Today we woke up at 7:00. We were supposed to be off the ship at 9:30 and we still had packing to do. After the difficult process of packing, we have decided that another box of things will be sent home to lighten our load. Kim says Christine can have as much as she is willing to carry (Christine has more than Kim). Well, Christine does not want to carry anything anymore.
When we got off the ship, there were no customs agents, no passport stamping, and no security. We walked into the parking lot, got on a bus to the city center, and hoped we would figure out where to go from there. Fortunately the bus dropped us off right in front of an information desk and the lady gave us accurate directions to the hostel. We took the metro and found our hostel, however after climbing several steps, we realized that floor one meant the top floor and not the ground floor. We got up 3/4 of the way, gave up and flopped down in the lobby wondering why it wasn´t on the bottom floor. The hostel guy, Hugo, came downstairs puzzled and showed us where to go.
When we arrived, we dropped off our bags and went for a walk in search of pop to feed Kim´s caffeine addiction. We walked for an hour and still did not find a single store. Since it was Sunday, a lot of stores were closed, but we still couldn´t find any sort of store that sold groceries or even bottles of pop. We did however come across a pharmacy (they are different than drug stores in the US--they only carry medicines and medical supplies. Like a drug store minus everything but the little tiny pharmacy). Since Christine´s cough keeps her up and night and she is afraid it will keep people us in the hostel, we got some cough syrup. The pharmacist recommended cough syrup with codeine in it. That should help. Trying to convert tablespoons to milliliters and reading the directions in Spanish was a chore, but we think we got it right...
We finally did find a little cafe. The process to get and pay for food was quite confusing and Kim could still not get her pop. So we went back to the hostel to take advantage of the free internet and get our bearings
Sagrada FamiliaThere are lots of cranes and scaffolding surrounding the building, but it is still very breathtaking and beautiful.
straight.
Once we settled we went back out to find the place where our tour would leave from tomorrow. Kim found it with ease, Christine just followed asking,¨Are you sure? How do you know?". We went to lunch and had pizza and coca cola. Every bottle at restaurants so far have been glass. Even Christine´s cough syrup came in a glass bottle.
After lunch, we walked at least a mile each way to find the Sagrada Familia. It is a church designed by Antoni Gaudi but was never completed. It is being worked on again and should be completed by 2012. On the way back to the hostel a miracle happened. Christine fell off the curb and rolled her ankle. Kim tensed her arm quickly enough to catch Christine before she hit the ground. So see Christine´s mommy: Kim is taking good care of her. PS: To all of you concerned souls, no damage was done---we laughed a lot over it.
After our urban hike, we went back to the hostel and used the internet again while we chugged water. At around 8:30 we braved the metro again to get to the Montjuic Palace where there was
a magic fountain show. When we got out of the metro terminal we saw hundreds of people lined up to watch. We found a place to sit, however, it was next to a smoker so we moved higher and higher up the the steps of the palace looking for an unobstructed view. The show began at nine with a water and colro display. After 10 minutes we were seriously disappointed because there wasn´t any music. This was the first weekend of the year that shows are supposed to happen on Sundays. Hugo, our hostel guy said it wouldn´t be going, so we thought maybe he was right. We decided to go down to one of the food stands by the big fountain to get some dinner. Then at 9:30 the real show started. Before it must have been just a warm up. It was a beautiful show.
On the metro back, we were packed in with soccer fans wearing their team scarves. There were even more soccer fans where we exited from the metro. The city really comes to life at night. It took us a little while to figure out our orientation and how to get back to
Montjuic FoutainIt was very pretty once it started to get dark and the music started to play.
our hostel. Everything looked different at night.
When we went back to the hostel we got ready for bed and the next day. Then we went to bed hoping to be able to sleep in a room with 6 other girls.
Fountains at MontjuicThe foutains went from the palace, down all of the stairs, and lined the long streets in front of it.
Spain's Flag
Map of Spain