Sangrada Familia or really the Sagrada Familia

Today I woke up with the rest of my room at four. They were getting ready to leave to go to the airport. Unluckily for them it started raining really hard just as they were about to leave. Sucked to be them! They had to walk like thirty minutes to the bus in the rain! I said bye to them and they told me the showers didn't have working hot water and that my shower would be ruined. They said bye to me as well and told me that they would miss me.

Once they left I aired out the room once again with cold air from outside and then closed the doors so it would be quieter and easier to sleep.  I slept until my alarm woke me up at eight. I tried to take a shower anyways and did get the hot water to work for about two minutes. It was not relaxing though to take a freezing cold shower... It was nice to have the room to myself for a bit but then it started to feel creepy the longer I stayed so I packed up my stuff, grabbed the keys, and left. I went to breakfast and ate and then decided to head out to the Sagrada Familia again to go inside.

I had thought about buying my ticket online but there was no printer to be able to print the ticket so I had to suck it up and wait in line. I took the metro which was easy enough to figure out. I had a connecting station but I was raised to be able to read a subway map having been to DC and NY. I was very thankful to know how to do that. I got there and got inline. I was probably in line for about two hours. When I finally got my ticket and got in though it was totally worth it!

It was probably the most beautiful church that I have ever been in. There were so many stained glass windows that were really colorful and light. The whole cathedral was really bright and peaceful looking with cool columns and spiky arcs and stuff. It was really cool. It was definitely the most modern church that I have been in as well. I learned the building started being built in 1880s and then the guy who designed it died in 1925 before it was finished.

Luckily he had made so many plans and models and renderings of it that they could continue to build it the way that he wanted but dang that would really suck to have a project that you knew you wouldn't be able to see the end result of it. It's like starting a dream and knowing it will happen but you won't be able to see it. I got the basilica pass which didn't let you go up in the tours because the next time to do that was three hours from when I bought my ticket so I decided to skip that. I think it just let you get a city view which I have already done. It was really cool though. Really really really beautiful and colorful. I took a bunch of pictures so I bet I have some good ones. It was well worth the time and energy that I put in to go back.

After I got done there I decided to head back to wards the harbor to maybe find the aquarium that I have heard is huge and awesome. It was already almost one though and I needed to be back at the hostel at 3:20 and the line in looked like it would take me that long. I decided against it.

I bought a hotdog from a street cart and went and sat on the harbor and looked at all the big fish who were swimming below me. It was kind of cool but because of my fear of large fish I felt like they were going to jump out and bite me so I didn't hang my feet over. They were cool to look at though. After that I went and walked around the mall a little bit and looked around. I people watched for a while and saw some cute kids playing I some trees on brick hills. There was one for boys and one for girls according to them. It was cute. I also ate a delicious ice cream cone.

I sat in the mall and when I left it was raining and everyone was trying to sell me an umbrella. I didn't buy one because I had on a rain jacket. It was a bit silly for them to ask. One guy kept following me so finally I ducked into a store so he would have to leave me alone. I hate pushy salespeople. Then in that store the guys were trying to sell me stuff again. Finally, I just got on the subway and took the short ride to the stop right by the hostel.

I got off and went in and started blogging. That's where I am now! I think the rest of my day will be uneventful as I need to sleep because I have to be up at 4:30 to catch my bus to the train tomorrow morning to Paris. I am really excited about that but my dogs have been barking so I am ready to just sit on the bus and sleep. I think I got to do some cool stuff in Barcelona and was actually glad to have this day by myself.

Barcelona Day Tres!

 Today we woke up a bit earlier than yesterday but all got ready a lot slower.  I was one of the first to wake up and then had to go to the bathroom and though I was really quiet everyone else was awake by the time I got back. We did morning stuff and then went down to breakfast. We sat and ate and then I went up to take a shower. It was glorious. After that, I went and sat downstairs while the others got ready. I posted some photos to Facebook. I tagged a photo of Gina and then her mom added me. She wished me happy Halloween.

