EuroTrip Day 16

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Man, what a great nights sleep. I can totally feel the contrast between London, Paris, and Madrid. While the former are amazingly high energy cosmopolitan cities, Madrid is much more laid back. While still a large city, it possesses a soothing energy that allows its inhabitants to take their time. One of the things I notice the most about European culture is that people celebrate life more here. It’s less about hustle and bustle and how big your house is, how expensive your car is, but how you enjoy life.

Anyways, since our train left at 3pm and check out time was 10am, we left our bags in the care of our hostel and went out to get a meal and hang out. I opted for the traditional eggs, bacon, and potatoes with a refreshing orange juice. Sorry no pic.

After that, my friend and I just wandered the city. We people watched on la Gran Via and ended up again at El Parque del Buen Retiro. We saw an old man feeding birds in the park. While some may see this somewhat simplistic, It really was quite amazing. You can tell that this man lived to feed these birds and in return these birds gave him utter appreciation. It was quite obvious it wasn’t the first time this man had fed these birds. They flew onto him and ate from his hand like they were quite well acquainted. I know you can’t see too well, but I took a pic.

After that, my friend and I wandered through the park. We stumbled upon a lake. People traversed the waters in rowboats, couples sat at the waters edge making out, and jazz echoed throughout. There was this absolutely FANTASTIC saxophone player that played for the crowd. No begging for change, just the simple love of music propelled him to share his gift. For my friend and I, it could no have been any more relaxing.
Alas, the time finally came to head to the train station. We headed back to the hostel to pick up our bags and then headed to catch our train. Much to our relief, this train was much less ghetto. Not to mention, our seats were together this time, not 20 cars apart haha. It was quite mind boggling, but the 2 1/2 hour ride went by pretty quickly while conversing with my friend.

So BAM! Barcelona, here we are. My friend was supposed to catch a train to Girona. I’m not gonna lie, but we headed to the metro exit where she was supposed to catch her train and Barcelona seemed pretty damn ghetto to me. It may have been because people had hyped up Barcelona to me, but it seemed REALLY sketchy. Also, not to mention that lugging a 40lb backpack isn’t the most enjoyable thing in the world. So after catching two metro lines, we learned it was all for not. They told us to go back to the original station (Sants-Eustacio) we were at. Damn. When we tried to get info to get my friend to Girona we kept getting conflicting info. Finally, she decided it just wasn’t going to happen, so she decided to stay an extra night in Barcelona and catch a flight tomorrow. Lucky for me, she decided to get a hotel and invited me to spend the night in her room. At 135 Euros a night (at hotel St. Moritz), it was quite the difference from the 22 Euros a night hostel I was slated to stay at.

We went back to the room and sorted out her flight. She went to bed and I stayed up until 5:30am checking out the NHL draft online haha. I know, I know…… I’m a freaking hockey geek. It’s ok. I admit it. After watching the Kings get the player I wanted them to (Drew Doughty) I watched them make a trade for the 12th overall pick. Great, now I had to stay up later to see who they get (hence the 5:30 bedtime). Seriously, you guys would laugh if you guys saw me nod off while looking at a computer. Oh well, the Kings did well, so I’m happy.
I have to go, so I’ll talk to you guys later. Take care and I miss you all!!!!!

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Comments

[You can call me.... JULZ]

Not all it's cracked up to be!
I heard the opposite, that Barcelona was pretty dirty and found it was also riddled with TONS of grafitti.