¡Hola Barcelona!

First let me apologize in this later than normal blog posting, once I meet up with my family and friends in Vienna I have had very little down time.  I am currently in Florence with my Mom till Sunday when we leave and travel on to Rome.  

And sorry Kayla, we did not have a chance to visit your restaurant

Wednesday (July 13th):  

While on my train to Barcelona, I realized I had mistakenly made a reservation for a hostel for the following Thursday so when I landed in the train station, I made a v-line to the nearest McDonalds.  Panicked, I figured out where in Barcelona I was (where the train station was located) and quickly did a hostelworld search to find a place to sleep for the night.  After 30 minutes, I had a hostel booked, directions on how to get there written down, and was on my way via the non-ac ATM (Authortat del Transport metropolitan) when I saw my first mugging.  Just one car next to me, I saw a girl board the train with a rolling suitcase when a group of 4-5 locals surrounded her and demanded her phone in order to let her board/get away.  Although there was little I could do, it served as a good reminder and a foreshadow that I was no longer in Paris/London/Normandy, street crime is a real threat to tourists and believe me, I look like a tourist.

When I reached the hostel (only got lost for ~5min), I settled in and skyped with Steph for an hour or so and posted a blog while enjoying the open courtyard provided by the hostel.

Thursday (July 12^th): 

I slept in till 11am, showered, checked out, and was on my way to meet up with French Tom at 2:00pm in our hostel.  I took the METRO and got caught up writing in my travel journal but ended up losing track of time and ended up getting out at the “Licet” L3 stop.  I knew the general idea of how to get to our hostel and walked through the “Market La Boqueria” and made my way to our hostel.  Although this seems like a small adventure, I was 3 weeks into my trip and I would consider this my first successful solo navigation, with no map, and was quite proud that I was at our hostel at the correct time even with getting off at the wrong stop and had never been to the city before.

Anyways, Tom and I unloaded our stuff in the room and made our way to the pier where he was told the free hostel walking tour would take place.  He must have misunderstood because we waited for 30 minutes at the spot and not a single tour was taking place, we decided to walk around the city for a bit and get orientated in the city instead.

View of Barcelona's main beach with the W Hotel in the background

After our stroll about the city, we stopped by the Market La Boqueria and picked up baguettes, freshly cut ham, fresh fruit, and a 12-pack of San Miguel (a Spanish beer).  We took the food and drinks to the hostel rooftop where we ate, drank, and watched the sun with music provided by the hostel and interact with other travelers (a nightly ritual we continued all three nights of our stay).  While we were up there, we were approached by the hostel bar tour guide and asked us that if we wanted to participate in a small game, winner get discounted tickets to the hostel bar crawl.

Aggiungi didascalia

After we were done eating, we took a shower and made our way to the lobby where Tom, myself, and two other girls played a game of Wii bowling to compete for the discounts.  Although we split the teams in half so both groups received a discount regardless of who won, I had the highest score with 158 points (yep, beat that Tom, I know you’re reading this).  But I also enjoyed our conversation with the hostel bar tour guides as Ola (pronounced Hola) and Matt who were extremely interested in understanding the whole American “Fraternity” system that brought Tom and I together.

We started the first of four bars by simply interacting with the other travelers from the other hostels.  I befriended a group of German girls (one spent most of her life in Boston, MA) and keept an eye on French Tom who was hitting it off with two Australian girls.  I knew he was interested in one particular girl and he was doing an awful job keeping her friend engaged in the conversation so I would jump in and out to “take the grenade” for him and keeping the friend happy.   

Things were going great, and after a few drinks/shots, we were on our way out to the second bar when a small misunderstanding was suddenly escalated.  Tom and I were grabbing a shot from the tray (apparently the tray was for a new incoming group, not our group which had already received ours) and the bar tour guide hit Tom’s arm which caused him to drop the shot as it hit the floor.  After a few moments of quarrelling, we were leaving the bar when Tom shouted “real good business, I’m for sure coming back here you asshole” and had one foot out of the front door when all of a sudden, the tour guide he had just yelled at, grabbed his shoulder from the back (ripping his Hugo boss shirt in the process) and was in mid swing towards Tom’s face.  Tom avoided the punch, and I quickly took Tom in an arm lock and pulled him out of the bar before things got too crazy.  After 10-15 minutes of yelling at the bar owner, we walked back to the hostel so he could throw away his shirt and put on a new one.  We were wandering the streets for 15 minutes looking for our hostel bar crawl group and luckily ran into them as it was heading to the third bar.

At the third bar, I again did my friendly duty to keep the Australian girl’s friend company while Tom did what Tom does best.  We were then off to the fourth and final destination, The Apollo Disco Club, where we danced for roughly and an hour but Tom lost his Australian girl once inside and I’m not much of a disco-kind-of-guy (plus I was lucky to get in scandals, who knew Europeans would be so strict on that kind of stuff) so we called it a night and walked back around 3:30am.

