And then Kacy saw the Eiffel Tower

I am so tired I will hit the highlights and come back.

So I got to the bus stop at 5 and waited for the bus for twenty minutes. I met these two guys who spoke English. They were cool but smoking so that was sucky to be around. Then I got to the tgv and my train was half an hour late. So I stood around for over an hour. Then I slept / listened to music on the way here. I looked out the window and it was gorgeous green hills around Paris. When we got there we got envelopes to get maybe a refund or something for the train because it was late? I will have to see.

I took the metro after buying a one time pass to the station where I was to meet grace and pick up our Paris passes. It was a bit crazy. We met there and I was already late but she wasn't there so I got worried and bought a crepe and then saw her standing by the metro looking lost so I called out to her. She came over and gave me a hug and then we picked up our passes. The first thing we did was a chocolate museum with lots of free samples. It was the miser du gourmand du chocolat. It was just around the corner but we had bad maps and didn't know which way was which yet so we got lost a bit. We found it though. After that we went to our hotel and got off at the wrong metro stop and accidentally had to walk a mile to the hotel after getting a bit lost.

Then we learned there is a train that is close by an RER which our passes work for. Good to know. We took that into Paris again and some guy was nice and talking to us and showed us the best way to get to montparnasse which we went to the more direct way not the way the guy told us. Then we up the Montparnasse Tower to the 56th floor for a panoramic view. This was my first view of the Eiffel Tower. It was so pretty to look out over all of Paris! Great second thing to do because then we saw things that looked like they would be cool!

Then we went to take a river cruise in the Seine. It was really fun because we got to see and learn about lots of the monuments. We also go on right at the foot of the Eiffel Tower so that was awesome again. We saw lots of stuff from the boat and then we got off and went to see the Eiffel Tower at night because then it sparkles on the hour. During the day it is a lot more brown than silver but I really like it. At night it is also a lot more orange than yellow like it is in the pictures. I like yet though. It was really awesome to see it and you can't help but take like 50 pictures of it! After that we walked around to find a place to eat dinner. We went to the metro to a different stop that didn't have a view of the tower so it would be cheaper. I had pizza and grace had an omelette because she is allergic to gluten. I downloaded a gluten app so she can eat more places with variety. Then we took the train home and slept because we are so exhausted! Sorry if I am not online a lot. I am so busy!

 

In short Paris is awesome.

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!