The trip started off a little shaky, I'm not gonna lie. We weren't sure if we were going to make our flight on time due to several obstacles. First, I was having some difficulty calling taxis to take us to the airport. My Italian conversation skills (at least the ones for speaking to someone on the telephone) were not as good as I thought. I struggled to speak to this woman, searching for words that just would not come out of my head until I hung up on her, frustrated. Finally, I just had a person from AUR call a cab for us. The cab driver arrived promptly at 7 PM, but we weren't completely ready to go, yet he started his meter. We realized it was going to be an expensive cab ride, so as our driver was darting through all the traffic, going at lightning speed, we asked him very nicely to take us to Termini Stazione, where we could catch a train to the airport. God was on our side, as the train to Ciampino was leaving within 15 minutes. We bought our tickets and rushed to get a seat on the train. We got off at the second train stop and took a 15-minute shuttle bus to the airport. Shelby realized that she one of her boarding passes didn't print and so she needed to recheck-in for her flight so that she could board the plane. But, finally after that was all sorted out, we went through security and arrived at the gate just as the people started queing up to board the plane. Whew- it was a close call!! We were on our way to Spain!!! The flight went smoothly and we landed just in time to catch the bus to the center of Barcelona. All these cheap airlines always fly out of airports that are far away from the center of cities, but the cheap airfare is still worth it. The hour and 15 minute bus ride took us to the main bus terminal in the city, where we had to take a taxi to our hostel. Our hostel, Kabul, one of Europe's famous hostels, is located right next to a flamenco dancing club and is on one of the famous streets in Barcelona, Las Ramblas. It's pretty crazy, and the party had already started at our hostel, even though it was 1 AM! We were exhausted from traveling so much, so we just went to bed, knowing we needed lots of rest to survive our weekend in Barca.
On Friday morning, Shelby and I woke up early to eat breakfast that was included in our hostel. I called my friend Chad after breakfast to see what time he could meet up with us. We decided around noon, so we had some time to just walk around and explore Las Ramblas, with all the crazy people dressed up in costumes on the street, asking for money to take your picture with them. Also on Las Ramblas, lots of shopping, a Starbucks, Subway, and H & M!! There was a fresh market with fruits, veggies, meats, fish, cheeses, and lots more. One of the specialties was freshly squeezed juices. It was time to meet Chad, but first, we were hungry and were craving Subway because we don't have it in Rome, so of course Chad said we could make a pit stop and eat there. He was going to take us to the Sagrada Famiglia, which is a huge church designed by the famous Spanish architect Gaudi. The word gaudy originates from Gaudi and all his fabulous architecture. It's amazing that the ideas in his head have actually become a reality. Supposedly, the church won't be finished til 2025 or 2030, but since the Spanish have a pretty laid back work ethic, it probably won't get completed until 2050. I'll have to come back and check it out for sure when it's completed though! Chad's friend, Leah, who goes to St. Vincent (where he attends college) also met us at the Sagrada Famiglia. EJ goes to school at St. Vincent as well and eventually we caught up with EJ and his roommates, who are studying in Dublin, Ireland. We decided to go up to this one mountain, where there is a fantastic view of the city and also the 1992 Olympic Stadium, where the 1992 Summer Olympics were held, obviously. LOL The stadium wasn't anything particularly special, but there were foot prints of some athletes outside the stadium, including two of my favorite tennis players, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. I took a picture with my foot next to both of theirs, of course!! The next highlight of the day was seeing the great view of the city and then the fountain show that takes place every day at 7 PM. And since we all know how much I love fountains, this was the show for me!! The main water fountain changed colors and also the direction of the water flow changed with the classical music that was being played during the show. It was an awesome beginning to an even better night.
