Ola damas y caballeros! Greetings from Barcelona! It's been about 36 hours or so but I'm starting to feel somewhat human again…after a big day of traveling on Sunday I got sick again & spent most of yesterday in bed, fortunately I am staying at by far the nicest hostel I've been at yet, so at least it's a nice place to be resting up! :) It's on Carrer de Casanova & the staff are just wonderful & so helpful. It's a really clean, spacious hostel, with a kitchen - hurrah!! So I've been able to stock up on some fresh fruit & veg, do my own cooking, & rest up to get myself right again.

So on Sunday morning Esther & I said our farewells (for now…I'll be seeing in her in Italy again in only 2 weeks!!) & I took the train from Brussels to Leuven to spend a little bit more time with Jessie & Helle. Leaving my luggage in a locker at the station, Helle & walked to her apartment to meet Jessie, & were then picked up by her friend Bruno for a trip to the Hoegaarden brewery, in the town of Hoegaarden! We dined outside in the sunshine & I tried a Rose Hoegaarden beer - very unusual, but yummy, particularly if you're not much of a beer drinker :P Bruno is a charismatic travel enthusiastic with a love of cliff jumping who Helle met through a friend of hers when she moved to Leuven. He had much to say about travel through Europe and where to do the best cliff jumping in Croatia (don't worry Mum, he confirmed there are little cliffs there too :P). We had such a lovely time that we actually ran late for the train I was supposed to catch…fortunately I had left myself plenty of time & simply caught the next one coming along.

Already feeling tired & run down, the idea of going on the train from Leuven to Brussels, then from Brussels to Charleroi, then on the bus to the airport, then on the flight to Barcelona, then in the taxi to the hostel at that stage seemed torturously long. It's easy to forget when you're traveling that even though all the stuff you're doing is so much fun, it's tiring as well, and sometimes you don't realize until you stop for a second just how tired you are! Fortunately I made it to Barcelona in one (albeit slightly delirious) piece & managed to tumble into bed where I slept until 10:30 (I kid you not - I don't think I have EVER slept that late before!!) the next day. I spent most of Monday sleeping, doing laundry, grocery shopping, sleeping, getting myself organized, & sleeping some more :D I think I could very easily grow accustomed to the Spanish life of siestas & all! ;)

PS. I cheated with the photo a little…I've been having camera battery/charger issues, which will hopefully be resolved soon enough, then I'll actually be able to put up photos of my own again!