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Las ramblas
just a neat shopping area Day 1
Well, the flight through Atlanta was awesome. It is just a great airport. I think other airports should look into what makes Atlanta tick, I had no delays, it was awesome.
The flight was as good as it could be from Atlanta to Barcelona. It was a red-eye, 9 hour flight. The benefit: a plethora of movies to choose from at your own will. I love that feature!!
When I landed in Barcelona I was amazed at what a beautiful airport it was. Customs was quick and easy, and the baggage claim was huge. I was to meet up with Allison, a girl I met here last summer. Fortunately we both were in the same baggage claim. Domestic flights all came from the same entrance so I knew where to wait for her (which was a plus because her flight was almost an hour late).
From there we took the bus (the metro doesn’t go all the way to the airport apparently) to Plaza Cataluna. From there we took about a 5 minute walk to our Pension 45.
Pension 45 is a cute little hostel in the heart of the city. It is about
Market place
great place to get fresh food. Most locals will go here. 30 bucks a night, which isn’t so bad considering its location. I will say we are less than impressed with the blanket (there are a few stains), but other than that it works. We have a communal bathroom but it doesn’t seem like there are many other people here.
We then headed to get some food and I had a tortilla de patata! (potato omelet that is very typical of spain, you can even have it as a sandwich) and a few “café con leches”.
We then decided to head down Las Ramblas. In truth, it isn’t really all that the travel books make it out to be. It is a nice spot to look at stores, but really the fun part is walking on the middle isle and seeing all the crafts people make. (Las Ramblas has two one way streets with a huge median between). I definitely would never recommend eating on Las Ramblas (incredibly touristy - meaning higher prices), but if you go off the strip for just a block or two there are some fun and cheap places to go.
If you keep taking Las Ramblas down you will hit the port of
ZUMA
Zuma is the word for juice here. This place had every flavor -- even GUANABANA! (a costa rican thing -- you would have to know the heavenly taste) Barcelona which has a few neat sights to see (Columbus statue and some neat architecture). I enjoyed just sitting a getting a feel for the city as we will explore it tomorrow.
Allison has a friend she met in Boston who has a triplet here in Granada so we went to his apartment to watch the game. It was pretty neat to be in the AC and just hang out with someone from the city. (Don’t worry, he was a good guy and very sincere - if Allison wasn’t such good friends with his sister we never would have gone.)
Speaking of the game (Germany vs. Spain World Cup - by the way Spain WON!), Spain WON, and we are in Barcelona - for any football fans you know what that means. It is now 1AM and I can still hear chanting from the game that ended almost two hours ago! It was crazy! Not that I like drunken crowds, but it was neat to see the mayhem that ensued when Spain won tonight. There were mobs of people yelling “Espana!” and “ole, ole ole ole” along with people blowing horns and drumming - for two hours straight
Ummmm
seriously, these signs are out -- and only in English... ouch. like it had just happened. I can only imagine what will happen when they win the world cup! (Of course, I will be on as stupid plane to Granada when it happens)
Overall it has been a great day. I am exhausted, but not quite sure I can fall asleep as I am soooo exhausted, but hopefully I will sleep through the night. Tomorrow we are off to explore the whole of Barcelona on foot (Sagrada Familia etc) be prepared for a lot of info tomorrow!
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Lori
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Spain one
Your fatigue is showing just a little... :) The heading on your last picture made me laugh. Kind of cool to get to go to an apartment just to see the inside. Great pics, btw. How's the tinto?