¡Hola
blog readers!
Guess
I should update ya, huh? Well, so far so good. Pictures
up soon btdubs, I'm a little behind haha. Compared to last
time, the plane was breeze...no canceled flights or lost days on this
trip! Although, the whole "remote gate" thing at my
Amsterdam layover was a bit weird. With all the fog, they stuck
our plane way out in the middle of nowhere (Schiphol is huge!)
and bused us in. No sweat, we were back in the building and
through customs in no time. And on the way, I hung with my
plane buddy Betsy, who was on her way to Zurich to work for her
professor from UC Davis, along with James and a bunch of
sustainability guys going to an EV conference in Barcelona. If
I get a chance, I just might stop by.
Barcelona
brought rain...and it's been nothing but since. I have to say,
coming from the PNW to land in rain and 50 degree weather, not my
favorite. But, you gotta make do with what you got, and so far
it's been a blast. I'm so thankful for Umayr, Iva, Sarah and
all my other hostel mates...you guys are awesome!
The first day, fresh off the plane and 9 hours jet
lagged
(with no sleep either), I found my friendly hostel in the
Raval neighborhood after wandering up a few shady streets,
toting me huge ass backpack and daypack through the airport and train
station. Oh! If
you're an Android user, you have to try MapsWithMe,
it does an awesome job with offline maps...just be sure to download
the 270MB file for your country BEFORE the plane ride
lol. Though I don't recommend holding your phone out in public
in Barcelona, it was a lifesaver for finding the hostel.
So I
checked in, got my tour info, and immediately bumped into Umayr, who
checked in right behind me. He was fresh in from Toronto and I
just got in from the US. What do we do? Hit the town,
son! I mean sure, I didn't have sleep, but after my marathon of
not sleeping 4 days last time in Europe, I figured I'd just keep
pushing til I was dead. And man I gotta say...I really can push
the limit hehe.
First
up, we got lost in the Old City, scrambling around the winding,
narrow streets of Barcelona. The rain did put a little bit of a
damper on walking around, but hey, I'm from Portland, I'm used to
this by now, right? We hustled our way over to Las Ramblas,
tourist central in Barcelona, wandering through the crowds down
towards the water. We popped into La Boqueria, the market at
the center of the street, checking out the piles of candy, fish,
tapas, fruit and other scents that filled the air. Oh man,
Umayr, I'm sorry that the snack you grabbed turned out to be fried
fish skin...but it was pretty hilarious hehe. The kiwi/coconut
drink I grabbed though, very refreshing.
Next
up, we segued into the Barri Gotic, strolled passed Catedral, grabbed
a couple chocolate-covered xurros (6 for €2!) and
meandered right into the Museu Picasso. We kind of walked
straight pass the security guard to use the bathroom in the museum
(hey, it's an open-air museum, not my fault)...but we were good boys
and bought tix, since it turns out we would've needed them right
after the bathroom anyways haha.
With
the rain (and now wind) as it was, the two of us ended up walking
into the Santa Maria del Mar, which is an absolutely beautiful church
at night, and we ran right into a free classical concert. It
was very pretty, especially with the church as it was. Our
march forward continued on along with the intensity of the
rain and wind, leading us through El Born and towards the beach and
La Barceloneta. Not much to see of the beach with the pouring rain,
so we checked out and grabbed a Metro back.
Now,
I'm always stressed about getting on to a decent sleep schedule while
traveling. Not getting sleep...just some sort of sleep (don't
joke, nobody really gets much sleep in hostels haha). This
time, I think I nailed down the secret formula. It came by way
of a meal among new hostel friends, a bottle of wine, and a pub crawl
with some absinthe and mojitos. Natalia, you rocked
at showing us around to a few cool bars and club in the city...I just
wished I could've stayed until 5am! I'm always up for talking
with a fellow Pole over drinks with new buddies :-)
Back
at 3 a.m., out in 30 minutes BAM! That's how you beat jetlag
lol...well, that and maybe the ridiculously cold shower at
3 along with it...damn boiler. Didn't feel shabby in the
morning either, other than I set my alarm to PM instead of AM...oops.
Umayr, Iva and I got up and going by 11 a.m. (a little late,
but hey it's vacation) and made an attempt (key word, attempt) at
some Gaudi sites.
First
up, the Exiample and Casa Batlló for a few pics. I somehow
jammed the shutter on my camera and had an "OMG OMG OMG!"
moment, so I switched to my phone. I mean, it is the beginning
of the trip, but replacing a camera on the most expensive street in
Barcelona? No thanks. Luckily, we made it to Casa
Milà (just up the street), snapped a few pics and went for
coffee, and the damn thing decided to wake up...thank you, stupid
camera, hope you live for two more weeks!
