A view of the Mediterranean from Barcelona. Such beautiful weather, such a beautiful city!! So, I know I have been slow in updating. On Friday (Oct 2), I went with six other girls in a rented car to Barcelona. It was so awesome! We had our fair share of adventures, and MORE than our fair share of fun. We stayed in a really nice hostel that was pretty far from the center of town, but not far from a metro stop that went RIGHT to the main road, which is called “La Rambla.” I really liked our hostel because (almost) everyone who worked there was really nice - and it was far removed from the endless noise of the center of the city. It was really peaceful and beautiful, but not far from the liveliness of La Rambla and the beach! :] How to sum up the entire weekend?! So much fun stuff happened! We walked around Barcelona the first night and stumbled upon a Spanish band performing on a stage set up in the middle of the street. We stayed for the rest of the concert - that was so fun! All the Spanish people were SO involved in the music. They were dancing, clapping, singing - they were very passionate. I definitely couldn’t measure up to their dancing skills! Haha. On Saturday, we walked through Parc Guell, which is a really famous park full of mosaics and beautiful landscaping. It was gorgeous. I want to live there!! Who cares if I am a hobo? Being a hobo in Parc Guell would be much better than being a rich person in a normal house! :] After that, we went to the Sagrada Familia, which is a huge cathedral that is in the process of being completed. It is very… distinct. Unique. I have to admit, I was not a fan. It has taken a really long time to complete and nothing looks uniform. One side of it is so ornate that you hardly know where to look! It was a bit much for me. After that, we went to the other cathedral in the city, which was huge and much more to my taste. We wandered around inside for a bit, and then Rebecca, a Swedish girl, and I went to a BARCELONA SOCCER GAME. It was so amazing!!! It was the highlight of my stay in Europe so far. Barcelona is a hugely successful and popular team in Europe. They were the European Champions of 2008 - which means they are the best professional team in Europe (which means, in the eyes of the Europeans, that they are the best professional team in the world, of course!). We had a great view of the game, and Barcelona won 1-0!!!! It was SO COOL. The whole time the people around us were screaming at the ref (and at the players… but mostly at the ref) in Spanish and Catalan. It was hilarious, and thrilling. It was awesome! Anyway… that night we went out to kebab for dinner after the game, which was both delicious and cheap! Thus, we discovered our new passion, haha. We decided we must find it in Pau - so look for new entries about kebab! :] On Sunday, we went to the Picasso museum, which was really amazing - I learned so much about him, and I saw so much of his art that came BEFORE Cubism, and that I had never seen before. It was really beautiful. I actually found that I liked his pre-Cubist stuff much more than I like Cubism. I also learned a lot about him as a person, which was really fascinating! After that, I had tapas for lunch, and then went back to the beach to enjoy the fine weather (it was in the low 70s all weekend, and sunny! perfect but not too hot…). I happened to see a bar that was showing the Liverpool vs. Chelsea game… and it had been a long weekend… so I was glad to sit down for a bit and watch it with other diehard English soccer (football) fans. It was fun - until Liverpool lost!!! Then it was less fun. But I still had a good time. After that, we spent our last night wandering around a new part of the city and getting tapas again for dinner. I ordered some patatas bravas (potatoes with spicy tomato mayonnaise sauce… amazingly delicious!) with my best attempt at a spanish accent… I’m not sure how it turned out, haha. They were really good, anyway! And after that, we made our way back to the hostel for our last night… and reflected on the wonderful-ness of Barcelona. Overall, it was a really fun trip, and I loved the city. Everyone was very nice. I’m finally giving Spain the credit it deserves. It didn’t even rain on us once. :] More pictures from the trip to follow!! Love, Leanne

A view of the Mediterranean from Barcelona. Such beautiful weather, such a beautiful city!!

So, I know I have been slow in updating. On Friday (Oct 2), I went with six other girls in a rented car to Barcelona. It was so awesome! We had our fair share of adventures, and MORE than our fair share of fun.

We stayed in a really nice hostel that was pretty far from the center of town, but not far from a metro stop that went RIGHT to the main road, which is called “La Rambla.” I really liked our hostel because (almost) everyone who worked there was really nice - and it was far removed from the endless noise of the center of the city. It was really peaceful and beautiful, but not far from the liveliness of La Rambla and the beach! :]

How to sum up the entire weekend?! So much fun stuff happened! We walked around Barcelona the first night and stumbled upon a Spanish band performing on a stage set up in the middle of the street. We stayed for the rest of the concert - that was so fun! All the Spanish people were SO involved in the music. They were dancing, clapping, singing - they were very passionate. I definitely couldn’t measure up to their dancing skills! Haha.

On Saturday, we walked through Parc Guell, which is a really famous park full of mosaics and beautiful landscaping. It was gorgeous. I want to live there!! Who cares if I am a hobo? Being a hobo in Parc Guell would be much better than being a rich person in a normal house! :]

After that, we went to the Sagrada Familia, which is a huge cathedral that is in the process of being completed. It is very… distinct. Unique. I have to admit, I was not a fan. It has taken a really long time to complete and nothing looks uniform. One side of it is so ornate that you hardly know where to look! It was a bit much for me.

After that, we went to the other cathedral in the city, which was huge and much more to my taste. We wandered around inside for a bit, and then Rebecca, a Swedish girl, and I went to a BARCELONA SOCCER GAME. It was so amazing!!! It was the highlight of my stay in Europe so far.

Barcelona is a hugely successful and popular team in Europe. They were the European Champions of 2008 - which means they are the best professional team in Europe (which means, in the eyes of the Europeans, that they are the best professional team in the world, of course!). We had a great view of the game, and Barcelona won 1-0!!!! It was SO COOL. The whole time the people around us were screaming at the ref (and at the players… but mostly at the ref) in Spanish and Catalan. It was hilarious, and thrilling. It was awesome!

Anyway… that night we went out to kebab for dinner after the game, which was both delicious and cheap! Thus, we discovered our new passion, haha. We decided we must find it in Pau - so look for new entries about kebab! :]

On Sunday, we went to the Picasso museum, which was really amazing - I learned so much about him, and I saw so much of his art that came BEFORE Cubism, and that I had never seen before. It was really beautiful. I actually found that I liked his pre-Cubist stuff much more than I like Cubism. I also learned a lot about him as a person, which was really fascinating!

After that, I had tapas for lunch, and then went back to the beach to enjoy the fine weather (it was in the low 70s all weekend, and sunny! perfect but not too hot…). I happened to see a bar that was showing the Liverpool vs. Chelsea game… and it had been a long weekend… so I was glad to sit down for a bit and watch it with other diehard English soccer (football) fans. It was fun - until Liverpool lost!!! Then it was less fun. But I still had a good time.

After that, we spent our last night wandering around a new part of the city and getting tapas again for dinner. I ordered some patatas bravas (potatoes with spicy tomato mayonnaise sauce… amazingly delicious!) with my best attempt at a spanish accent… I’m not sure how it turned out, haha. They were really good, anyway! And after that, we made our way back to the hostel for our last night… and reflected on the wonderful-ness of Barcelona.

Overall, it was a really fun trip, and I loved the city. Everyone was very nice. I’m finally giving Spain the credit it deserves. It didn’t even rain on us once. :]

More pictures from the trip to follow!!

Love,

Leanne