day there.  It's a huge garden with beautiful Gaudi architecture added into it. His tiles were everywhere and I loved it.  Then back to the hostel for a little yet much needed siesta. That night we met up with our friends Phil, Daren, Dani, and Marley, and Dani's brother for dinner.  We did mexican, i got a burrito yummy.  The place was so packed.  That night we went to a club on the beach that was really neat.  People there eat dinner and go out sooooo late, not my style at all.

Saturday we slept in a little and then went to a market off of la rambla.  Great smoothies and fruit. Disgusting meat and animals hanging...and gross smelling fish.  Then we got paella...I stick with veggie after seeing and smelling that market wasn't too fond of the seafood paella so the veggie was perfect.  Then we all went to the Casa Batllo, another wonderful Gaudi building.  The whole house is about the natural light that flows in and out of every room and the sea like fixtures throughout the house.  We got an audio guide and learned all the neat deets.  After that we attempted to go to the Picasso Museum.  Got a weee bit lost on the way...and then when we finally found it we were informed that more than half the museum was closed so we didnt end up going in.  Kinda frustrating.  o well.   That night we went to a classy dinner at a place called Carpe Diem on the beach.... you sit/eat on beds.  How cool.  So we relaxed in style and then went out for a crazy night on the town.  Next mornin me cait and alex woke up early got a big breakfast then off to the airport back to londontown.

I loved barcelona and learned a lot about the city.  They don't even really consider themselves part of Spain....they are a community of catalonia...they take a lot of pride in it and don't even consider spanish their first language.  It was really interesting, beautiful, and fun.  All in all successful weekend.

Adios.