Gina and I went and told the main lady that our room had bed bugs because I was NOT sleeping in there again. She took it pretty seriously but didn't really sound like she believed us. She followed us upstairs to our room to check but because she didn't see anything she was like well our beds are made to not accept bugs. And in my head I was like okay lady our beds are a hunk of foam... She made it seem like we were wrong and there weren't bugs but we all have bites and found like four bugs. It was really gross. She moved us to a new room in not the same building which was bigger and nicer and actually on the Main Street of the area. We're on the fourth floor so it is cool to look out. The hostel lady told us to not tell anyone about the bugs but we were like uhhh... We already did. But we were like yeah okay we won't...

After that, we took off in the direction of the sailing place to see what time we wanted to go on the boats. We bought our tickets for four thirty and then headed to the market to get some fruit. We stopped at an ATM so I could take out more money and then after I did Patrick asked me to borrow more money again... After I had just taken it out and configured how much I would need for my two remaining days here... Sigh. Now he owes me a hundred euros, which I know he is good for but it's inconvenient and now I have to get more money out tomorrow.... We ate our delicious fruit in front of a museum and Jonny kept dropping all his on the ground. I had a fruit salad with dragon fruit and then some mangos. It was all really good.

Next we followed my directions to the metro (I bought an unlimited two day pass for tomorrow) to go to Park Güell where all of Gaudis most famous works are located. Including the gingerbread looking house, a bunch of columns, and the famous salamander mosaic sculpture. It was really cool there but it was really confusing to figure out which line was quickest to buy tickets and we were up this huge hill and potentially would of had to go back down a ton of stairs to turn around and go back up. LaSia offered to be in the scouting group with Sally so that I didn't have to make the trip unless I had to because of my vcd. I found that really nice of her. She is the first person to actually listen to me about that and take me into consideration. I told her later I really appreciated it. And I really did.  We then learned that the tickets worked like fast passes and you could only enter between certain times. We got the two o' clock time but then had forty minutes to kill. We went and sat down at a restaurant nearby to get food. To be honest, everyone seemed kind of crabby today... I don't know if it was because last night was pretty eventful or whether it was us getting sick of each other or what. I have been getting a little worn down but I'm trying to be on good terms with everyone. Do I feel like this group likes me? I feel like I fit in more than a lot of other groups...

Every trip I feel like you get sick of each other no matter how close you are. I wonder if couples trips are like that... Probably not. I think it is just because of the group aspect. We sat down and I ordered a sangria and nachos. The restaurant was really busy and didn't have a lot of waitstaff so it was a little hectic and stressful to be on a time crunch with that whole thing. We got our food in time though and wolfed it down. My nachos were really delicious. I would have eaten them again. My sangria was very Spanish and I drank it in honor of my mom and hearing her saying "you only get to drink sangria in Spain so often!"

We rushed out of the restaurant and then went into the park. It was pretty cool and had more of the colors that I was looking for in Barcelona but I'm not sure that it was worth the price or stress. I was really glad I got to see the lizard guy though. I thought it was really cool looking. When we got done with that after walking around the park for about an hour we rushed back to the metro in typical "hurry up and wait" fashion.

I got us back to the subway easy. I also didn't show anyone else the map because I decided the least amount of people trying to be the leader and arguing over which way and all that was just easier. This group has been really good at having leaders who bicker and have everyone be indecisive and then suddenly decisive at inopportune times. So, because I had the map, I didn't ever show it to anyone else. I think that worked the best. I got us back to the harbor quickly on the metro and then we got on the boat.

The boat trip was probably my favorite thing that we did today because it was not as stressful. I talked a lot with Sally and Gina. It was really pretty. We went along the port and the shoreline of Barcelona which was really gorgeous. We got the later time because then we were able to see the sunset and it wasn't too hot. It was a really pretty orange. We also went between a bunch of cruise ships and we started waving to people. Pretty soon everyone on the boat started waving too. It was fun.

