Spain part 1

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I arrived in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday via a flight from Rome. I stayed in Barcelona for 4 nights, and tonight will be the second night that I stay in Madrid before I fly to Greece.

It's kind of nice being in a country where I can sort of understand the native language (I'm surprised at how much Spanish I remember from high school, and how quickly it comes back after I started using it again). Catalan is the main language in Barcelona, but Spanish and English are both still widely spoken. In Madrid, on the other hand, they really only speak Spanish...of the places I've been to, I'd say that less people speak English here than any other place.

Our flight got into Barcelona around 7, so we didn't really have much time to do any siteseeing that day. We went to an excellent tapas place for dinner, where one of my dishes included an oven roasted sea bass that still had its head, tail, and all of its scales on it. It was really good and fresh. This first day we had to adjust to getting used to the Spanish way of living that day...because of the siesta, everything is essentially pushed back a few hours. Restaurants don't start to serve dinner until 8-10 PM, and some bars and clubs don't even open until 1 or 2 in the morning.

My first full day in Barcelona, we spent the entire day on the beach. It was a really nice beach, and we were fortunate to have perfect weather.

The following day we spent most of the day walking around the city. We walked through a cactus garden, and then went to their Olympic stadium where the 1992 Summer olympics were held. It was a really nice stadium...we thought it was much nicer than the Munich stadium we went to. For dinner we went to a restaurant and all ordered Paella, which they served in one giant pan for all of us.

The following day we went to the Sagrada Familia cathedral. It was definitely one of the most impressive and unique cathedrals I've seen. The architecture was unlike anything Ive ever seen. The cathedral began construction about 100 years ago, and it isnt even supposed to be finished until 2026.

Yesterday we took a train to Madrid and saw a bull fight that evening. I wasn't really sure what to expect going in, and I was definitely shocked by what I saw. It was kind of hard to watch...it's more of a bull torture than a bull fight.

Today we walked around the city some more and toured the stadium where Real Madrid plays. It was a really impressive stadium, and I definitely would love to come back to see a game. Afterwards, I successfully got a haircut in a place where nobody spoke English. Tonight, we are going to eat dinner at the oldest Tapa bar in Spain.

Tonight marks the half way point of my trip. I've done so many exciting things already, and I'm looking forward for what is yet to come

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