After returning to the hostel to rest a little before dinner, the girls and I got ready for the night. We ate some tapas (potatoes or other appetizer dishes) and paella (rice and vegetables with a special seasoning and choice of meat- beef, chicken, or seafood combo) and drank sangria (wine with fruit). We didn't get to dinner until around 10:45 PM, so we were definitely ready to eat a feast. After dinner, we went to several bars, one of them including the jam-packed Chipitos, where they light every shot on fire. I tried the Boy Scout shot (and, yes, you guessed it, they made you roast a marshallow with the shot before you took it!), Harry Potter shot with cinnamon on top to make the fire sizzle like magic, and the Willy Wonka shot, complete with a handful of M & M's and whipped cream on top!! They were all delicious and it was only the start of a fun night of dancing and experiencing the Spanish party culture. One of the clubs we went to was right on the beach!! Lots of dancing and fun was had by everyone that night. After leaving the final club, we waited about 20 minutes for the metro to open at 5 AM, so we could get back to our hostel without having to take a taxi.
Obviously, arriving back at our hostel at a little after 5 AM didn't give us much option other than to sleep until around 1 PM on Saturday. As I said before, party all night, sleep all day!! We woke up and had spotted a bagel shop on our map of Barcelona. All of us were craving freshly baked bagels, since we can't get those in Rome either. Barcelona is definitely a more modern city than Rome, but I still love the charm that Rome offers. I feel like I'm living as an Italian when I'm in Rome, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Still, it was nice to have some American food. So we ate at the bagel shop, and since it was lunchtime, I tried the chicken club on a cheese bagel and it was delicious!! We walked around and bought some of that freshly squeezed fruit juice at the market on Las Ramblas- I chose strawberry pineapple- delish as well! I also couldn't resist the fresh raspberries. Soon, we were on our way to another Gaudi must-see, the Park Guell. It was amazing, and worth the huge hill that we climbed to get there. Guell was the patron for a lot of Gaudi's art, and the park is enormous. At the entrance, there are two structures that look like gingerbread houses. I was ready to eat them all up- even the decorations on the buildings looked like gum drops and frosting!! And then there was the famous ceramic sculpture of the Catalunya lizard. I also forgot to mention that they speak several languages in Barcelona, just like we have the Roman dialect and the standard Italian language- since it's so close to the French border, they speak Spanish and Catalon, which is a combination of Spanish and French. In many of the tourist areas, people speak English, so we were all able to survive. And Italian sounds so similar, I was actually able to speak Italian and they would reply in Spanish. After seeing another beautiful view of Barcelona from the Park Guell, we treated ourselves to some churros and chocolate- it was not as good as I expected it to be. Barcelona is definitely not my favorite dessert city. After dessert, we went back to our hostel to take another nap before going out. Chad was joining us for dinner, and we stumbled upon this Mexican restaurant that our AUR friends suggested we go to while here in Barcelona. It's called Margarita Blue and Megan, Shelby, and I all ordered chicken fajitas- yummy!! And of course, guacamole with chips- how I missed Mexican food. It was sooooooo goood. We waited for EJ and his friends to join us to go out to the bar, but they never showed up, so we told them to meet us at this Pippermints Bar, where they have enormous size drinks- 13 liters was the largest drink you could buy and then you split it between lots of people. Megan and I split a 1 liter between the two of us, and then we were off to an Irish pub where Chad and his friends go all the time. It was actually near our hostel, so we knew that we could easily walk back there if we were too tired. We called it a night earlier than we had on Friday night, and were back at the hostel by 3:30 AM.
On Sunday, we had to be up before 11 AM to check out of our room. We just relaxed basically the whole day- we got bagels again from the bagel shop near our hostel. We browsed through souvenirs, and sat sipping coffees at Starbucks for over 2 hours!! We retrieved our luggage from our hostel before grabbing Subway subs again and going to the bus terminal to go to the airport. When we finally arrived back in Rome, it felt good to come home to our apartment in Rome. Everything went smoothly traveling from the Ciampino airport to the apartment- this time, we took a shuttle bus to Termini Stazione, then a bus from Termini to our apartment, much easier than our journey to Ciampino airport. It was almost my 21st birthday and I couldn't believe it!!! Until next time, ciao!!
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