Barcelona!

What a weekend. We were only in Barcelona for two days but we did so much. My feet still hurt from walking around so much and I’m glad to be back in Tarragona, but it was a fun little weekend.

Our trip started off great … not. We missed the bus we were supposed to take to get down to the meeting spot because we were on the wrong side of the road. We were running down the street with all of our things to make sure we were there on time. Lucky for us, we  made it on time, but there were two boys who woke up late and had to find their own way to Barcelona.

Our first stop in Barcelona was the Camp Nou (pronounced Camp No), which is where Barcelona CF plays. As a Real Madrid fan (una madridista!), it was a bit hard having to look at the trophies they have and all the history. Going out onto the pitch was pretty cool though, especially knowing all the Real Madrid legends who have played there. I also liked admiring the pictures of Piqué, although he has since shaved his head and he isn’t as good looking anymore!

After the Camp Nou, we went to a little park just outside the Barcelona Zoo, which was a nice place to eat our lunch. We spent about an hour and a half just eating and soaking up the sun since it was such a pretty day. One of the girls on our trip fell victim to some gypsies that stole 90 euros from her in the park. You have to be very careful in Barcelona because they pick pocket like crazy!

Then we went to La Sagrada Familia. It is a basilica that started construction sometime in the latter part of the 19th century and still isn’t complete. Gaudí, the designer of the basilica, died before he could finish it. It is scheduled to be completed in 2026, one hundred years after Gaudí died. 

Words can’t express how amazing this building it. There is so much detail to it. There are three main sides to it: one representing the nativity scene, one representing the passion of the Christ, and the Glory scene. This scene is going to be the grand entrance to the basilica, to showcase the importance of the Catholic Church in Spain. From the outside it is absolutely beautiful, but the inside is just breathtaking. The stained glass is perfectly made with all different colors which casts in light and makes pretty colors all around the inside. I can’t put into words how amazing this sight is.

As if it didn’t seem like we did enough on the first day, we finished the day off by going to Montjuïc, a mountain in Barcelona. We went up in these cable car things; like little pods that took you up into the air and up to the top of the mountain. Once up there, there was a little castle. The dictator, France, killed the president of Catalonia there, but it was still very beautiful. At the top, you’re able to look over all of Barcelona there. I have decided that I want to get married up there. 🙂 😉

We stayed the night in a hostel. It was actually pretty nice and very modern, but it was very small. There was a mishap with the reservations because we were supposed to stay in another hostel, but they cancelled all but two rooms because they are doing renovations. Safe to say, I didn’t spend much time in the hostel.

The next morning, we went to see another one of Gaudí’s works: La Casa Mila (also known as La Pedrera). It was very extravagant. The lines he created with his art were crazy. The house looks wavy and at the top, it has a bunch of crazy structures. It kind of reminded me of Across the Universe when they do drugs and see things. 😛 

After this attraction, we were free to do whatever we wanted. This girl Katie and I went shopping. Unfortunately most of the shops were super expensive; Tiffany’s, etc. The only thing I bought that day was a dress from H&M and some souvenirs. 

Katie and I decided we wanted to go to Park Güell, but we had to take the metro to get there. We didn’t know where exactly to go, but we ran into some girls from Wisconsin who were going there, too, and they said they knew the way. Guess what. They didn’t. They had us get off at the wrong stop which was very far way and we had to pay another 2 euros to get back to the right stop. After climbing a hill that was almost 90 degrees, we arrived in a park and were trying to find our way to the cool Gaudí stuff. By the time we got there, Katie and I were so hungry we didn’t appreciate the park enough.

That night, we ate a paella place, which was pretty good, but my host mother (Cruzma) makes it better. 🙂 Melanie, myself, and a few other girls went to a discoteca that night. Let’s just say we saw the sun coming up on our way back. Yesterday was our day of rest and today we were back at school-y stuff. Boo. Overall, Barcelona was a fun experience, but Tarragona just feels so much more comfortable.