Gaudi and Day 2

We woke up in time for breakfast (9:30 am. Couldn't they have made it 10? Don't they know that people like us go out when we're in Barcelona?) The breakfast was less than expected. It was these three pieces of hard toast and a weird muffin thingy, with some awful tasting orange juice. I felt like a zombie and probably looked like one too.

Because I had never been to Barcelona and honestly had no idea what the city had to offer, we pretty much let Olivier who had been there 4 times lead us around to all of the spots that we had to see. First stop: a market. This was a huge open air market that sold anything from juices to nuts to meat to fish.
There were some pretty interesting things including skinned rabbit and some huge fish that I had never seen before and didn't look to appetizing. Jussi fell in love at first sight. We could've left him there all day and I think he would've been happy. Jade and I decided to buy some interesting looking fruit (I can't remember what kind it was, but I had never tried if before. This trip I've decided to TRY everything, even if I think I won't like it.) Jade and I went to wait outside (Jade bought almonds on the way... figures) while James and Olivier attempted to find Jussi who was probably having a heart attack from happiness. I was trying to stay awake while sitting on a pole (yes, I was THAT tired) and finally the boys come walking out with huge smiles on their faces. I think they believed they had struck gold.

We headed to a cute little square to eat our finds. They had bought fried some kind of fish in balls, these little tiny fish fried, juice, figs, and who knows what else (I think there was some squid in there). They happily shared some with me, and enjoyed watching my face as I hesitantly took a bite of what they found to be so appetizing. Surprisingly it wasn't awful. I wouldn't ever buy it, but the taste didn't make me want to puke. The little fish were the most fishy, and Jussi said he enjoyed that taste. I definitely don't and don't think I ever will.

We then headed off to various churches including La Cathedral. They were beautiful, but James said the one that I would really love wouldn't come until Sunday.

It was on Saturday that I learned about Gaudi. Sadly, I have never heard from him before. He is a famous architect who died in 1926 but designed many buildings for his home town of Barcelona, Spain before he died. Gaudi architecture is unique. You can automatically tell which of the buildings he created just by how they look and the details he includes. They a lot of times look like Candy Land/Willy Wonka/Disneyland. Some of the many Gaudi architecture pieces we saw:




After a quick much needed coffee and break, we went shopping for a bit. Of course, I didn't find anything I wanted (I kinda feel like if I would rather spend it on traveling; but I could use a cute summer dress!) but Jade came out with a few things.

We then met Olivier's friend, Stefanie who has an internship in Barcelona for the summer. She took us for our first taste of tapas (ie finger food, but only found in Spain. The dishes range from fish to chicken to vegetables. Pretty much anything.) We each picked out around 2 dishes and then agreed to share. I ended up picking potatoes bravas (french fries with some sauce on them) and sausage. Others ordered those small fried frish, codfish, fried squid, and things like that that I would likely never eat at home. But given that this was lunch, I decided to try everything at least once, and hopefully I would like it.

The potatoes were of course excellent. Everything else wasn't bad. I don't like the consistency of some of the fish, but the tastes weren't awful. The little fish were not good... they had that fishy taste, which I am not a fan of. Conclusion: first taste of tapas was a success!

We then headed of to Parc Guell (not sure if that's exactly how you say it or spell it, but hey I don't speak spanish). We took the metro and then walked up a hill that actually had escalators to take you up! Thank goodness, the hill was pretty steep (around 30 degrees). The view of Barcelona from the top of the hill was very nice. You could see all of the main sights including the church called La Familia. After an hour or so of taking in the nice view, we headed to La Parc, another thing that Gaudi had designed. It was essentially a big platform that you could walk around on and also sit around the edges. When we sat down, I dozed off immediately. I was exhausted!! There are several pictures of people looking at the camera and me sleeping with my eyes closed. Lovely.



Behind this big platform were two more houses Gaudi had designed. We didn't go in, given that we didnt' want to pay the money for it, but the outside said everything. Underneath the platform there were even more aspects of his architecture to see. All in all, it was an awesome place, architecture was great, and the view was even better. Anyone that manages to make it to Barcelona, I would suggest going here.


After this, we decided to try and get into the church that we hadn't been able to because I wasn't properly dressed. That meant: jeans. Ugghh. After wearing shorts for the whole day, I had no desire to put on anything that would cover up my legs and make me sweat. But I did for the best of the group. By the time we got to the church, it was closed. Of course. Jeans for nothing and now sweaty legs to take with me to dinner. Ew.

In Spain people don't eat until late. Like 9 at the earliest. It was 8:30, and we were hungry so we decided to break the rules and headed to a resteraunt that supposedly served paella. We were a bit underdressed but went in anywyas. I ordered pear filled pasta with a pesto cream sauce, while most other people ordered sea food. We had a bottle of wine with dinner as well, and it was quite enjoyable.

After that we headed back home to get ready for our night out round 2! Jade and I were ready for a great night; it would be our last night together until school started. We got dressed and headed to a bar that Stefanie suggested. This bar was unlike any other I had ever been to. It was like being in the Rainforest Cafe. There were trees everywhere and little fireplaces spread throughout. We ordered our first round of Sangria!! Yum :) It tasted very good, and I would gladly drink that any day of the week. After 3 glasses, we headed to the bar we were at yesterday and had MORE tequila shots. And a beer. And a mariachi. Oh goodness. By this point we just wanted the BEACH. So we walked there. It was about a 20 minute walk and once we arrived I ran to the ocean as quickly as possible. I then touched the Mediterranean Sea for the first time!!! It was nice being somewhere that reminded me of California. There were no waves, but the water and the sand made it seem close enough for me. We hung out on the beach and had a great time. After a short nap on the beach, we decided that sleeping on the beach wouldn't be the smartest idea and headed back to the hostel. The walk back seemed twice as long as the walk there and finally we made it to bed at 4 am. Another great night in Spain...