This weekend we went to Barcelona for 4 days! It was AMAZING! I have wanted to go to Spain for a while and was so excited we were going there. Also, as an added bonus I was finally able to put my 9 years of Spanish to use! On all our other trips I have no idea what's going on because I don't speak the language but in Barcelona, I was able to recognize a lot. Barcelona actually speaks Catalan which is close(ish) to the castellano Spanish that I've learned. It definitely has a lot of differences though but I was able to figure most out.
Our train to leave for Paris (where we would transfer to a different train to leave for Spain) was later in the evening so we decided to hit up the H&M in Metz before leaving to go bathing suit shopping for our trip to the beach. I got a new purse that fits my big Nikon camera so I don't constantly look like a tourist -- yay! This was a great idea until me, Kate, and Kristen got stuck in the elevator. It was pretty old school in the first place seeing as it was a platform that you manually moved up and down by holding the button for the floor all the way until you got there. But we kept going up and down trying to get one of the doors to open until we knocked on the glass door and the employee got her supervisor who let us out. So now I can say I was stuck in an elevator.
Then after taking what we thought would be a shorter way to the train station, we got lost. But don't worry, we found the train while (accidentally) exploring Metz. Then we took the high speed TGV to Paris and transferred to a different station where we hopped on our couchette train. Turns out they're very small. Sitting up is not really an option. But we slept (kind of) through the night until our train arrived in Port Bou where we had to transfer to a regional train to get us to Barcelona.
With a slight delay of our couchette train, we only had about 3 minutes to get to our other train. Mary Margaret, in an excellent attempt to lead our group to the train, missed a couple steps (and by couple I mean all of them) off the train and did an excellent belly flop of sorts onto the platform that kept us laughing for days. She sustained a few minor bumps and bruises but don't worry, the story doesn't end here.
We made it to our regional train, made it to Barcelona, and even found our hostel. Check-in wasn't for a few hours and we were eager to hit the beach so we dropped our bags in the luggage room and changed in the bathroom and went to the beach for a few hours before heading back to the hostel.
Quick side story: after a glitch in booking our hostel we booked for the wrong weekend, cancelled the wrong weekend, and re-booked for this weekend. What does the hostel have on record? Us cancelling. What do we have on record? About 3 emails confirming Mary Margaret's deposit, cancellation, and a final email with our new booking. So they kindly inform us that there isn't room for us that night. After an impressive use of what we refer to as our "business lady voice", Mary Margaret saved us and the hostel moved 2 cots into 2 of the rooms and then agreed to move us to our own room the following night when there was more availability.
We quickly showered and changed and went on an adventure to find a restaurant my sister told me about when she studied abroad. It's called Les Quinze Nits. It's a cooking school where 5 star chefs in training practice their skills. There was a line out the door to wait for a table. We all shared sangria and I had some calamari (which was tender and delicious), shared a caprese salad with pesto, had a wonderful green salad (I miss real salads with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers! This one even had corn and carrots), and meat canneloni. Everything tasted wonderful and we topped it off with some gelato to wrap up our evening.
Sunday morning we found some other GTL kids in our hostel and decided to join them on a potential walking tour. But seeing as we didn't know when it was, only where to find it, we opted for the create-your-own-walking-tour option!
We saw the Arc de Triomf and listened to a sound check for a free concert in the park, wandered through the park, ate kebabs on the beach, walked along the beach and watched people flying kites and doing "social graffiti", went to the Sagrada Familia, and the Casa Batllo. Cue lots of pictures from the day:
I've realized while being here in Europe that I love to know the story behind everything. For example:
La Sagrada Familia has been under construction since 1882 (that's 130 years of construction) and it's still not done! The Spiritual Association for Devotion to Saint Joseph (aka the Josephines) commissioned the building and it was intended to be an Expiatory Temple for Barcelona in commemoration of the sacred family -- Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Gaudi was employeed to work on the building at age 30 and worked on it for over 40 years until his death. He was tragically hit by a tram just outside the church in 1926. He was buried inside the crypt of the church and in 1936 arsonists raided his tomb and smashed the plaster models of the church and all the documents were burned. As a result, the construction since then has been based on the reconstructed plaster models and computer analysis. It's projected to be finished in 2030 but as you can see from the picture below (found in the Sagrada Familia subway stop), everyone has a lot of confidence in that.
Something I found interesting about the Casa Batllo is that every surface (whether it be stone, wood, glass, etc.) is "soft and molten" as my travel book describes it. There are hardly any right angles on the building at all.
That night we tried to go to the free concert but it ended up raining and we brought 1 umbrella between the 9 of us. So we ran into what turned out to be the worst tapas restaurant in Barcelona. The paella that Mary Margaret and I split was burnt onto the pan and served al dente which rice is not supposed to be. Needless to say, that was not the best meal we've had in Europe so far.
Monday we dropped our bags at the luggage check in the train station and went to find the Parc Guell. We escalated and hiked up a big hill and approached the park from the back (that way our whole adventure was downhill! An excellent hint from some fellow GTL kids that we ran into at the Sagrada Familia). The park was commissioned by Eusebi Guell in 1900 and was supposed to be a lavish neighborhood of 60 homes designed by our good old friend Gaudi. However only 2 of the homes were finished (Guell's and Gaudi's) in 1914 when the project stopped. (Apparently no one wanted to live in Gaudi's eccentrically designed homes -- little did they know how famous it would be). After that the city purchased the land and turned it into a park. I'm going to let the pictures do the talking since it's hard to put the beauty of this park into words:
After the park we headed home to Metz. This being our second couchette experience, we were better prepared. We even met a guy named Rafa who is our age. He was born in Poland and lives in Germany as an EMT. He offered to show us around Munich because he lives nearby. He also showed us how to turn the couchette bed down to make it into a couch! Which worked great until it was stuck and we learned that on some trains you need the conductor to bring a key and unlock it. Oops... Anyways, Barcelona was an absolutely fantastic weekend. I hope I get to go back someday!!
