Monday, February 11, 2013

Barcelona

Hola!

Sorry it's been so long since my last blog :( There wasn't much going on last week and I wanted to wait until I was back from my Barcelona trip so I could share all of my photos with you all!

The day that I left was an absolute nightmare (but a vital lesson). First I woke up with a bad cold but I wasn't going to let that hold me back from Barcelona so I trudged on, packed and made it to the train station to take me to the airport (about 2 hours away from Grenoble). However right as the train embarked, my friend Meagan looked at me and said "you have everything right? You brought your passport?" and in that moment my heart sank...I had just recently taken my passport out of my purse because I was worried if my purse got stolen in Grenoble they would not only have my credit card but my passport as well. For the next 20 minutes I was freaking out and my mind was racing to come up with any type of solution. I ended up getting off at one of the little train stations on the way to Lyon, bought a return ticket to Grenoble, took the tram from the train station to my house, grabbed my passport and grabbed the next tram back to the train station, ran through the train station and bought another ticket to Lyon. Luckily the next train was leaving in 15 minutes. However my flight from Lyon to Barcelona was in 2 hours, so if I was going to make it 1. I needed to make the shuttle from the Lyon train station to the Lyon airport that left every half hour and 2. I needed to sprint through the airport and pray there were no lines. Fortunately Meagan kept going ahead of me when I got off the train to return to Grenoble so she was texting me every little detail about the airport and how to get to the terminal.
I made it to the airport and had 30 minutes to check in, get through security and make it to the gate that was on the other side of the airport. As soon as the doors of the shuttle opened I sprinted with my luggage and all, through the airport to check in, and then on to security...thankfully there were absolutely no lines and I had no trouble with my luggage at security. I continued to sprint to the gate and made it within 5 minutes of them closing the doors. I was sooo happy and so exhausted once I reached my seat. But HEY, I MADE IT!! From now on I am double, even triple checking my bag before I leave my house for trips.


Meagan and I had to take 3 different trams to get to the hostel where we were staying. Neither her nor I had every stayed at a hostel and so we were reluctant and didn't know what to expect when we arrived. However we couldn't have had a better experience. We were greeted by a jolly, middle aged spanish man named Angel. He let us in and there we were met with about 15 other college age students from all over the world. They welcomed us with a plate of food, which we were not expecting at all. After the day we had, had we melted into our chairs and devoured the food within minutes. Angel went over all the hotspots of Barcelona and which places to check out first. After that we headed up to our rooms, changed and came back to socialize with the other people there. I met people from New Zealand, Montreal, South Africa, Australia, New York, Virginia, Germany, Chile, Portugal, China and Lithuania. Even though some people left and others took their place, we all became so close knit within the 5 days we were staying there it was such a wonderful experience meeting such different people from all walks of life, traveling and enjoying life just like we were. Every night after dinner, everyone from the hostel hung out on the patio, chatting, playing games and playing music. It was an incredible experience. We were all vulnerable in a foreign city, living among strangers but that is what forced everyone to bond and become close to each other.

The next few days Meagan and I became very close to the two people from Virginia, Vinod and Laura who are best friends from college. We ended up sight seeing a lot of Barcelona together. One day we rented bikes and rode all over the city. We hiked up Montjuïc to see the Castle, Poble Espanyol, the MNAC, Palau Sant Jordi and the Olympic Stadium. Then we roamed around the main street, La Rambla where they have a thousand vendors, shops and restaurants and THE most amazing open air market, Boqueria Market with fresh fruit, nuts, fish, meat, cheese, basically anything you could possible imagine. 

The next day we hit up the Cathedral, St. Maria del Mar, a mini Arc de Triomph, Sagrada Familia and Park Güell and of course the beach. We even got to try Gelato from Barcelona (which I heard is much different from Italian Gelato...I guess we will see when I travel to Italy). One of the times I was ordering Gelato the transition between 3 different languages in such a quick amount of time completely messed me up and so I asked her for a certain flavor in Spanish and when she said "this one?" (in Spanish) I said "yes, that one" (in French) and then I said "oops, I mean Si" (little bit of Spanglish) and then she laughed and in english I said "Sorry" haha. My brain has been so jumbled between French and English everyday, I think it had a melt down while in Spain.