We met a couple who took our pictures and they said that we sounded Canadian!? We told them we were American and they didn't believe us. They were from Scotland and were really nice. Then too soon the boat ride was over but it was good because we were starving. We went to 'walk to wok' which was a very delicious wok place. They had stir fry noodles. They were super good. I had chicken, broccoli, and pineapple in mine. I think the pineapple was a really good touch. We came back to the hostel without Jonny or Sally because they were in the markets. I felt kind of bad leaving them...but they came back and weren't upset or anything. So that was good because I was a bit concerned they would have been waiting for us and then would have been pissed. But it was all good.

 

We finished eating and then the group got their stuff packed for Brussels because they are going to leave at 4am. I will have the room to myself and plan on taking a nice long shower. We went to the other hostel building to use the wifi. That is the downside of this building, that we have to walk to the wifi to use it now. I think it is worth it to not be eaten alive. I learned my iPod has either not been putting my pictures up or has been putting them up in a weird order so I don't know whether or not I have put certain ones up or not... That's annoying.

Then we went souvenir shopping again and I bought a couple things. I learned that my list of gifts and who I am buying souvenirs for and what I bought was erased off of my iPod so I am pretty bummed about that. So now I might forget what I bought and who I bought it for and who I haven't and want to buy for. Not so good... I am worried that all this souveniring is starting to add up but that is also a good thing because that means no more shopping for other people! Then I can shop for me! But to be honest, I haven't really been too turned onto anything here yet. I guess it just seems like I would rather spend more on myself to DO things rather than have a bunch of stuff. I'm here to make memories not to buy a bunch of crap. Pictures will suffice for me. Though I have found a few things I like and have bought. I found some cheap postcards. The souvenir guys would haggle though and also pester you in the shops which I hate. I yawned and one of the guys was like you need a redbull and I was like no I need some sleep! After poking around we came back to the hostel and chilled out until we fell asleep. At least that's what I am saying because that's what I'm going to do! Just kidding hen I ate a doughnut courtesy of Gina for Halloween. It had a gummy finger on it. Yummy! Buenos noches!

Barcelona Day Dos!

Last night we slept with the door open because it was so hot and as a result all got a lot of street noise. Some include screaming, bottle smashing, and more screaming all in different languages. It was a bit annoying but I slept pretty well regardless.

We got up around 8 and all kind of just woke up as a result of the noise. We decided to go get hostel breakfast of bread and muffins and juice/soda. Not juice or soda but it was like a strange combination of the two. It was odd but good. The bread was half stale but there was strawberry jelly which was really good. After that we came back up and got dressed. I chose to wear my black dress because it was supposed to be really hot. But the problem with that is humidity bumps on my inner thighs when I walk around because I forgot my longer shorts to put under it. That was kind of stupid of me. I wore my nike flip flops.

Once we were all ready we went and sat downstairs to wait until it was time to leave. I found out then that it was for an hour and that we were meeting in town at the bus place so I said well screw sitting around I can do that anywhere I'm going to walk around. So then everyone was like oh that's a good plan. So we just started walking and saw some cool buildings and stuff. We didn't really have a plan which was kind of the part of the day so far that I liked best. We took some group pictures in front of a cool arc thing and then looked at a flea market and looked at prices for a boat tour around the port. It was really pretty though.

After that we went to the buses to go on a city tour. The first place that we stopped was at a big church that looked over the city as well as near the Olympic park from the Summer games of 1992. Sally really wanted to see the arena so we ran up a bunch of stairs and rushed to get to see it in the twenty minutes that we had at this stop. We really kin of had to book it and only had a couple minutes at the site but it was still pretty cool. There were a bunch of gold columns and a big Olympic statue column thing. After that we ran to get back on the bus and I get scratched by a bush and it bled a bit but it was more annoying than anything else.

Then we stopped at a spot that looked over the port. It was really pretty and there were a bunch of fountains and this weird but cool ring around the rosy statue. It was cool but I guess it was supposed to look like a Spanish dance but it really just looked like ring around the rosy. We took pictures of the city which was really cool to see but I am sure won't be as cool in pictures. We were all getting hungry and a bit cranky at that point.