Our train to leave for Paris (where we would transfer to a different train to leave for Spain) was later in the evening so we decided to hit up the H&M in Metz before leaving to go bathing suit shopping for our trip to the beach. I got a new purse that fits my big Nikon camera so I don't constantly look like a tourist -- yay! This was a great idea until me, Kate, and Kristen got stuck in the elevator. It was pretty old school in the first place seeing as it was a platform that you manually moved up and down by holding the button for the floor all the way until you got there. But we kept going up and down trying to get one of the doors to open until we knocked on the glass door and the employee got her supervisor who let us out. So now I can say I was stuck in an elevator.
stuck in the elevator!
Then after taking what we thought would be a shorter way to the train station, we got lost. But don't worry, we found the train while (accidentally) exploring Metz. Then we took the high speed TGV to Paris and transferred to a different station where we hopped on our couchette train. Turns out they're very small. Sitting up is not really an option. But we slept (kind of) through the night until our train arrived in Port Bou where we had to transfer to a regional train to get us to Barcelona.
View from the train. It was absolutely breathtaking
We made it to our regional train, made it to Barcelona, and even found our hostel. Check-in wasn't for a few hours and we were eager to hit the beach so we dropped our bags in the luggage room and changed in the bathroom and went to the beach for a few hours before heading back to the hostel.
The beach!
Quick side story: after a glitch in booking our hostel we booked for the wrong weekend, cancelled the wrong weekend, and re-booked for this weekend. What does the hostel have on record? Us cancelling. What do we have on record? About 3 emails confirming Mary Margaret's deposit, cancellation, and a final email with our new booking. So they kindly inform us that there isn't room for us that night. After an impressive use of what we refer to as our "business lady voice", Mary Margaret saved us and the hostel moved 2 cots into 2 of the rooms and then agreed to move us to our own room the following night when there was more availability.
We quickly showered and changed and went on an adventure to find a restaurant my sister told me about when she studied abroad. It's called Les Quinze Nits. It's a cooking school where 5 star chefs in training practice their skills. There was a line out the door to wait for a table. We all shared sangria and I had some calamari (which was tender and delicious), shared a caprese salad with pesto, had a wonderful green salad (I miss real salads with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers! This one even had corn and carrots), and meat canneloni. Everything tasted wonderful and we topped it off with some gelato to wrap up our evening.
Waiting in line outside Les Quinze Nits in La Placa Reial
Some of the most delicious calamari I've had in my entire life
Sunday morning we found some other GTL kids in our hostel and decided to join them on a potential walking tour. But seeing as we didn't know when it was, only where to find it, we opted for the create-your-own-walking-tour option!
We saw the Arc de Triomf and listened to a sound check for a free concert in the park, wandered through the park, ate kebabs on the beach, walked along the beach and watched people flying kites and doing "social graffiti", went to the Sagrada Familia, and the Casa Batllo. Cue lots of pictures from the day:
Arc de Triomf
Awesome tree in the park we wandered around in
Social Graffiti -- it was fascinating to watch
I've realized while being here in Europe that I love to know the story behind everything. For example:
La Sagrada Familia
Casa Batllo
That night we tried to go to the free concert but it ended up raining and we brought 1 umbrella between the 9 of us. So we ran into what turned out to be the worst tapas restaurant in Barcelona. The paella that Mary Margaret and I split was burnt onto the pan and served al dente which rice is not supposed to be. Needless to say, that was not the best meal we've had in Europe so far.
Monday we dropped our bags at the luggage check in the train station and went to find the Parc Guell. We escalated and hiked up a big hill and approached the park from the back (that way our whole adventure was downhill! An excellent hint from some fellow GTL kids that we ran into at the Sagrada Familia). The park was commissioned by Eusebi Guell in 1900 and was supposed to be a lavish neighborhood of 60 homes designed by our good old friend Gaudi. However only 2 of the homes were finished (Guell's and Gaudi's) in 1914 when the project stopped. (Apparently no one wanted to live in Gaudi's eccentrically designed homes -- little did they know how famous it would be). After that the city purchased the land and turned it into a park. I'm going to let the pictures do the talking since it's hard to put the beauty of this park into words:
Escalators up to the Parc Guell
stunning view from the top of the park
performer at the top of the park -- "everybody's gone soofing -- Barcelona beach"
Kinda killed the mood a bit...
Parc Guell -- who remembers this from America's Next Top Model??
Parc Guell
View of the entrance of the park
The dragon at the front of the park
After the park we headed home to Metz. This being our second couchette experience, we were better prepared. We even met a guy named Rafa who is our age. He was born in Poland and lives in Germany as an EMT. He offered to show us around Munich because he lives nearby. He also showed us how to turn the couchette bed down to make it into a couch! Which worked great until it was stuck and we learned that on some trains you need the conductor to bring a key and unlock it. Oops... Anyways, Barcelona was an absolutely fantastic weekend. I hope I get to go back someday!!
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