I'm finally on vacation! I love Barcelona. I'm thinking about never leaving.
The kids were noisy on my floor again last night. I think they did it as a going away present. The noise cuppled with not being actually tired and being oddly hot despite the heater being off lead to a sleepless night for me. My alarm went off at four am and I got moving. I stumbled around and made myself a cup of coffee but didn't even bother to heat the water. I did my makeup, stripped the bed, did my last minute packing, and double checked everything. I wasn't even sad to leave. I left the key on the table, turned off the lights, and shut the door. The end.
I took my blanket, towels, bathroom mat, and some miscellaneous kitchen items with me downstairs so I could put them on the curb. Just as I was getting in the elevator Hanna and Eunice were getting off. Eunice's eyes were bloodshot and she looked like she had either been crying or in a fight. I said good morning and left. I dropped the things on the curb and started walking to the train station. There were no cars on the road and I only passed one or two people every once in awhile. When I got to the intersection before the bridge there was a bus full of sleepy looking people. I felt their pain. A cab driver gave me the eye and tried to pick me up but I igorned him. I could already see the station. Why waste money.
I got to the station and remembered that the ticket machines at Gare d'Austerlitz don't take cash! What was I supposed to do?! I got downstairs and saw a group of men sleeping on a raised platform. I then saw one worker in an orange vest and flagged him down. He didn't speak French but I was able to communicate to him that I needed a ticket machine. He took me over to the machine and then I pulled out a ten euro bill to show him that I only had bills and no coins. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his personal change purse to give me change for the ten. What a nice man. If it wasn't weird I would have hugged him. I bought my ticket for Pont de Rungis and got on the RER C. My ticket was only 4,90 which surprised me. The website I looked at said that it started at about 11 euros. I guess it was my lucky day. The train was completely empty considering that it was 5:12 in the morning. We picked up a few people along the way but not many at all.
I got to Pont de Rungis and then found the bus that transfers to the train station. I stood at the front of the bus trying to count out coins for the driver. He looked mad. Exactly 2,50 and a few minutes later we were at the airport. I found where I was supposed to check in and got in line. I made sure to shove my purse into my flower bag so that I wouldn't be charged for it. I was almost at the front of the line when I heard one of the ticket agents call for people going to Barcelona. I figured that she was referring to my flight and went to the front of the line. She gave me my boarding pass, weighed by bag (only 3.5 kg out of the 10 I was allowed) and sent me to go through security. I got to security and the real trouble began. I hadn't even thought that bringing my shower gel and hair stuff on the plane would be a problem. It turns out that it was. My bag had to be torn apart and examined while a woman waved a wand over my palms and made sure that I wasn't wearing a belt. Surprisingly they let me go through the metal detector wearing all of my jewelry. The man seemed very amused by my Poe book and skimmed through the pages. He even called a coworker over to look at it. Just put the Poe in the bag so I can leave! He finally let me go after discarding my liquids and I ran to get onto my flight.
I stood in line for the airplane going to Barcelona and got to the front. The woman scanned my ticket and it flashed red. Then she said the dreaded words that I was not expecting "pas de même flight"; I was trying to get on the wrong flight. It was only seven and my plane wasn't leaving until 9:45. Oh well, perfect time to write to you and surf the internet. We'll skip ahead to my flight boarding. It did that. The flight was really boring. No drinks, and there was so little leg room that my knees hit the chair in front of me. I tried to sleep a bit but I really couldn't get comfortable. In less than two hours it was all over. I didn't have any checked baggage so I just went straight to the exit…which I couldn't find. I finally found the way out and then couldn't find the train. I wandered around outside for awhile before I figured that I was supposed to buy a bus ticket to get to the train. Good thing the ticket machine didn't take my debit card; it was the wrong bus. I then went inside and asked at information how to get to the train. The woman was very nice and spoke English. She told me to take the green bus to terminal two and then I could get the train from there.
I found the bus, went to terminal two, and then found my way to the train. I was just about to buy a 10,90 T10 ticket when I figured that was the wrong ticket. I then went to the ticket agent. The ticket to Passeig de Gràcia was only 4,50 and she pointed to the train I should take (there was only one train on the track). I got on the train and waited for my stop. There was a group of English boys on the train who were super annoying. I was sad that they got off at my stop. I found my way to the street level and just as luck would have it headed in the right direction. I found my hotel in no time (well, as quickly as a girl carrying 3.5 kg of luggage across her chest can go). The front desk told me that they put me in a double because it's more comfortable. I'm just assuming that they didn't have the single that I had asked for. One of the men at the lobby brought me upstairs and showed me how to turn on the lights with my key. The room is amazing!! This is the life. I then called the front desk so that the same man could come upstairs and connect my laptop to the internet. I stayed in the room just long enough to straighten my hair and get my things together. I was outside in no time.
There's a small restaurant next door that serves paella and I was starving. I went there and asked the waitress if I could order food. She didn't speak English but we managed. I picked out the most appealing paella and she came over to take my order. She then told me that the paella was 12,90 and too big to be a personal size. I thanked her and left. I didn't need that much paella in my life. I then wandered back in the direction of my hotel and saw the bus stop that I was supposed to take to the Picasso museum. I hadn't bought my tourist pass yet so I wandered back to the train station to get a pass. First, though, was finding food. I saw a place called Tapa Tapa and looked at the menu. The prices seemed decent and I was starving. I asked the hostess if I could just take a seat and she seated me on the sidewalk so I could people watch. I looked the menu over and decided on patatas braves after Morgan recommended them. I also had my heart set on sangria but I didn't see it on the menu. The waiter took my order (and seemed slightly shocked that I only wanted one tapa) and I asked for the wine menu. I saw that there was sangria on the menu but it didn't say that it came by the glass. I asked him if it did, and he said that I could get a glass of sangria. Score!
