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Published: January 2nd 2007
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I managed to get a decent amount of sleep on the overnight train from Madrid. I was in a compartment with two sets of triple bunks. It was about the size of a closet and my middle bunk had about 2 feet of space between it and the bunk above, but at least I got to lay flat. I slept with both of my bags on the bed with me to discourage theft and everything worked out ok.
I got to Barcelona around 7 and I was prepared for anything when I stepped off the train. I'd read tons of stuff about people trying to rob tourists as they got off trains. Well, maybe they do it later in the day, but there was hardly anyone on the platforms this early in the morning.
I made it up into the station and found some vending machines to get something to eat. As I was standing in front of the machine I noticed some movement between my feet. I looked down and saw an enormous cockroach staring up at me. I jumped back a bit from surprise and it just sat there looking at me. It certainly wasn't scared of
the light, even when the flash on my camera went off as I took a picture of it. I considered stepping on it, but I decided to let it be and I headed off to the subway.
I arrived at the Gothic Point hostel about 20 minutes later and checked in. The dorm room was enormous, but the beds were set up with partitions and curtains so at least you had some privacy.
After settling in, I headed to THE sight in Barcelona -- La Sagrada Familia. The walk over took about half an hour and when the church finally came into sight I was sufficiently impressed. It was just so different from anything else I had seen that I couldn't stop looking at it. It's only about half done so there are several cranes standing in place of the missing towers, but it's already immense. It's tough to do it justice with words, so I took tons of photos.
After checking out the church, I walked back towards the hostel, passing the Arc de Triumf on the way. It doesn't really compare to the one in Paris, but it's an interesting sight nonetheless. I also grabbed
lunch before dumping my bag at the hostel and heading for the shore. I wandered through the marina before reaching the beach where I sat watching them build a new jetty for a while. Afterwards I went and used the internet for a few hours and then grabbed a falafel for dinner. I got back to the hostel and watched Aliens with a bunch of people before heading to bed.
The next morning I got up around 930 and lazed around for a while. Eventually, I decided to go see the FC Barcelona stadium and get some photos. I was hoping they would let you see more of it, but as it turns out it's all pretty much fenced off. That occupied me for about an hour and then I headed back to the hostel to get some food.
The guidebook listed a place called the Bagel Shop, which sounded intruiging so I headed there. I hadn't seen a bagel in 3 months and as I walked into the shop and smelled fresh bagels I felt like I was back at home. Needless to say, I got an onion bagel, toasted, with cream cheese and took it back
to the hostel. It was one of the best meals I've had in Spain. Seriously. I didn't realize how much I miss certain foods before eating that bagel.
After lunch I went back to the internet place and spent some more time catching up on the blog. A few hours later I finished and mailed some postcards. By that point it was getting towards dinner time so I went and found another falafel place that was exceptionally good. They let you put your own ingredients in it from a salad bar and trust me I took advantage of that! After dinner I spent a relaxed evening reading and catching up on the written journal.
The next morning I hung out at the hostel for a bit hoping to hear from Markus, but around 12 I decided to walk and find a panorama of Barcelona. About 30 minutes later I was standing on one of the hills overlooking the city and it really was a gorgeous view. Barcelona is a huge, sprawling city and it stretched as far as I could see.
I didn't do much that afternoon aside from reading and relaxing before calling it a night
pretty early. I did hit up both the Bagel Shop and the falafel place again though that day!
Stay tuned for Nice.
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deleted_23747
Nice picture of Barcelona's greeter