Basking in Barcelona

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Body burnt to a crisp...the flakes beginning to form. This type of skin behavior is definitely not a result of London weather. No, it is most definitely a satisfying consequence of my weekend spent under the sun in the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain. As I type this entry, I remind myself of the incredible feeling of the Mediterranean sea lying beneath me as the surf cradled my body.

Oh, I remember it well (sigh).

Basking in the sun rather than touring the streets of Barcelona caused this trip to be the weekend getaway my roommates and I had been pining for. When my roommates and I weren't sinking our toes into Spanish sand, we were pacing market aisles in search of the best deal on coconut trimmings and pineapple slices...to bring to the beach.

This time around, we flew, landing in Barcelona on Thursday night (June 21) at around 10:00 PM. We took public transportation to our hostel, which had the physical characteristics of Carrie Bradshaw's Manhattan apartment and an art gallery. Famished, Elise and I set out to find food, while Sam stayed behind to guard our bags. The best we could find, given the area we were staying in and the time of night that it was, was a few vending machines. We splurged and satisfied our hunger with copious amounts of oreos and ruffles - Spanish version, of course.

The following morning, Friday, we woke early and headed to Las Ramblas, which is an outdoor food and souvenir market, better recognized as prime pick-pocketing opportunity. After a few dozen ankle bracelets and bags full of sangria and baguettes, we walked to Barcelona Beach, which to our surprise is also a nude beach!

Embracing our surroundings, we cheers-ed to our first day in the sun and our meal purchased for under 10 euro!

Some bad tan lines and an empty bottle of sunscreen later, we headed out with two Aussies that we met at our hostel for several rounds of sangria and tapes.

Shaking off the minor headache that I had from the previous night's activities, we again, woke early and rode the train to La Sagrada Familia, which is a large Roman Catholic church designed by Antoni Gaudi. The church is constructed with intricate detail and design, decorated with unique 3D sculptures of religious figures.

Following this site, we headed back to the market to pick up breakfast for round 2 of our beach blowout. Back at the beach, my toes smiled as my feet sunk into the ground.

'Round 4 o'clock, we crossed the boardwalk to grab a drink and hide from the sun. As we sipped on our "Sol" beers, the 3 of us sat in silence for several moments, soaking in every last drip of warm air and coinciding in our thoughts thinking "it does not get much better than this."

Yep, this weekend we had it good - the world really did feel like our oyster.

I feel relaxed and ready to enter these next two weeks, which happen to be my work's busiest two weeks of the summer!

I'll keep you updated with my work events in the next few weeks - enjoy the warm weather in the States!

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Photos

Las Ramblas Market
The souvenir street

Las Ramblas Market
The food market

Let's go to the beach
...let's go get away!