After that we drove two miles in about an hour down a really crowded road at lunch hour rush down a road right next to the port. There were some cool statues and sculptures. One was a brass lobster with a happy face that I want to get a picture with tomorrow. We finally arrived closeish to the Sagrada Familia church. It was really pretty. We walked to around the outside which was gorgeous but we didn't have time today to go in it. I took lots of pictures of the outside which isn't finished being built yet. It started being built in 1880 and isn't projected to be done until 202(6?) ish. It looks amazing though and I kind of like the idea of creating a modern cathedral like that because when you think about it there aren't very many modern ones there are just lots of old ones. So I think it's cool that now they are making a new one.

We were all really cranky so after we walked around the church we went to go find some food. We ended up going to a restaurant and I got a ham and cheese hot sandwich which was really good. I put mustard on it to just give it some flavor. It was good and we also had to buy bottled water because the water here is not good to drink. We had lunch and churros and then we headed out to find the buses again.

We got a little lost finding the buses but then retraced our steps to find the way to the buses but then we ran into some other kids on the trip so we followed them. On the way I saw a lot of like scissor signs with cross out signs to say what I assume was no cutting on them. When we got back on the bus we passed the hospital Saint Paul which was really gorgeous but apparently is unenterable to the public. So that is sad. It was really pretty red brick though which I really liked.

The. We went by a big public garden which once had an albino white gorilla named Snowflake once lived. Now the gorilla is dead though so that is sad. We passed by the arc du triumph of Barcelona which was really cool and made of the same red brick. After that, we passed by the houses of Gaudi which our your guide pronounced very strangely. The houses were pretty cool and one of them reminded me of the egg Easter houses with the lights in them that I used to use as a night light. They were really cool and colorful.

That has been one of my biggest surprises about Barcelona so far is that it is not as beachy and not as colorful as I thought it would be. It is still super nice but just not really meeting up to expectations in the color aspect. Some things are but as a general atmosphere I am surprised that it is not more colorful. It is still a pretty awesome and monumental city though.

After that we got off the bus and then the rest of my group told her that they were leaving on Tuesday morning early so not to look for them. We left and went past our hostel and to a supermarket to buy some alcohol and juice to have a little party tonight. We brought that and some souvenirs back to the hostel and then decided to go out for dinner.

We walked along the main road and found a place that offered tapas and paella for cheaps. It turned out to all be seafood so I decided to skip it and get a pizza. I tried some of Sally's paella and it was pretty good but very seafoody. We also got some sangria which I found surprisingly delicious. I could have drank a lot of it because it was so delicious but it was alcoholic so I wouldn't.  We had dinner which was fun. We talked about everyone's spirit animal because Gina is into Wicken stuff. It was fun to talk about because I already knew mine from talking to Megan. She uses the idea of spirit animals for her theater stuff.

After that we came home after looking at souvenir shops on the way. We came back and I changed clothes to wear pants because from walking around my legs got huge red like welt on them... Grr. Annoying... It's times like this I wish I was one of those girls with a thigh gap... :-/

We came home and then my friends decided to go get ice for my thighs which I thought was really sweet of them. Then they came back and we played kings cup with modified rules and with wine. We played with a deck of cards I had bought. It was pretty fun and the whole night was pretty fun. We had bought a bottle of vodka and then juice and then had a bottle of red wine left over from last night. I didn't drink too much and know not to go past a limit which I never even got close to. So that was good. Some of my companions though were not so lucky and got sick. I think I did an okay job taking care of them. I went and got more toilet paper from downstairs where the guy who runs the desk was so bored he started talking to me about movies. I talked with him for a while but then in my head was like dude I just want the toilet paper. And then ended our chat and left.

When I came back up things were not going as well as when I left. Some of my companions were not doing so well and one threw up over the trash can in our room and another I escorted to the bathroom where he stayed for a long while getting sick and then feeling better and then vice versa. It was not so good. But I think I did okay in helping remedy the situation. After that we sat around (those not sick) and talked a while. Luckily I was already in pajamas which was nice. Then I went to sleep.

Also we found bed bugs in our room which is really gross so I am going to be careful and inspect my clothes before I leave. Belch gross!