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Barcelona!
Getting to Barcelona was an adventure in itself. The beginning wasn’t so bad but we had a 12 hour wait in an airport to look forward to after the train ride. I went to Barcelona with Emma, Ellen, and Alejandra who is from Mexico and can speak fluent Spanish (obviously) thank goodness! I was never planning to go to Barcelona but after my mom left I realized I had a week all alone to look forward to or I could jump on someone else’s trip and they were kind enough to oblige The wait wasn’t too bad and I have blocked it from my memory thankfully! We arrived in Barcelona safe and sound. The airport is actually like an hour and a half outside the city by bus so we had to buy bus tickets to get there. When we got to the bus station we couldn’t figure out how to get to a metro station to get to our hostel and we were waiting in line at information when this random kid behind me asks if we need help...at least I swear that’s what he says, because the whole rest of the time we’re with him he speaks absolutely no English. Alejandra talked to him and he said he would show us the way to the metro. It was about a 10 minute walk to the metro station that would take us to our hostel and when we finally arrived there he helped us buy our tickets and even got on the train with us to make sure we got where we needed to go. He was so nice and I tried to have a conversation with him but it didn’t work out too well.
We arrived safely at our hostel and the only thing we wanted to do was eat and sleep. Our hostel had dinner every night so we ate there and then just crashed. The next day is such a blur because we did so much! First we wanted to see La Rambla which is the most famous street in Barcelona. It has a lot of shops and restaurants to eat at all along it. It’s really pretty because really tall trees line the whole thing and it’s always pretty shady which is nice. There are also all kinds of street performers dressed up in costume that look like statues until they move. The first day we walked the whole thing just so we could see all of it. There was a market called St. Joseph’s that had all these stands that sold everything! Well, everything food related. There were fruit stands, meat stands, fish, chocolate...everything. The fruit was really cheap and there was also fresh fruit juice everyday. I got half a pineapple and juice for 2 euro. The street begins and Plaza Cataluna and ends at the Monument of Columbus. We made our way down to the monument and noticed the ocean behind it. We decided to search for a beach but were un-successful. Instead we window shopped at a mall on the pier and then made our way back to La Rambla. I wanted to see La Catedral which was designed by the architect Gaudi so that was our next stop. The cathedral was getting fixed or restored when we got there so we couldn’t really get the whole picture of what it really looked like but it was enough. I decided to pay the 5 euro to go inside but the other 3 opted out. It was so cool inside. There was practically a whole forest inside the church. Gaudi designed it with a courtyard in the middle with tons of palm trees and fountains. I can see how it would be a very peaceful place to worship if it weren’t for all of the tourists ;) Our next stop was the Saggrada Familia which was phenomenal. It’s still being built even today and Gaudi died in the 20s I believe and construction began in the 1880s. Alejandra and I both opted to go inside for this one and it was totally worth it. The church itself is huge but Gaudi’s creativity astounds me. We waited in line for about an hour so to ride up the elevator to the top only to find out it cost an extra 2 euros but we did it anyway. The view from the top is gorgeous and you get really close to all of the steeple’s which was cool. He designed the word Hosana into I think about all of them which was my favourite part. After that we were all starving so we went out to eat at a restaurant called La Antigua Cabana which I thought was really cool because in my hometown we have a restaurant called La Cabana! After dinner we worked our way back down to La Rambla and then to the metro where we went back to our hostel for some much needed rest.
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