My smaller than expected plate of tapas came out with the world's biggest glass of sangria. It could have drowned a child. I sucked down the perfectly sweet yet diluted sangria while munching on my potatoes. They were delicious! They came with a spicy tomatoe sauce (that didn't actually taste like tomatoes) and some kind of white sauce. I was in heaven. I didn't even feel tipsy until the end of my meal. I then stumbled off to find the train station. I found it and paid the 20 euros for a three day tourist pass. Next I had to go back to find the bus. I saw a stop 15 right near the metro and tried to get on. I had my directions in hand and asked the bus driver if he would be going there. He spoke perfect English and told me that, no, his bus wouldn't go there and that I had to walk over to the stop near my hotel. He let me off the bus and I started walking. I only waited a minute for the bus to come once I was at the stop. It turns out that the doors on buses in Barcelona don't open immediatley when you stand in front of them. The driver almost left me when I panicked and tried to go to the center door. He strugged as I validated my ticket.
I loved riding on the bus. The sky was perfectly blue and Barcelona is so beautiful that it was nice to see a tour of it without having to walk. I even managed to take some pictures out of the bus window. I just so happened to see a sign for the museum out of the bus window and got off at the next stop. I walked back to the sign and followed it to the museum. The museum is located in several townhouses in an alleyway that date from the 13-15th centuries that underwent renovation in the 18th century (yes, I just looked that up). The architecture is so beautiful, and the inside is shadowy and cool due to the lack of sun. I wish that the rooms were in an easier pattern to follow. The were in open squares so that you went through a section and looped back to where you were in the beginning. It was difficult to follow. Othere than that I really loved the museum. The floors are all gray marble and in some rooms you actually walked through some of the stone structural arches. There was also a room that had a huge chandelier and was covered in gold accents on top of dark green paint. There were also marble angels over the doorways in the room.
I'm not really a Picasso fan but I really liked this selection. There were a lot of his more realist works and tons of photographs of him. They also had his entire series based off of Les Meninas, some of his Parisian works from 1900, and a few blue periods. I really enjoyed it.
I left the musem and had to find my way back to some form of public transportation. A man stopped and said something to the extent of "wow" as I passed him. I kept walking. I then went to the metro stop near where I had gotten off the bus. It was line four and all of my directions for the other sites I wanted to visit were on line three. I figured that I could take the four and see where I could connect to the three. It turns out that I could take the four to Passeig de Gràcia then take the three from there. Perfect. I decided to go see Park Güell because everyone who has been to Barcelona really liked it. I tried to get on the metro, but it turns out that the ticket station I passed my ticket through had you walk through the right hand side and pass your ticket on the left. The man saw me struggle when the gate didn't open and directed me on how to walk through. What a nice man. I've met some very nice strangers today.
Town hall
I got off at the neareset metro stop and started walking. There were street signs that pointed towards the park, and I was less than thrilled when the signs pointed straight up a seemingly 90 degree hill. There were escalators…for half of it. The other half had to be climbed with no stairs. My heart was definitely beating once I got to the park. The park itself was rather unimpressive when I first got there. The hill where I was mostly contained cacti and other dessert shrubs. I can see that in California. I real magic is the view. You can see all of the city and the ocean in the distance. I was there at sunset so there was an amazing orange hue. I walked around taking pictures of the setting sun with the perfectly blue, cloudless sky. It was actually kinda magical. I then explored the lower sections where I had heard the thundering noise of children playing. It turns out that you have to pay to go into that section and you're only allowed 30 minutes to explore. I'll survive without it.
A tower in the park
a flower
the view from the park
the view away from the ocean
at the top of the park
the ocean!
view from the park
I left the park and walked back down the hill to the metro. On my way to the metro and man and his two daughters asked me where to find the park. He was attempting to navigate using the small tourist map that we're all given. I gave him my instructions after tearing off the top part about the metro. I told them that it was all the way at the top of the hill where they had seen the escalators. One of his daughters seemed shocked and the other one less than excited. I wished them a good day and got on the metro. People actually sit on the floor (well kids do) on the metro here. It weirds me out. Also, the metro door has a weird handle that you're supposed to push up but not hold. I'll get the hang of it. I got back to my station and tried to find the right exit. I ended up finding the way exit and almost got lost. It was already dark so I knew that I needed to get inside. I stayed calm and found my hotel.
I then started watching music videos from this group called Pomplamousse. Raven had used their version of "La Vie en Rose" for her Mon Paris presentation. Their videos are hilarious and I really like the way they remix their cover songs. I became obsessed with watching their videos and had to drag myself away to take a shower before skyping with mom. I tried to turn on the shower but couldn't figure it out. I instead took the most luxurious bath ever while continuing my music video binge. This is the best vacation ever. I had to drag myself away from the tub so that I could Skype with mom at eight. We talked and then I looked up directions for a few things to do tomorrow. I'm going to go to the beach and at night I'm going to see the water show. I'm so excited.
My only problem now is that I'm starving and it's already 10:09 at night. What to do…..
