Dream of Californication!

Just got back from 4 nights in Barcelona and let me just say, I have never had a vacation remotely like the one I just experienced.  For one, this was "vacation on a budget" so of course, it was always interesting to see what we could work out.  (Side note:  I'm going to do a separate post with pictures because uploading at the moment is taking forever)  We left late Saturday night and were lucky to find that the Metro doesn't close on the weekends, after about 20 minutes we figured out that we could buy a 4 day pass to the Metro (perfect!), we got to our stop as per STA Travel directions and began walking towards the beach.  We had some issues finding the address and the directions said to go until the road ended so after asking a wary restaurant worker, we walked down a street that we likely should have been stabbed on.  Being as smart as we are we kept walking down said deserted dark street and ended up at the Spanish Naval Base, clearly not Sea Point Hostel.  So we walk back and there it is, right on the beach like we thought.  The location was amazing, literally at the edge of the beach so every morning we had free breakfast looking at the water.  This is the point where I should add that the only good things about this place were the location and the free breakfast and internet.  Here's where I complain a bit... our first night, by the time we traveled, ate and got to our rooms (where you're warned to be SILENT) it was about 4am.  We were in a 7 person dorm which was full and went to bed.  7:30am roles around and the people next to us are YELLING (WHO DOES THAT?!) so we can't really sleep.  About an hour later we actually get out of bed, ill rested and eat breakfast.  

Paul woke up very sick so he stayed in and slept all day while us girls, Erica, Liz and I, wandered the city to try and get our bearings a bit.  We saw some different cathedrals and walked through La Rambla (the big touristy avenue with street performers and dead turtles in outdoor tanks) and I bought €3 worth of cookies (a lot of cookies) and ate them within an hour (the theme of the trip was "make yourself feel better by eating a lot").  Eventually we found Parc de la Ciutadella, which is an amazing park in the middle of the city.  We paid €2 each and went on these paddle boats... that was an ordeal because apparently none of us have sufficient enough talent to row properly, the entire thing was hilarious because for the most part we just went in circles and ran into people.  That night we went to dinner at Princesa 23 (recommended by Paul's friend) and ate tapas and drank sangria (SO delicious!), again, lots of food.  We saw other people with nachos so we decided to go back the next night to eat some.  After that everyone was tired, Paul was still sick so we went home and went to bed.

Day Two: NOTHING

Well, that's what it felt like anyway.  Here's how it went down:  Erica and I got up early Monday to eat and catch a train to Figueres to go to the Dali Museum there.  It's about 2 hours by train so we went, got our tickets and realized we didn't know which train to get on, so the nice shop lady in the train station told us where to go.  So after 2 nights of sleep deprivation (oh right, so unbeknownst to me, some hostels don't provide sheets... we were given a fitted sheet to go over the mattress and that was it... so I slept under that and my coat all week freezing my bunz off, awesome) I fell asleep on the train, as did Erica.  Well Erica all of a sudden woke me up and I flipped because I thought we missed our stop... which could have been possible had we been on the right train, but we definitely weren't because we hit the last stop for that train and ended up in Sant Celoni, which is about half way to Figueres. So we decided that, while we waited for the right train there, we'd wander the town we'd come across.  Erica went to buy a book for the rest of the ride, picked one of the 6 books they had in English and found out through the book store owner that the Dali Museum is closed on Mondays... AWESOME!  So we buy some truffles and head home.  At home we were starving so we stopped at the Arc de Triomf to say we'd been, took a picture and went to lunch on the beach.  It was amazing, there was a lunch special for €9 where you got an appetizer, entree, dessert and drink.  We got chicken salads, pizzas and profitieroles (these balls filled with cream and covered in chocolate, so delicious).  Later that night we did as promised, went back to Princesa 23 and ate nachos.  We met up with Paul's friend Gabby who is studying there and went to a nice little student bar for some sangria, then out to a really horrible club and then home.  The men are vultures!  I couldn't hack it.

Day three we were again woken up by the neighbors at about 7:30, this time by the Red Hot Chili Peppers... who blasts Californication at 7:30am when they're alone let alone when they share a hostel with 24 people?! (oh right, the walls don't reach the ceiling, so while the actual room houses 7-8, we share noise with 24)  I violently pounded on the wall and then they shut up.  Erica and I attempted the Dali Museum again and this time were very successful.  I'm so glad we made a second trip there because it made my trip.  He's so fascinating and this particular museum is the one that he designed himself shortly before he died to house a huge collection of his work.  There were eggs on the roof and so many details in the architecture.  I was in awe pretty much the whole time.  By that night we'd all almost run out of money as far as our initial budgets went so I had a veggie pita for dinner and everyone else ate cheap at this seafood place.  At this point Liz was sick along with Paul and so we just hung out in the hostel cafe area and went to bed.

Our last day was probably our best day there, we had to check out by 10 so we knew we'd have all day to be out and about.  Erica and I dropped Paul and Liz (who'd already been) off at Starbucks and went to La Sagrada Familia, a temple/church of sorts designed by D'Antoni Gaudi and let me just say it was the most intricate and amazing piece of architecture I have ever seen.  My pictures won't do it justice, it's just... breathtaking.  Construction started in 1882 and it isn't finished.  When you tour you can see everyone in the middle working on the place, ridiculous!  After that we went back to Las Ramblas and dropped Liz off at a cafe to rest while we went to St. Josep market, a world famous outdoor market and got a lot of cheap food.  We bought bread, cheese, nuts, salami and some chocolate and sat down to create sandwiches with all our fresh goodies.  It was delicious.  We flew in and out of Girona, which is an hour and a half bus ride away so we hopped on the bus and were at the airport about 4 hours before our flight... so responsible!  Got to Luton and on our bus to London at just before midnight and got home around 2, we were SO glad to be home!

Amidst all the complaining I really did have an amazing time on our trip, I can't wait to see what else happens next time we go away and I look forward to sharing!  Love and miss you all!