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Barcelona, Spain: January 20-23 2011
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Barcelona, Spain
Day 1: By the time we arrive at Barcelona it’s evening and dinnertime. After a cab ride from the airport, we get dropped off at our hotel, Royal Ramblas. I chose this hotel because my mom had stayed here previously and told us that the location was superb. She was not lying! Las Ramblas is a popular tourist spot known for street artists and mass amounts of people just meandering around. As I check-in, the hotel receptionist informs me that they ran out of the standard room (with no view) that I already paid for, so we would get a free room upgrade. Score again! After depositing our luggage and admiring the view of Las Ramblas from our room, we headed out in search of dinner. We found a trendy/funky looking restaurant called Bar Lobo and enjoyed tapas and wine. Then, it was back to the hotel to relax and rest up for the next day’s sight-seeing adventures.
Day 2: Breakfast in our hotel proved to be much better than Sevilla. We decided that after breakfast, we would try to find a hop on/hop off bus to see the main tourist spots. This was mainly due to the fact that I was feeling tired from all the walking in Sevilla and I didn’t feel like trying to figure out the metro. The bus we chose had two lines, red and blue. On this particular day, we would do the blue line, which included much of the Gaudi architecture. Unfortunately, I had falsely assumed that the weather would be as nice as it was in Sevilla, and did not bring my coat. This does not bode well if one sits in the open top bus. The first stop on our bus ride that we (and the majority of the people) hopped off of was at La Sagrada Familia. As soon as the bus turned the corner and we saw the massive building, I was awestruck. I had heard about La Sagrada before, but the pictures you see online just does not do it justice. I hope that I’m alive when it gets finished, which isn’t supposed to be until 2026! I really wish the lifts were open so that we could go up the tower, but sadly, they were not. We wandered around the inside, admiring the beautiful stainglass windows and the depiction of Jesus’ last two days alive carved in the back.
We hopped back on the bus, then exited at the Park Guell stop, another Gaudi masterpiece. Again, the architecture was simply amazing….from the Hansel and Gretel houses to the views from the top of the hill. We ended up eating lunch here before heading back down the hill towards the bus. One of the last stops on the bus was at Camp Nou, the stadium that is home to Futbol Club Barcelona (FCB). We had no intention of getting off of the bus, but I overhead several other tourists from England saying that they were going to attend the futbol game the next night. As the bus progressed throughout Barcelona, AD and I tried to come up with a game plan to get tickets, because when else am I going to get a chance to experience a futbol game?
I wanted to check out some other sights not included on the bus tour, so after we got off the bus, we headed back to the hotel, picked up our coats, and walked towards La Boqueria, a large market located right off of La Rambla. As we checked out some of the stands, the smells ranged from yummy fried foods to the sickening smell of dead fish. My cousin Berni had requested that I get a small bottle of sangria for her, so that was my mission that was successfully accomplished. Having completed our task, we went in search of the Catedral, which happened to be on our way to Museu Picasso. The Picasso museum was so surreal…I couldn’t believe my eyes that I was actually seeing his art work. While we were in there, AD accidentally lost her hat, so she was feeling a bit down in the dumps. We were making our way back and passed a cute little cafe and to make herself feel better, she decided hot chocolate and churros were the answer. I can’t even describe how good this hot chocolate was, it was more like pudding. The churros were unlike anything I’ve had in the States. 
By this time, it was getting late, so we ate dinner by our hotel in a little restaurant and called it a night.
Day 3: After breakfast, we decided to head on the red line towards La Pedrera, another Gaudi building. We had passed it the day before, but decided not to go inside until the following day. Luckily, when we bought our ticket to the Picasso museum, we also bought an art ticket that included entrance to several other spots that we would come across that day, including La Pedrera. We wandered through the inside of the building and admired the arching ceilings, but I knew the best part was the rooftop. The floor of the roof went up and down hilly stairs, I’ve never seen anything like it! The next stop on the bus tour was Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC). The MNAC sits on top of a hill that has the most spectacular views of all of Barcelona. Inside, AD and I went straight to the contemporary pieces, and found more Picasso. In this museum, we were allowed to take pictures with no flash. Howev
er, I did not know that we weren’t allowed to take pics of the Picasso art. As I snapped away, I heard someone saying “Miss, no picturas!” Haha! Oops. We got back on the tour bus and stopped at the Joan Miro fundacio, a museum dedicated to this modern artist. Now, I’m not too familiar with modern art but I found his 
work to be sensational!
Next on our agenda, we decided that we would get off the bus at the Christopher Columbus monument, take the metro to Camp Nou, and buy our futbol tickets. Unfortunately, Camp Nou isn’t located right next to the metro stop so it was quite a bit of a hike…plus the fact that the stadium (which holds 100,000+ people) is so massive, that the gate we needed to enter was on the other side of where we arrived. Even though it was cold, I was definitely sweating from the walk. We bought our tickets right on the field, explored the team store, and bought some souvenirs. It was early afternoon by now, and we still had not eaten lunch. We got back on the metro, picked up McDonald’s, and napped before the game.
The best part about going to Camp Nou earlier in the day was that we now knew where to go once we exited the metro. The place was packed inside the stadium! The tricky part was trying to figure out where our seats were. Once we arrived to our seats, I showed my ticket to a nice man in the seat next to me and he nodded enthusiastically that we had the right seats. The people (mostly men) in the whole stadium were so passionate about their team, it was unlike any sports game I had ever attended. I really felt immersed into the Spanish culture at that point and I was so glad that we decided to get out of our comfort zone to go to the game. Of course, FCB ended up winning 3-0! We left about 10 minutes before the game ended to get a head start on the crowd, ate some dinner by our hotel again, and ended the evening. 
Day 4: For breakfast, we decided to go to the nearby Starbucks and utilize their free wifi to check emails and flight statuses. Then, it was time for some last minute souvenir shopping, and then back to the hotel to check out. We arrived at the airport early enough to get some cash out and relax before our flight to our next advenure….Paris!
