After arriving at our hostel, which by the way was a party hostel, we were greeted by Eduardo a very helpful staff member. He showed us where everything on the map was and where we had to go and what not. So after the advice we decided to head to the main tourist attraction in Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia, the church built by Gaudi. It is still not finished. It was really neat looking at it. Everywhere you look had a different feel. The 4 towers intertwined with intricate details. One side of the entrance had block looking scene of the birth of christ and the crucifixcion. Really cool, but then on another part it looked like the background from the Willy Wonka scene in the chocolate river area. Crazy.
We stayed here for a while and took in the good weather and the architecture. 
Next through our walk in the Spanish city we found the stadium for the bullfights. It was neat and we just missed a bull fight scheduled for the next weekend. It's crazy to think about that.
Afterwards the early flight had helped build up an appetite so we headed to a local restaurant. We stopped in and ate a meal, but ordering in Spanish was much more difficult then in French in Paris. In Paris, they pretty much all know English. This was not the case in Barcelona. I also found it difficult because I constantly tried to go back to speaking French. Tough. We managed to get our order in. I will say though that Matt had to go up to the counter and point out what appetizer we really wanted. We had red peppers stuffed with this little meat mix in a red picante sauce. It was incredible. Next I had Paella, and sangria. The Paella was mixed so I had prawns, mussels, chicken, beef and squid. Really hit the spot, but would make it a little heavy on the stomach later. We also had sangria partially due to coach david's insistence that we have a glass. But it was really good.
We then tried to find the Guell Park. Another one of Gaudi's masterpieces, however we missed the turn somehow and ended up watching skaters trying to ride a ledge with a stadium seating crowd in attendence. However we did wander down some pretty cool streets. As we were walking up the hills though Matt and I couldn't help but thinking of the hills in Greece. I stopped to take this picture, you can see down to the city center and the sea. Really cool city.
Finally we arrived at the park which was just a masterpiece. It was crazy, like a fantasy land again. The structures looked like a kid had just dropped wet sand on the ground and it stuck. It was spectacular. Some of the twists and turns were amazing. Of course like the cathedral, everywhere you looked had something different. Other parts had beautiful mosaic tiles, or columns, some an open space with palm trees and archways, and even hansel and grettles gingerbread house was there. 
Finally we arrived at the park which was just a masterpiece. It was crazy, like a fantasy land again. The structures looked like a kid had just dropped wet sand on the ground and it stuck. It was spectacular. Some of the twists and turns were amazing. Of course like the cathedral, everywhere you looked had something different. Other parts had beautiful mosaic tiles, or columns, some an open space with palm trees and archways, and even hansel and grettles gingerbread house was there. I also happened to meet one of the local Spanish girls here. There's a picture of her below. Just your typical Barcelonian. She was a lot of fun to hang out with.
Ok so not really, there was a modeling shoot going on and it was so funny because atleast 20 different people were snapping shots of her posing with Barcelona in the background. She got a kick out of it and was a bit shy. Not being able to understand all the attention. Really funny, the guy model though was dressed in this 80's pure shinny gold sweatsuit which made me laugh. We then took off to the hotel before the FC Barcelona match we had tickets for.
Ok so not really, there was a modeling shoot going on and it was so funny because atleast 20 different people were snapping shots of her posing with Barcelona in the background. She got a kick out of it and was a bit shy. Not being able to understand all the attention. Really funny, the guy model though was dressed in this 80's pure shinny gold sweatsuit which made me laugh. We then took off to the hotel before the FC Barcelona match we had tickets for.The game was really good, the stadium incredible. Except for the lack of size in between rows. My knees touched the railing and it was quite difficult to get comfortable. The game was great FC Barca won easily 2-0....should have been 4-0 but an offsides call on a goal made by Thierry Henry and a missed penalty kick by Messi cost the score. It was still a great game, the atmosphere played foghorns and would chant "BAR-SSSSSSS-A" over and over. This is the accepted pronunciation. I will have to say though it was not as intense as the Dortmund game. Definitely not up to the Gilberwand standards. However it was a tremendously massive stadium. Holding over 110,000 fans.
Later that night we met up with the hostel mates and got to know each other. There was an Australian group living in London, a couple from Chigago, and some Irish guys who ended up going out to Razzmatazz. We walked up to the club and 3 of us jumped the rail to get into the Que line (which had no people in it) and meet up with friends. After we walked down the 50 yard line we were turned back because of jumping it and literally had to walk back 50 yards and down again. Not that it was a matter of skipping people in line, but moreso a matter of security guards wanting to excercise some form of power. It wasn't necessary and pretty annoying.