So
that brings me to...(drum roll, maybe?)
Strike
#1: Casa Milà's roof terrace was closed for rain
There
was like NO rain, but it was a safety thing. Fine, we're
positive people, so we just headed 10 blocks west to Sagrada Familia,
THE thing to see in BCN. We didn't have tickets, and lines can
suck, but it didn't seem like a big problem off-season. Well
the line stretched all around the side, past the Metro stop (which
conveniently dumps you right off in the Sagrada queue lol) and on and
on. When we when to get in line, it turns out that...
Strike
#2: Sagrada Familia was closing for mass at 2 p.m.
Damn!
So close to doing something! Okay, okay, we grabbed a
quick lunch (got a great jamón
sandwich
at a little cafe) and jumped on the Metro to Montjuïc to
take a stroll up to the Museo Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and...
Strike
#3: The museum closed at 3 p.m.
A bit
defeated, the three of us trekked back through the neighborhoods to
the hostel for a pit stop. I gotta say, the rain definitely
doesn't help with Sunday schedules (and the late start lol). Right
then, we made a vow to hit Sagrada (with tickets) and Park Guell
first thing tomorrow! With that, we cleaned up and met up with
Sarah, who's from friggin' Detroit! (Inkster, actually). Not to
mention my new roomie is from Troy...so weird. Anywho, the four
of us trekked back into the rain, since it was only 6...I mean,
that's like the dead time in Spain, with dinner starting at 10 p.m.
We made it back to Barceloneta on the bus, laughing all the
way. Apparently, dirty jokes are a common denominator amongst
international friends, along with comedy. I'm glad I'm
well-versed in both :-)
Mr.
Rain came back with a vengeance but we slid into an
awesome Argentinian restaurant (around 8 p.m., still too early for
dinner, but I'm still trying to figure this out). Lots of
sangria and some filling food made the cool, chilly stroll back to
the Metro all the better.
Oh,
and then there was "Larry" to round out the evening. So,
the four of us get on the Metro and a few stops in, a random guy (who
we all now call Larry) got on the train. Now, they say that you
have to watch yourself on Metro, but as Umayr said, if this guy was a
thief, he was REALLY bad. Not to mention all four of us had
trained ourselves to be uber-aware in Barcelona, since that's what
everybody says. So...guy gets on the train, right between
Umayr + Me and Iva + Sarah. We're standing at these
like standing pads/chairs and this guy is leaning right on the
door...even though there was space all over the train car. A
stop later, he comes and stands right on top of me (still space all
over the place btw) and puts his one arm across my face and
reaches for one of the handrails. Now I'm like, okay, he
obviously wants to yank my camera or wallet, staring off casually in
one direction. I proceed to turn my head and stare past him in
the opposite direction, looking right at the transit map, watching
him from the corner of my eye. At this point, what does he do
with his other hand? Uh, he sticks it down his pants?
Hmm...ok. I just sat there and stared. A moment
later, he moves a bit away, and I feel relieved after checking my
pockets. A minute later we get off to transfer, and Sarah
breaks out laughing, along with Umayr, for what seems like no reason.
Well,
turns out that everyone in our group watched my stare-down and
the hand-in-the-pants thing with Larry go down, which I gotta admit
must have looked hilarious. That, and he followed us to the
transfer! Needless to say, he went home empty handed, with
the stare-down from 3 Americans and a Canadian. It
was like having my own Metro posse, very cool haha. Oh, we also
go heckled by a guy making random remarks in English (it's amazing
what people think of Americans), but after we figured out he had
started talking gibberish and his girlfriend was holding a
conversation with her umbrella, we decided to let them enjoy there
trip and waited for them to get off the train. Public transit,
gotta love it!
Back
to the hostel, a few treats bought from the snack shop and some good
stories made it a nice, chill night...AND I found enough time to even
write :-) I have to say, so far, the weather's not cooperating,
but you gotta work with what you got. I'm so happy for my
little umbrella and extra layers...I was totally NOT
expecting this with the forecast. I'm hoping for warmer weather
*fingers crossed* on future parts of the journey, but even so, it's
still an awesome time, and the hostel culture is so nice to have at
times like this. To come "home" and have people to
just chat with, share photos, crack jokes and have a drink is so much
nicer than staying alone in a hotel. As always, hosteling is
the way to travel solo for sure. Soooooo many people, it's
great!
Well,
off to bed and Sagrada early in the morning, I'll keep on posting and
getting more clever as I get some sleep lol, have a pleasant
evening/afternoon all yous US people and we'll chat soon. Oh,
and I'll have the lowdown on tapas as soon as I can get a clear night
to go hopping around.
¡Buenas
noches!
Mateo
1 comments:
Hope your camera holds up for the next 2 weeks, I look forward to the pictures :)
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