Barcelona...Hot, hot, hot!!

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We arrived in Barcelona on Thursday May 31 and my cousin Dawn picked us up at the airport. She is building a villa just outside of Barcelona and we were supposed to stay there but apparently people in Spain have their own work schedules and even when they say they will be there, they won´t be most of the time, so needless to say the vill is not livable yet. She told us we would be staying with her at her boyfriend and his roommates house. We had lunch on the way home from the airport at a small restaurant in the town she lives in, and lunch in Spain is the biggest meal and the most important meal of the day. The have a huge lunch before 4pm and then all stores and restaurants close down between 4 and 8 o´clock for Siesta time. After lunch we visited the villa that she is building and had a tour of it. It´s really neat, every room has a theme (Moulin Rouge, James Bond, etc.) and a big pool in the backyard. It should be awesome when it´s done. That evening we visited back at Carlos´s house which was quite funny because neither Carlos or his roommate Jammas knows any English and we know no Spanish. Friday we spent the day at the house and took a walk into the local town. The town was really small, not too much to see but it was really cute.
Saturday morning we headed into the city to do some sightseeing. Barcelona is a very pretty city, very clean and there are lots of neat buildings and sculptures around to see. One artist, Antoni Gaudi, designed quite a few of the building in the city and they are very interesting to see. To put it in the best words I can his designs remind me of something out of a Dr. Suess book. No stright lines, bright colors, very neat. We walked down the Ramblas first and watched some of the many street performers, checked out the various souvenir stands and just took in the sights. When we got to the port at the end we hopped on a bus tour and toured through the entire city. We got off at a church that was started in 1886 by Gaudi and still is not finished to this day. They don´t believe it will be finished for another 100 years either. After the tour we headed home for the night and just watched a bit of tv (yay spanish tv!).
Sunday Dawn didn´t need the car so she let us take it and told us some cute villages to visit and said just to go get lost. So we did! We drove towards the city but didn´t want to go right into the city so we took a few turns here and there and had no clue where we were going or what we were doing. In the afternoon we ended up at Catalunya Park and walked around a bit and spent an house laying in the sun. There was a festival of some sort going on in the evening and they had a big stage set up with a bar so we took advantage of the 1.5 litres of Sangria for only 10 euros. Sangria is my new favorite drink....so refreshing on a hot afternoon in the sun! After the park we just headed back home.
Monday morning we headed back into Barcelona and spent the day on the beach. It was so hot out and the water was beautiful. It felt so nice to be able to just walk into the water without stopping every few inches to get used to it. We spent Tuesday doing the same thing, caught the train into the city, headed to the beach, spent a few hours lounging grabbed dinner and headed home. This morning before we hit the beach we took a wander through Gaudi park first. The park was awesome! Nothing was normal....the park benches were all squiggly lines and bright colors, the pillars holing up the overhanging roofs were all crooked, the houses were funny shaped, it was crazy! After the park we headed back down to the beach as it was sooo hot out. It was about 30 degrees...in June...30 degrees in June! I loved it! That was this afternoon and now I am sitting writing what will probably be my last blog as it is Thursday and we are flying home on Saturday. I am really going to miss Barcelona, the city is beautiful, the weather in gorgeous and the atmosphere is really good. It is probably one of my favorite cities I´ve been too. Barcelona and Berlin, those definatley top the list.
This has been the most amazing trip of my life. I have seen so many beautiful and incredible things, met so many amazing people and I wouldn´t change any of it for the world. I have learned so much and I would definatley recommend travelling to anyone who is willing to go. If you´ve thought of it and think you´re too old, or you don´t know how you will afford it, forget all of it. Just do it. It will change you and you will never regret it. I don´t.

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