BARCELONA

Loved Barcelona!

The city was a great mix between Madrid (all party) and Granada (all culture). Great feel to the place, and great atmosphere! The hostel we stayed in was small but cozy, called Downtown Paraiso Hostel, I definitely recommend it! It had a great location, right off Las Ramblas, and a laundromat across the street, and a cute little outdoor patio, only downside? Public bathrooms (and showers). But no big deal in the scheme of things, eh?

We arrived in Barcelona from a night train from Granada and found our hostel easily enough (aka cab!!). The cabs out of the train station were crazy, a very organized system of waiting in lines, for both customers and taxi cabs. The Asian in me really appreciated it :) Then after putting down our things we set out for Las Ramblas, the major street in Barcelona with all kinds of little shops and restaurants and street vendors selling everything from souvenirs and fruit, to flowers and pets (yes, I saw baby bunnies!!!). Then we looked for the Picasso Museum for about mmm 30 minutes, and EVERYONE kept giving us wrong directions! Youd think people would know the way around their own city! We finally got there: and it was an obscure brown wooden door no a stone wall. CLOSED. FML so we decided to go to the main Cathedral in Barcelona... to be honest it looked like any other church I´ve seen: kind of scary. So then we decided to walk back to the hostel when we found a REALLY COOL market! There was meat, fruit, candies, vegetables, olive oil, it was amazing! So we got some fruit and yummy foccacia and ate in the outdoor patio at our hostel. That night we went out with two American guys who we met in our hostel who were also traveling around Europe, bar hopping, which was kind of boring until the highlight of my night: donur kebab!!!

The next day we got up bright and early to head to the Sagrada Familia! It was so beautiful and inspiring, even though the weather was grey and Saaya had to translate the ONE audio guide we decided to buy :) After the Sagrada Familia we got donur kebab (againnnnnn) for lunch and then headed to Guell Park for our Gaudi-inspired day. IT. SUCKED. First of all, nobody told me that Guell Park is actually NOT a park but a hiking destination. Barcelona was awesome, but sad that Guell Park is one of the main attractions! Be forewarned: its HUGE, there are NO MAPS, its all sand, and Gaudi only lived in the "Gaudi House" for like 2 months. Did I mention its rather large?? So after finding the famous mosaic benches (ps we found two dogs that were WAY more exciting than the park itself) we gave up on finding the chameleon/gecko and left.

*Note: we later realized it was right under the benches.

That night we went out to a club called Opium. It was a very interesting night. First we made the mistake of buying beers (cans) from some random men on the street thinking it would be a more economical option than buying drinks at the club... Second, Sarah was accused of being a lesbian after trying to get rid of some creepy drunk man who approached us, who also prayed to God for her soul´s redemption. Third, Sarah decided we should walk to the club because it was "right on the beach." TWO HOURS LATER we arrived at the club... an hour before last call. We each got a drink and Sarah and I danced the night away (can you say walking man??) while Saaya fell asleep on the patio. The night ended with a 8 Euro cab ride home (yeah, regret.).

On our last day in Barcelona, Hanna and I got breakfast for lunch in Plaza Real. It was so cute, there was a group of girls who came and started singing in the square and their friendly golden retriever came and sat by us! Afterwards, we decided to check out the two famous Gaudi houses in Barcelona: the Milo and the Battlo. The Milo didnt look very cool so we skipped on going inside that one, but the Battlo (the one that looks like King Triton's castle in Little Mermaid) was so pretty we payed the expensive entrance fee to go inside. Thank goodness we did, because it was absolutely amazing! It felt like we were under the sea, in Ariel's world, there were no straight lines in the architecture, Gaudi's attempt to emulate nature in the structure. I highly recommend it! After that we walked back down Las Ramblas, where I saw the CUTEST bunnies that were only 10 Euro. Don't worry Mom I didn't get one... Then we headed back to the hostel because we had a 9:00 train to Paris!! We took the Metro to the train station, which was a mess in itself, SUPER hot and crowded. We got there at 8:25 and realized we were at the WRONG FREAKING STATION. So we hailed a cab and hauled ass all the way across the city to the other (international) station- you know its bad when the cab driver tells you to calm down... We just barely made it onto our train, sweaty and stressed and ready to get some zzzzz's on the way to gay Paris! :)