Friday (July 13^th): 

After sleeping in a bit, we found the correct meeting location of the hostel walking tour and took a tour of the “Gothic District” of Barcelona.  We started at the “Placa Reial” and saw the old Roman wall, Casa de la Cintat (City Hall), Palas de la Generalitat, the “poor man’s Catheredral” and other sites along the district area.  After the tour, we took a break at a grass square by the beach and pier and walked back to the market to continue our nightly routine of sandwiches, beer, and rooftop view.  I could get use to that.

 Superior School of Fine Arts in Barcelona  (Pablo Picasso studied from age 13-18)

We then meet up with Tom’s London roommates (“flatmates” in English English) Hamish and Danica for drinks on the beach and we listened to his experience about running with the bulls just a few days earlier.  Danica also talked about how “dreadful” Spanish men are and their views of how to treat a lady.  I guess their views are different in Spain than in the “British Empire” to say it nicely hahaha.  Then we finished our night at a bar far from the tourist spots, filled with locals, and served beers for €2, my kind of bar.

Saturday (July 14^th): 

After another late morning, we went to “La Dolca Herminia” for paella which was brown in color and fresh, right-from-the-ocean, seafood all for 8 euro.  Yes, and check please.  We then continued our day by taking the hostel walking tour of the Gaudi (famous Barcelona architect) buildings.  We saw 4 of the 5 major sights and ended at “Sagrada Familia” where Tom and I went inside and took the “lift” (elevator in American) to the top for a sight to see of the city.  This cathedral is easily the coolest cathedral I’ve ever been in.  Because it is so new (still in the process of being constructed), the ceilings are 5 stories tall, lots of natural light (didn’t even need lamps), and plenty of vivid stained glass to provide the nature feel it was intended to have during its planning phases in the late 18^th century.  Expect date of completion: 2040.

Tom and I at Sagrada Familia

Inside Sagrada Familia

That night (after our sandwiches/beer/rooftop view), we meet up with Hamish and Danica one last time where we went to a Spanish music festival at the National Catalan Museum and listened to Spanish hip-hop, rap, and rock music till 2:30am.

Rooftop of the hostel (dinner time view)

Sunday (July 15^th): 

Tom and I checked out of our hostel after being woken up by the two girls also staying in our hostel room who were searching (unsuccessfully) for their passports.  We rented a storage unit on the 2^nd floor of the hostel, and we took the METRO up to see Gaudi’s park which lies on the outskirts of town and gave a holistic view of the entire city.  We then returned to our storage unit, changed into our swimsuits, and spent the afternoon soaking up the rays while people watching with a pair of sunglasses (good thing I brought them, as my eyes were darting around the whole time, trying to understand the whole topless sunbathing thing).

View of Barcelona from Gaudi's Park

Famous Gaudi Lizard (or at least thats what people tell me)

Leaving our hostel

After the beach, we walked back to the Rombla and listened/watched people sing and dance to Spanish Romba music.  Once we were all packed up, I said goodbye to Tom, and I was off to the train station to catch my 7hr overnight bus to Aix-en-Provence.  While waiting for my bus, a random Spanish man waved me over and offered a sandwich which I first refused, but accepted after he insisted.  I returned to my spot when he walked over with a plate with another sandwich and a bunch of nutella squares.  I stood up, thanked him with a handshake, and reflected from what I’ve seen. 

As soon as I landed in the city, I saw a robbery, and apparently Tom and I were the only ones not to have our wallets stolen in our entire hostel.  Things are bad for tourists, but the heart of the people are kind, generous, and willing to help with no reward asked.  Just as I came to that conclusion, I saw a man try to steal a bag from a 30-year-old  lady whose husband had just left to use the restroom.  I heard her shout “Put that down you mother fucker!” for which he complied and ran away.  I went over to her and greeted her, tried to get her to calm down (as she did get her bag back), introduced myself, and offered some of the nutella bites I had just received.  It turns out, the couple was on their honeymoon and were from Newton, MA (a suburb of Boston) and the husband worked at the MIT labs where a friend of Steph’s use to work. 

I continued to talk to the couple for an hour and a half, and after talking on a deeper level, they were very impressed with my aspirations, personality, and intelligence and recommended me a few books that I plan on reading when I return to the states (books about soul searching and discovering one’s self).  As much as I don’t need compliments to feel good about myself, knowing I can make that kind of an impression (that’s not my mom or dad) at the age 23 within 20-30 minutes of conversation, I felt a stronger connection to the purpose of my adventure and has become one of my highlights of the trip.

We parted ways at Aix-en-Provence as I continued to my hotel, but I recommended them visiting the “Chinese restaurant with a large 90ft street sign” and wished them well on their honeymoon travels.  I hope to have more experiences such as this, and that one day, I will be that couple exploring the countryside of France with my wife.

Summary: I am happy to be one of the few tourists to leave the city with my wallet, passport, camera, and iPod.  I am glad I saw the city, however I would classify it as the “west coast” of Europe.  Very fun-loving, slow-moving, party-enjoying people and although it was good seeing, it doesn’t really match my personality.  I guess I’m more of a boring kind of guy, who enjoys seeing the rich culture and digging deeply into intense conversation.­­­

Au revoir Barcelona

Jay