Later that night we met up with the hostel mates and got to know each other. There was an Australian group living in London, a couple from Chigago, and some Irish guys who ended up going out to Razzmatazz. We walked up to the club and 3 of us jumped the rail to get into the Que line (which had no people in it) and meet up with friends. After we walked down the 50 yard line we were turned back because of jumping it and literally had to walk back 50 yards and down again. Not that it was a matter of skipping people in line, but moreso a matter of security guards wanting to excercise some form of power. It wasn't necessary and pretty annoying. We finally got into the club at around 1:15AM. Let me just tell you this thing was as empty as main street in an old western films shootout scene. There was NO ONE, here and we thought maybe we just came on a bad day. However around 2am people started showing up. Brings a whole new meaning to the term nightlife. This club was literally the biggest thing I've been in. It had atleast 7 different rooms with different styles of music. Including the live performance stage in the picture. The light show behind the singer was amazing and masked his semi decent performance with the classic "smoke and lights." 
There were some interesting people though in the club. Check out this guys hair!
The next day Eduardo had a bit of a problem. I was sitting in the common area when he started telling someone to get out of the storage room and open the door. After many attempts at trying to push the door open, I decided to see what the commotion was all about. He thought someone had locked themselves in with the luggage. Thankfully though there was an old airvent about 8 feet from the ground, so he grabbed a step ladder and tried to peer through. I took a look and realized the bedframe was pried against the door making it not budge. Somehow we came up with the bright idea of me pushing him through the hole in the wall. This is a picture after we succeded in getting the door unjammed. A funny story.
We then took off down La Ramblla. The famous street in Barcelona with street performers galore. My favorite was Edward Scissorhands. He had the face and the actions down to a T. Very impressive. There was also a group of street performers playing bells on their back by walking with their heads bobbing up and down. A very unusual site. They were dressed in this old ox skin suits and paraded the whole time. We got a bit hungry and ate at McDonalds. I couldn't believe it but at all the fastfood joints apparently you can have a beer with your meal. It took me a back. I settled for sprite.
After walking through the streets we ended up at the port and took some pictures on the lions. Feeling a little fatigued from the late Spanish nites we sat on a bench in the port and watched the sailboats, fish, and seagulls. After relaxing a while we then walked through the old town with small narrow streets. Easy to jump from rooftop to rooftop, infact you might even be able to lay across the street below. We tried to see Picasso's museum, but the line was really long at about the same time the rain started to pour. We opted to head back to the hostel and relax.
There were some interesting people though in the club. Check out this guys hair!The next day Eduardo had a bit of a problem. I was sitting in the common area when he started telling someone to get out of the storage room and open the door. After many attempts at trying to push the door open, I decided to see what the commotion was all about. He thought someone had locked themselves in with the luggage. Thankfully though there was an old airvent about 8 feet from the ground, so he grabbed a step ladder and tried to peer through. I took a look and realized the bedframe was pried against the door making it not budge. Somehow we came up with the bright idea of me pushing him through the hole in the wall. This is a picture after we succeded in getting the door unjammed. A funny story.
We then took off down La Ramblla. The famous street in Barcelona with street performers galore. My favorite was Edward Scissorhands. He had the face and the actions down to a T. Very impressive. There was also a group of street performers playing bells on their back by walking with their heads bobbing up and down. A very unusual site. They were dressed in this old ox skin suits and paraded the whole time. We got a bit hungry and ate at McDonalds. I couldn't believe it but at all the fastfood joints apparently you can have a beer with your meal. It took me a back. I settled for sprite.After walking through the streets we ended up at the port and took some pictures on the lions. Feeling a little fatigued from the late Spanish nites we sat on a bench in the port and watched the sailboats, fish, and seagulls. After relaxing a while we then walked through the old town with small narrow streets. Easy to jump from rooftop to rooftop, infact you might even be able to lay across the street below. We tried to see Picasso's museum, but the line was really long at about the same time the rain started to pour. We opted to head back to the hostel and relax.That night we went to an Irish pub and sang karaoke with the entire group staying at the hostel. The people there were very friendly and organized all this for the travelers staying at Saint Jordi Hostel. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed hanging and meeting new people. After the night ended we headed back to catch some sleep before our 8am departure from the hostel in the morning. All in all Barcelona was a very fun time and cool city. I'm learning that wherever we go we meet new people and make new friends. I think I'm ready for a traditional getaway maybe to Italy with Will's family for a real Italian experience!
1 comment:
I've been there! It was my favorite! don't you want to live in España forever?!
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