Spring Break: Barcelona! (week 9)

So, after getting about four hours of sleep, Ashley and I wake up to check out of the hostel, and walk to the shuttle to get to the airport. Since we had such an early flight to Barcelona, it was really the easiest plane ride of the whole trip since there weren't many people in the airport, and we got onto the plane pretty smoothly. Madrid and Barcelona also had the nicest airports because they were a lot bigger.

Ashley posing on our terrace!

When we finally get to Barcelona, it was a little later than we had planned, since the plane had been delayed for take off. I slept the whole ride though and didn't even realize we had arrived till I felt the plane touch the ground. We checked into our hostel after taking the metro to our location near La Rambla, the main street in Barcelona, and quickly took showers. Our hostel was so cute and we had a terrace on the roof where we could sit outside. We hadn't really eaten much, except some nuts we bought at the airport, so we ended up going to Wok to Walk, a stir-fry place that our hostel person recommended, which was down the block. It was sooo yummy!

Afterwards, we walked to Placa de Catalunya, the meeting point for the Hop-on-hop-off bus tours and bought a two day pass. We took the red line around for the whole day. It took us past these cool houses first, including Casa Les Punxes and La Pedrera by Gaudi, and then down Barcelona's diagonal street.

We weren't really sure when we should get off the bus, so we continued down past this industrial park and finally got off the bus at Placa d'Espanya, where we were able to get a panoramic view of Barcelona.

View from the top of MNAC

 We then walked up to the MNAC museum, where we got even more amazing views of Barcelona and sat and drank Sangria while a performer played music for us on the steps. It was just as wonderful sitting there as it was when we were in Madrid, and we stayed there for a while before getting back onto the bus.

The bus continued down past the Olympic Stadium, and then passed by these cool looking gardens with lots of palm trees, and a lift that goes up to the Castell de Montjuic. We then are driven past Port Vell, where the beaches are, but the weather was not so good at this point, and we were cold from it being so windy on top of the bus. We finally drove through the Barri Gothic area, and got off where we started. I ended up meeting my friend Samantha who is studying in Barcelona for about an hour when we finally got back. We walked around La Rambla and around her University so she could explain which places to go to at night. We caught up as much as we could, while Ashley was in the hostel skyping with her mom for her birthday. Although Sam couldn't stay with us for dinner, it was really nice seeing her. She also didn't end up going out with us because she had just gotten back from Rome and felt like she needed a break from spending money.

Ashley and I got dinner at this organic restaurant, where we got salad from the salad bar, a main course, and dessert. I got this really yummy chocolate and coconut dessert, while Ashley got mousse. We thought we were going to go out to the places Sam suggested, but found we were so tired still, and ended up watching an episode of Modern Family and New Girl before going to bed.

The next day, we went on the bus once again, but this time on the blue line. Before that though, we walked to the Gothic area and saw the Monastery and then went to the Picasso museum, which was really cool. We then walked to the bus, and went towards Park Guell, designed by Gaudi. We quickly passed by the Sagrada Familia, but didn't get off because we wanted to get to the park. It was so beautiful though and we quickly snapped pictures. At Park Guell, we ate our lunch that we made (sandwiches, no surprise), and enjoyed the views and architecture of the park. It was sooo cool, and the weather wasn't so terrible at first. After we left, we bought some souvenirs, and hopped back on the bus where we passed all these places, including the Barcelona Futbol stadium. We tried to go back towards the castle so we could take the lift up, but by the time we finally got there, it was closing because of the wind. We realized it was going to rain a bit, so we just decided to go back without any more stops. Once of the bus, we decided we wanted to warm up a bit, and got Starbucks before heading back. We got dinner at Wok to Walk again before meeting up with my sister and her friends, who had arrived in Barcelona that afternoon.

Park Guell

We tried to find this shot bar, where you can choose from 300 shots, but it was already getting late, so we went to Opium del Mar instead, one of Sam's favorite clubs. We got in for free so that was nice, and it ended up being just Ashley, Morgan, and I who wanted to go to the club. After being there for a little while, it was getting late, so we got onto the night bus back to our hostel, where my sister stayed over. Ashley and I had to once again wake up early to get to the airport, and I my sister went back to her place. It wasn't sad saying bye to her since I would be seeing her again in 5 days time when she would be visiting me in Florence after break.