All in all, Barcelona was an absolute beautiful city which I would love to visit again one day. It was great to finally have sunshine and warmth instead of snow and rain all the time (which is basically the Grenoble climate right now). Barcelona actually reminded me a lot of San Diego, a nice big city right next to the beach, so it was a nice little taste of home. However in the heart of the city there were still the eclectic, quaint little European alley ways where you can find the best bars, restaurants and boutiques. We got lost a lot but it was fun exploring the massive city all together.



                                 The view from Park Güell
                                    Tried to slyly take a video of some of the guys playing music one night in the hostel...they weren't playing any particular song, just making it up as they went.

                                    Boqueria Market
                                          Their delicious fruit smoothies
                                         Spanish omelet that we were served for dinner when we arrived at the hostel
                                     Inside Boqueria Market
                                           Fruit stand
                                          Plaza Cataluña
                                     Plaza Cataluña
                                       FINALLY...a Starbucks <3
                                  Plaza Cataluña fountain
                                    Another fountain in Plaza Cataluña
                                    Plaza Cataluña
                                           Barcelona Cathedral
                                     Beautiful fountain in the heart of Barcelona
                                           Quaint little alleys
                                              Barcelona Cathedral
                                          More alleys
                                            Sta. Maria del Mar
                                           Drassanes
                                   THIS is their post office....
                             
                                          Inside the post office
                                    Love, love, love the buildings here
                                             The gothic quarter
                                            Ruins...in the heart of Barcelona
                                           Gothic quarter
                                            More alleys in the gothic quarter
                                           Backside of the Cathedral
                                             Duckies with mohawks
                                          an open air garden/jungle with ducks...random
                                           inside the Barcelona Cathedral
                                     The open air garden
                                          Barcelona Cathedral
                                            Baptism
                                           One of the hallways
                                           Barcelona Cathedral
                                          The pulpit
                                           Close up view of the pulpit
                                       A Crypt of Saint Eulàlia


                                             Chocolat Gelato
                                       Montjuïc castle
                                           Walking 2 miles for Gelato at 10:30pm...so worth it
                                  Entrance of Montjuïc castle
                                      View of Barcelona from the Castle
                                            Et Moi
                                           The lookout
                                         
                                   The inside of the Olympic Stadium
                                  Outside of the Olympic Stadium
                                       Palau Sant Jordi (the pool for the Olympics)
                                  Have no idea what this is but it looked awesome
                                  Olympic Stadium
                                     The MNAC...all this for a museum

                                              MNAC
                                            Riding bicycles by the MNAC
                                  Looking out at Barcelona from the MNAC
                                      Couldn't stop for the picture
                                      MNAC
                                    MNAC
                                           La Pedrera
                                    Gaudi Architecture
                                           Sagrada Familia (Gaudi architecture)
                                      Close up of the Sagrada Familia
                                           Backside of the Sagrada Familia...it looks like its melting
                                            Park Güell
                                         The wall next to my room at the hostel (reminder that my Daddy is always with me)
                                       Park Güell
                                          Tiny little shards of rock make up the ceiling
                                    From Park Güell
                                     Park Güell
                                     Park Güell
                                     Looking out at Barcelona
                                           Highest place at Park Güell
                                   Park Güell
                                     Barcelona <3
                                            Barcelona
                                   More Gaudi architecture...so funky
                                          Paella (Spanish specialty)
                                      Walking along the board walk at sunset
                                      Barcelona Port
                                 Had to remember that the sunset is on the east..not west :)
                                  Port of Barcelona
                                    Couldn't get enough of the sunset
                                    The Beach
                                       Beach
                                          All bundled up at the beach....what is this? :/
                                   I wanted to play in the waves so badly
                                           the chocolate section at Boqueria Market
                                         The Predator decided to join the party at the club




No comments:

Post a Comment