Day 1 - Barcelona

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Hi everyone! Melanie here.

We arrived in Barcelona around 9:30PM on the 9th. We took a taxi straight to our hotel, but our taxi driver got a little lost (supposedly) and it took us a a bit longer to get to our hotel. It's all good because we ended up paying exactly what trusty ol' Rick Steves said we'd have to pay anyways.

We are staying at Hotel California, which is on a little street right off Las Ramblas. It is a great location and decent hotel, if I do say so myself. The floor in our room is all tile, which I'm sure is great during the summer, but not so great in the winter. It is freezing here! While I was huddled up in the bed trying not to freeze to death (my Filipino nose was not meant for this weather), I asked Mike to check if there was a heater and he said "No, it's just a fan." So I accepted it and figured that the trade-off at this 2 star hotel with an awesome location was that we'd have to suffer through a little cold. (I spent the entire first night trying to not freeze to death.)

Anyways, as much as I just wanted to go straight to sleep, Mike dragged me out and we walked along Las Ramblas. We ended up having our first sangrias and tapas in Spain at a bar called Patagonia. The waitress hit my head with an air plastic hammer thing. She was a little kookie, but cute. Anyways, those were the best sangrias we've ever hand and our first taste of a Catalonian tapa, pa amb tomaquet (bread with crushed-tomato spread). Pa amb tomaquet is so simple, yet so very yummy!

Today, we took the Metro to La Sagrada Familia. I expected to see it right after walking out of the subway, but was disappointed. I turned around and then WHOA! That thing is quite massive and literally took my breath away. I expected it to be big from all the guide books, but I guess it really is different seeing things in person. My pictures don't do Gaudi justice. Gaudi is an amazing and truly innovative architect.

After exploring La Sagrada Familia for a couple of hours, we headed over the the Picasso Museum. Wow. I'm not sure I truly appreciated Picasso as an artist until I went to this museum. I had seen bits and pieces of his work at random museums, but this really puts his talent in perspective. He was so talented from a very young age and I really appreciated seeing the progression of the work from his youth until his old age.

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