Vive la France!

7/4/13-7/7/13

I was planning on meeting Joe in Barcelona on Thursday July 4^th for the weekend. I decided to take the RER there, and got completely and hopelessly lost. I ended up in Paris’s ghetto, which made me very nervous and uncomfortable. Time was running short too and so I was also nervous I was going to miss my flight. Which I did. I made it to the airport a little less than 30 minutes before my flight and was told I missed it. I was so upset with myself, and of course the waterworks display started. I sat in the airport crying trying to find a flight or any type of transportation to Barcelona but there was nothing. I eventually decided to stay in a nearby airport and take the next morning flight. It was definitely a long and emotional night for me, but luckily I was able to talk to my parents who helped calm me down and made me feel better. The next day I made sure to give myself enough time to get to the airport and was able to make my flight and land in Barcelona just a little after 10.

Joe greeted me at the gate and I had never been so relieved to see a familiar face. The past 12 hours were so stressful and I just wanted to relax and not think of it. Fortunately, Barcelona was the right place to go to forget about the stressful times. After dropping my stuff off at the hotel, we went to beach. We quick got lunch along the beach and then went to layout and relax. I was definitely missing the nice warm weather and was so happy to finally have sun and to be near an ocean. When we got too hot from lying out we decided to go into the Mediterranean. It was very nice and the cool water was perfect with the warm sun. After spending the day on the beach we went back to the hotel and quick got ready for dinner. We decided to eat at the restaurant at the hotel. It had a great view of Barcelona, and watching the sunset was beautiful and breathtaking with the view. We had great food and drinks and even a little birthday treat as well. We then went to La Ramdas, which is the major touristy street in Barcelona. This street was crowded and while we were originally looking for a bar, we ended up just getting some sangria on an outdoor patio.

The next day we went to check out the Guel Park. Guel is a famous architect in Barcelona who created some very unique and interesting looking buildings. We walked around a massive park, checked out the architecture, got a little lost, and ended up taking a taxi to get out there. It was very stressful, but unlike Paris the taxis are not ridiculously expensive so it wasn’t a big deal at all. We got dropped off at the famous church in Barcelona called the Sagrada Família. It’s quite interesting because it’s been under construction for the past 200 years and will probably remain under construction for the next 200 years. We decided to then go back to la ramdas to do some touristy shopping and also get lunch. We enjoyed a nice little sampling of several kinds of seafood and some white sangrias. After lunch and buying our little trinkets we headed to beach. It was really hot and crowded when we got there so we decided to sit on the pier for a while and drink some waters. We then went and found some spots to lay out on the beach. After a couple hours on the beach we went back to get ready for dinner. We shortly returned to the same area and walked around the beach and watched the sunset. On the ride over, while waiting for the metro I ran into my friend Josh Orner from home. I knew he was in Barcelona, but it was very random that we ended up seeing each other on the metro. Of all the places to bump into someone… haha. After walking the beach and taking some pictures we went to restaurant along the pier and had once again a lovely seafood dinner. The restaurant was amazing and they even brought out a cute little dessert and dessert wine for my birthday. The pier is filled with bars so Joe and I walked along the bar area and got a couple of drinks. I couldn’t quite do as the spainards do however and stay out drinking till 6 or 7 in the morning… I had a plane to catch at that time!

My plane the next day was at 8:30. I finally made it back to my apartment around noon and met up with Magdalena. We had planned to do a bike tour and hot air balloon tour but the bike tour was already full when we got there and it was too windy for the hot air balloons. We decided to get a quick lunch and then walked around. I bought a few more touristy items and then we went in search of shade because it was so extremely hot. We ended up getting drinks at a café and then sat in a garden and relaxed while taking in a beautiful view of Notre dame. Being worn out from Barcelona and the sun, I realized I needed a nap. Magdalena gladly agreed and so we headed back to our apartments to rest. We then met up later with Sam for dinner.

While the weekend started off on a bad foot, Barcelona truly was incredible. I wish I could’ve spent more time there, but I am looking forward to getting back into schedule.