Barcelona, Spain

Our excursion from Paris to Barcelona took place over night. Unlike the train from Munich to Paris, we reserved seats for this leg of the trip. Trying to sleep standing up between cars would not have worked out too well. The seats on this train were relatively comfortable, and I was able to sleep on and off for most of the journey. Poor Logan couldn’t sleep for even a minute, though. It was a loooong night. Our original plan to take the train all the way to Barcelona turned out not to be an option. We figured we could just pay the small amount for the rest of the way once we crossed the border into Spain, but instead we got all the way to the border, and then we had to figure out some way to get the rest of the way. We ended up buying tickets that got us right back on the same train a few rows down from our original seats. Of course. Barcelona was much, much warmer than Paris. It was exciting to be able to just throw on shorts and a tank top at first, but man the heat got to us quickly. The city of Barcelona is beautiful. In each city we visit, I marvel at the architecture on all of the old buildings. They all include so much fine detail, all different and all stunning. We did not take a guided walking tour in this city, but it was Logan’s third time there so he had the hang of it. Thanks to Apple we also had an app on his iTouch that went in depth on the city’s history and information on all the landmarks. The main attractions were Gaudi’s designs. His architecture is unlike anything else. We viewed a couple townhouses that he designed, his church that is still under construction, and his own property where he lived. Now I thought the nightlife in Arizona started late, but the people of Barcelona don’t get it poppin’ until around 2:00 AM! On our first night, we met up with the hostel where Logan stayed on his last trip, and followed them to a dance club in order to get free entry. Brilliant. After dancing the night away for three hours, we made our way through the still warm streets and were finally asleep close to 6:00 AM. The next day we did more touring and exploring, and all the walking ended up taking a toll on my feet. I developed several painful blisters under each foot and was rendered immobile. However, pain or no pain I was in Barcelona, Spain! I manned up and we ventured the city. The main strip was crowded with merchants selling annoying squeaky toys and cheap jewelry, gamblers betting on which box the ball was under and always losing, and people dressed in strange costumes pretending to be statues. Holy tourist spot. We joined a pub crawl that night where we met some really fun guys from south France. They took me under their wings, if you will, and made sure no creepy dude bothered me. Being the only girl in the group, I guess that attention was inevitable. We broke off from the group about halfway through the crawl, too tired to finish the night. It was still a total blast, though. The next day was our last in this wonderful city. Having already seen all the sights and checked out of the hostel, we bummed it on the beach. In Barcelona, being totally naked is completely legal. So, the beach was a topless one. Of course I didn’t partake in this trend, but man that crowded beach was overwhelming to say the least! We even saw a man who was at least 70 years old, totally nude except for that black tattooed underwear on his booty. Yumm. We were on the beach for less than an hour when we decided to go search for some food. Good thing, because we were both totally fried. We’re talking shades of purple fried. The one bummer about this city is the daily siesta that all businesses take for several hours. We were starving, but everything was closed for at least another hour. Lazy, lazy Spaniards ;) Our stay in Barcelona was fantastic and I was sad to leave, but our next destination: Rome!! Only a 20 hour ferry ride away.

Gaudi's Architecture

No Towels=Body Art. Making a positive out of a negative!