BARCELONA!!! Oh my goodness, I can literally say we walked almost the entire city. We have now been back in our hotel for over almost 2 hours and my feet are still throbbing. Let's take it day by day.

DAY 1

Today we started off with the plan to head to Estacio Barcelona Sants to book our reservation for the train to Sevilla on Wednesday. As we walked towards the station we are admiring the trees and the little parks, comparing and contrasting the city to Madrid. It wasn't until we were at the station that I suddenly stopped and realized, "Oh s***, I don't have our Eurail passes!" Did I mention it was a 30 minute walk towards absolutely nothing? So we re-evaluate and make plans to head back tomorrow.

The next stop on our list was La Sagrada Familia, the unfinished cathedral originally designed by Antoni Gaudi. I wish I could explain how far these two things are from one another. The only reason it made sense to head there first is because they were on similar latitude (you know, those imaginary horizontal lines that circle the earth). Anyway, we have no idea how far we walked, but know that it was definitely longer than an hour. We decided that doing that in all one trek was unreasonable, especially when hungry. We passed Gaudi's Casa Mila, and a few other little historical houses along the way before we stopped an ate lunch at a wonderful Italian restaurant. I know, not the typical Spanish cuisine one is supposed to eat when in Spain. We made sure to eat our entire meals to prevent being hungry later, however, in the end it might have been a little too much food, especially after we haven't been eating a whole lot.

We finally made it to La Sagrada Familia in the middle of the afternoon and saw as much as we could, plus more! The inside of the cathedral is amazing, but I personally think the detail on the outside is the true treasure. Sam and I even made our way through the museum, which we didn't pay for, but we were simply following a crowd and weren't questioned. It was definitely an experience, and it is quite amazing that construction is still occurring today (it started in 1882).

After we finally left La Sagrada Familia we took a stroll (another very long walk) on the Passeig de Gracia, the Spanish version of 5th Avenue in New York. It was very fancy, everyone all of a sudden was dressed up, the buildings were cleaner and the pace a little faster. We went into a department store, which consisted of eight floors, all dedicated to a specific group of items (for example, clothes were separated into male, female, children, and teenager, and there was a floor for furniture, home goods, and even a supermarket in the basement). It was a very pretty street and a definite change from the streets we had been walking through.

And this is exhausting me just reliving it! Next we headed towards the Barri Gotic (the Gothic Quarter). This is an area filled with historic buildings, tight streets, cathedrals and a palace. We wondered through here until we had had enough of not knowing where we were, and in the meantime saw as much as we possibly could. Unfortunately we were unable to go into the main cathedral due to our wardrobe, so instead we walked around it and took lots of pictures.

Soon we were walking by the harbor on our way to La Rambla, a street in the middle of a street that sells souvenirs, has a ridiculous amount of restaurants, and a huge farmers market. We didn't actually see everything this first day, as it was getting late and we were tired, but we did have dinner on the patio and people watch. Here, I literally spent more for my wine than I did on my meal (salmon. Better right?). See the picture. But next time I know to specifically ask for a glass of wine, otherwise who knows how much alcohol one will get. I ended up with like half a typical bottle, and drank a glass and a half, the half only because someone came and refilled my glass. I did a good job of avoiding it at first, and then the bill came and I figured, well, since I'm paying this much for it anyway, I might as well keep the buzz going!

After dinner I got some more helado (ice cream). I swear I could eat the ice cream here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is so smooth, and honestly just looks good. Next we headed towards the harbor, Sam leading the way as the vino went to my head. Before long we were past exhausted and headed back to our hotel to watch a movie. My goal for the night was 10 hours of sleep, and I think I scraped by with 9. It was definitely needed for the day that lay ahead!

DAY 2

We had a definite plan today. First we successful went to the train station and book our reservation for Sevilla. We decided on the 8:30 am train as it will take us approximately 6 hours to get there, which makes for a very early morning tomorrow .

Next we headed toward the Arc de Triomph and the Parc de la Ciutadella. Must I mention that this was a long walk? I don't know why they can't just compact the entire city into a little ball to make it quicker and easier to get from one place to the next. On our way we passed the university and spent about 30 minutes wondering around. It was pretty cool the way it was set up. On the outside the history was kept, but behind the thick wooden doors were modern classrooms surrounded by glass.

We ate lunch right around the arc, and for the first time since we've been here had chicken! Both of us were sadly very excited to see pollo on the menu. We wandered through the park taking an excessive amount of pictures. It was beautiful, with a wonderful "water feature" also called a gigantic fountain/ waterfall. We passed the Parliament building and a school, which we got kicked out of. Next time they shouldn't leave their front door wide open…

Finally, we headed to beach. I should mention that all day it was cloudy and a little chilly, and we were regretting not going to the beach on day 1. However, as we got closer and closer to the sand, the sun came out from behind the clouds and kept us warm at the beach. We didn't actually wear our bathing suits, but still took some time to play in the ocean and lay on the sand. We observed some naked breasts, naked boys, and overheard a very controversial discussion about Stalin vs. Hitler by a couple of Brits. Did you know that Hitler was actually good? Kill me now, I swear my skin crawled.

We were both covered in sand by the time we left, but that's the point of the beach, right? We took a walk along the boardwalk and I got a smoothie (notice how it's always me who's eating). It was delicious, and well worth it. As we continued to walk, I realized we were headed towards the nude beach. Needless to say, we got an eye full.

When we finally, and I do mean finally, made it back to where we wanted to be, we walked up the entirety of La Rambla. On our way back down we took a detour to head towards Monjuic (a mountain). It was like being in San Francisco. Uphill we walked for a good 45 minutes to see a few gardens and get to the place where we saw the magic fountain two nights ago. Yes, we did this walk to avoid walking the same streets again and again, and we weren't quite ready to head back to the hotel. However, by the time we finished, you could see our calves shaking from all of the walking we had done. Oh my goodness, what an experience.

After a 10 hour day, we headed home, with a stop into the grocery store for water and KFC for dinner. Tomorrow we are up and out of our hotel by 7:30 (I really need to get to bed), and on the AVE for 6 hours. In all honesty, both of us are looking forward to sitting on the train. How sad is that? Next post from Sevilla! My how time flies when you're walking 'til your feet bleed!