Blogs from Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe - page 3

On my second visit to Barcelona (I spent two nights here in a hostel three weeks ago on my way to Rome) I'm staying at the Be Sound Hostel in Barcelona for a night. It's meant to be a place to rest for one night before I board my train to Alicante tomorrow at 1000hrs. Yet, I'm in the common room finishing the remnants of my Nobile Prima Italian wine with a group of fellow travelers playing some sort of exciting card game. I'm certain that I'm far more intoxicated than I feel and I'm not sure how my ability to walk fares. I arrived in Barcelona this evening around 1900 on a ferry- a leviathan of a boat- from Civitavecchia, Italy. It took a little over 22 hours... but I loved every minute of it. ... read more

Hey everyone! I know it has been a little bit since my last blog, but I have been very busy in Spain this past week. The week really flew by! Last Friday morning I flew into Madrid and met my Dad and friend Ana Maria (Cookie) who also had flown in that morning. All of us being tired, we decided to nap most of the morning and start sightseeing in the afternoon. Madrid is a really great place, very modern and cosmopolitan. The first afternoon we decided to visit the famous El Prado museum, filled with amazing art. I felt so lucky to see so many legendary pieces of art. My personal favorite of the day was Las Meninas, a Diego Velazquez painting that I have studied and always loved. I was so excited to see ... read more

After spending one week in the vibrant, bustling city of Barcelona, I have come to realize that this city has a surprise at every turn. One minute you are window shopping on Passeig de Gracia at ritzy stores like Hermes and Gucci, and the next, you are on the famous La Rambla, bartering for pet ducklings (hopefully not for consumption) and varied exotic plants. Or as you walk through the winding, narrow, cobble-stone paths of the Barrio Gotic, all of a sudden you stumble upon a traditional Pastelera selling churros con chocolat, mere steps away from a pink modern store selling of all things, “Happy Pills”. All of this makes you start to expect the unexpected. If it doesn’t hit you right away, then upon closer inspection, there always seems to be a surprise… Gaudi and ... read more

When we came to Barcelona, we fully expected a warm, celebratory airport greeting from Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johannson, actors in the Woody Allen movie, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". Didn't happen! They must have confused the flight numbers and stood at the wrong gate. Oh well...we have encountered a number of other famous people on the streets and in the metro, cafes and restaurants. John Cleese of Monty Python fame ate paella two tables away from us at a restaurant near the beaches... Jason Alexander (George on Seinfeld) rides the metro with us in the mornings...Salman Rushdie (Satanic Verses author) strolls past us each morning in front of the cafe where we take our cafe con leches before class. Sorry... lies all (we think), but it is fun to celebrity watch and pick out similar looking faces ... read more

MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2012 - After arriving in Barcelona, and meeting with our home exchange lady, Kevin whisked me off to, if nothing else, walk down the Rambla. I decided this might be the week to wear my pedometer. Good job…we have been walking about 6 miles (yes….MILES) every day. The Rambla was fascinating…we found the wonderful Food Market and headed in. The colors are INCREDIBLE - the bright fruits, candies, meats, braids of chilis. The tapas bars that we wanted to stop at, but they were too crowded. Walk, walk, walk, down to the waterfront, then back up, to a tapas place that caught Kevin’s eye for the Octopus salad, and me for all the things on skewers. We didn’t have THAT MUCH to eat, but the bill looked as though we did. We headed ... read more

Travel Day: Day One of our 7-day Western Mediterranean Cruise aboard the Norwegian Epic Saturday, September 22, 2012 I didn’t really think I would have too much to write about considering this was our travel day. Who knew? We picked up Eric, Shawn, and Katy at 10:00 A.M. Our flight out of Indy to JFK was scheduled for a 12:50 departure. We left a half hour late, which was nothing compared to what would come. The JFK flight to Barcelona boarded on time for its 5:35 P.M. departure. As soon as we were seated, it was announced we would have an hour delay due to high winds. 1 ½ hours later we were told we were waiting for a maintenance worker to arrive and sign off on the log. That is, as soon as ... read more