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Published: March 30th 2012
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This past weekend my roommate Jenny and I traveled to Barcelona via airplane. Barcelona was absolutely gorgeous! We arrived at the airport on Thursday night and took the aerobus to the city center, and from there we hopped into a taxi to find our hostel. Once we did find our hostel, we were a little freaked out. First of all, there was no sign or anything out front so that we actually knew we were at the right place. Then we attempted to open the door, but found it locked. After knocking and waiting outside for a few minutes, someone finally opened the door to let us in. Inside, we noticed that there wasn't even a front reception desk, only a small room with a few chairs. The hostel employee started explaining to us that what he was running wasn't really a hostel, it was more of a student residency the he sometimes rented out on weekends to tourists too. We thought the whole thing just seemed little sketchy and decided we didn't want to stay there. We ended up walking about 5 minutes down the road and finding a much nicer hostel named Hostal Sans. It was basically like staying
in a American hotel; it was clean, up-to-date, nothing was broken, and it was right next to a metro stop. It was also 2 euros cheaper per night. I was really glad we decided not to stay at the other hostel.
The next day we bought a 10 trip metro pass and headed out to see the city. One of my friends from Finland, Juhani, was actually in Barcelona for the weekend with his family. There was a big marathon there last Sunday of about 20,000 people that Juhani and his family were planning on running in. We met up with Juhani at La Sagrada Familia, and took a bunch of pictures outside. After La Sagrada Familia, we headed down La Rambla, one of the main shopping streets in Barcelona. We stopped at the market, which was absolutely amazing. I haven't ever seen so many fresh fruits, vegetables, and different meats in my entire life.
We eventually made it to the end of La Rambla and proceeded to walk along the boardwalk next to the harbor. Such a pretty area. We then decided to find the Picasso museum, which was about a 20 minute walk away. The Picasso
museum was pretty cool. It was only 6 euros to enter if you were under the age of 25. Of course, Picasso's most well known works of art are in Paris, but it was still fun to see some of his earlier works, and how he developed as an artist.
After the Picasso musuem, we headed to the aquarium. The aquarium was a bit pricey, about 16 euros to get in, but for me it was totally worth it. I love aquariums, and it was probably my favorite part of the weekend. My favorite displays were the jellyfish, stingray, and octopus tanks, but there were also a couple larger tanks which included sharks, which I thought were pretty cool. Let's just say I took way too many pictures of fish that I know I will end up deleting, but that's okay.
The last big thing we did Friday was go to Icebarcelona. It was also a bit pricey (15 euros to get in) but it at least included a drink. The ice bar was pretty much what you would picture, a freezing cold room with a lot of ice and a small bar. Actually, the room was much
smaller than what I had pictured in my head. It was rather more like being in a large freezer. They say that average stay is about 45 minutes, I would say we made it to about a half hour. Oh, and they do provide you with a thick winter coat (which actually stunk pretty badly) and gloves, since obviously most people wouldn't think to bring these items to Barcelona in March.
The next day Jenny and I met up with Juhani again. We walked around some more, did some shopping, and eventually made our way to Parque Guell to see some Guadi. Gaudi was a famous architect who loved Barcelona, and much of his work is there. I really love Gaudi's style, and I couldn't resist getting this little bull in the style of his work. The park was very beautiful and was up on the side of the hill, so you were able to see a really wonderful view of Barcelona from the top.
That night Jenny and I went to Plaza Espana and met up with some of her friends, who were also in Barcelona for the weekend, to have dinner. We ate at an American
style restaurant, but I have Spanish food for the majority of my meals, so I didn't really feel bad about that.
On Sunday we went back to La Sagrada Familia for mass. That way we were able to get into the church without paying. I was actually surpised by the mass. In my head, Spaniards are very religious, but in reality they didn't really seem super religious. The pews were full, but there surprisingly wasn't very much seating in the church to begin with. For such a large church, the area where you actually hold was was surpsingly small. Jenny and I were definitely the youngest people at the service, I would say everyone else there was at least 50 or older. The service was only about 45 minutes long, shorter than my church service at home, and people started leaving before it was even over. I was very surprised by their lack of religious passion. Who knew.
After the mass we got lunch and then headed back to the airport. I really like Barcelona, and I feel that even though we definitely saw a lot of stuff, there are many other things that we didn't get the
chance to do, so I would definitely go back again if I ever got the chance.
Well, tonight is officially the start of my spring break. Tomorrow I have the day off and then Saturday I head to Madrid to meet up with my mom and brother. I'm ridiculously excited for next week, I think it's going to be super fun!
I should probably go plan out a more exact itinerary, since I am now going to be the tour guide.
Ciao!
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