Sunday, April 24
I was up earlier than "bright and early", at about 3:15 in the morning, as I had to catch a 6:30 AM flight from London to Barcelona. Lucky for me, there's a bus that stops just half a block from my homestay and goes to Heathrow Airport. I caught it at 3:40, and the trip to the airport took about 45 minutes. Right on schedule.
Ran into Clair and Ellie at the check-in desk, and after I'd checked my bag, we went to get coffee, because the airport hadn't posted which gate our flight was leaving from. Eventually, we met up with Hannah and Amanda at the gate.
Plane took off right on time, and the flight took about 2 hours. We landed at about 9:30 AM (Barcelona is 1 hour ahead of London), and made our way down to the train that would take us into town. Little bit of a mishap... we jumped onto the train as the doors were closing, and Hannah, who was right behind me, wasn't able to make it on. Luckily, though, she had the information for the hostel, like the name, address, and which stop to get off, so we just called her and planned to meet her at the correct stop. The rest of us, however, somehow completely missed the correct stop, and had made it almost all the way to the end of the line before realizing it, so it took us an extra 45 minutes or so to get back.
When we finally reached the correct stop, we searched around but saw no sign of Hannah. Unable to get a hold of her, we figured she had just headed to the hostel and was waiting for us there, so we started heading that way. On our way, I got a call from Hannah: she'd left her bag on the train when she'd gotten off, and now had to take the train to a station way at the end of the line, where they had it waiting for her.
While we waited for Hannah, we were able to check into our hostel. I'd never stayed in a hostel before, but as far as I could tell, this one seemed pretty nice. The five of us stayed in a 12-person room, where a group of Spanish guys was also staying. They don't speak English very well... should be interesting. After checking in, we went to a Tapas restaurant for lunch, and Hannah, who had finally gotten her bag, met us there. Here's something I will never understand: the European fascination with mayonaise. Honestly, I ordered a seafood pasta salad and got a pile of noodles and seafood, tossed in mayonaise. Um... why?
Hannah brought her stuff to the hostel, and then we decided to head out and sightsee. Our first stop was the rather famous Sagrada Familia, that church that kinda looks like it's made out of mud, or melting chocolate. Maybe it's the conservative in me, but I didn't think it was that pretty. Interesting, yes. Pretty, not so much. I much prefer the looks of say, Westminster or Notre Dame.
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| Sagrada Familia |
Our next stop was the "Magic Fountain", outside of Barcelona's National Art Gallery. When we first arrived, the waters in the fountain weren't flowing. Not very magical. Right as we were about to leave, however, the fountains started up. Turns out, they do a show with the fountains choreographed to music (and at night, lights- very Bellagio-esque), so we stayed and watched it. It was a really cool and fun thing to watch, and very relaxing to just sit by the fountain and rest.
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| Magic Fountain in front of the National Art Gallery |
It was decided that we wanted to go out to a club that night, so in the interest of saving money on drinks, we bought a couple bottles of wine on the way back to the hostel, and drank them while playing a rather fun drinking game in the hostel bar. We had been told that a place called Opium, down on the beach, was really cool, so we decided to try it out. Unfortunately, when we got there, the line was long, and the cover charge was 15 euros (keeping in mind that 1 euro=$1.60, just like the GBP). Not wanting to pay the nearly $25 cover charge, we cut our losses and headed back to the hostel to try to get some sleep.
Getting sleep was easier said than done. Our Spanish roommates came back to the room around 5:00 AM, and were drunk, loud, and laughing. Whenever Hannah told them to be quiet, they laughed and made fun of her, and continued to be loud and obnoxious. Thank God for headphones!
Monday, April 25
We had to be checked out of the hostel by 10:00 AM, but wouldn't be able to check into our hotel down in Sitges until 2:00 or 3:00 that afternoon. So after a quick breakfast at the hostel, we decided our time would be best spent doing one of those corny sightseeing bus tours around Barcelona for a couple of hours. We did see some really cool things, like the stadium from the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, the old town, and the waterfront.
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| Stadium from the 1992 Olympic Games. |
The 40-minute ride down to Sitges was beautiful. The city quickly gave way to farmlands, big green hills, and eventually beaches and views of the sea. The weather when we arrived was warm, but a little cloudy.
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| We made it to Sitges! (L-R) Hannah, Amanda, me, Ellie, Clair: the Spain Group |
My Review of the Hotel: Amazing, AMAZING location, and very friendly, helpful staff. Rooms are a little tiny, though, but it was okay, because we didn't spend much time in the room anyway, so if you're just looking for a good place to sleep at night, it's perfect. And cheap: only 33 euros/night... split between 2 or 3 people, it was way cheaper than the hostel! The sports bar downstairs serves bar classics, like pizza, burgers, salads, and sandwiches. Overall: 4/5.
Tuesday, April 26
Woke up to bright sunshine and blue skies! Time to hit the beach.
We spent pretty much all day out on the beach, laying in the sun, listening to music, eating gelato, and playing in the water. So relaxing. That was exactly how spring break should be. We only headed in when the clouds rolled in and rain started coming down. It was okay, though, because it was just about dinner time, anyway.
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| On the beach in Sitges! |
Had a quick dinner at the sports bar, and Clair and Ellie told us about a group of English guys they'd met when they were coming into the hotel earlier. After dinner, we headed to the bar where we'd eaten the night before and had their delicious mojitos. Then, wanting something a little more lively, we headed down the street to another, where we bartered with the bartender to lower the drink prices: if we each got 3 drinks, he'd give them to us for 5 euros each instead of 8. More mojitos for us!
As we sat outside the bar, this group of English guys that Clair and Ellie had told us about walked by, so they joined us in the bar. They were all really cool and around our age. We had fun talking with and getting to know them, plus, being surrounded by a group of guys helped keep the creepers away!
Wednesday, April 27
And then there were 4... Clair had to leave really early in the morning to head back to London, because her cousin was coming into town for the Royal Wedding on friday. We had another beautiful day, so naturally, we headed to the beach. Our new English friends came and met us and hung out with us at the beach for a while.
That night, there was a big soccer game, Barcelona vs. Madrid, so we went to watch it at the sports bar at our hotel. Having just been to Barcelona, we decided we would cheer Barcelona on. Good choice, because they won!
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| Barca, Barca, BARCA! |
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| A few of our new English buddies. |
Had to check out of the hotel at noon, but our flight back to London wasn't until 8:40 that night. We were able to leave our bags at the front desk while we went out for lunch, and then took in one last day at the beach.
Around 5, we retrieved our bags from the hotel and hiked up to the train station for a train back to the airport. At the airport, we checked in and grabbed some dinner, then headed to the gate. Unfortunately, some thunderstorms had rolled in, so our flight was delayed in takeoff for about an hour and a half. We were supposed to land in London at about 10:30, but instead it was closer to 11:45.
Friday, April 29
So, incase you've been living under a rock for the past year or so, you'd know what today was... Royal Wedding! In order to get a spot down on the actual procession route, I would have had to be down there at about 6:30 in the morning. Instead, I headed down around 9:30 and joined thousands of others in Hyde Park, where everything was broadcast live over two huge screens. What an experience! Even though I didn't get to see anything in person, the atmostphere was just so fun and exciting! Thousands of British flags waving, everyone cheering whenever the Queen was showed onscreen... something I'm definitely glad I was back in London to see!
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| Watching on the big screen in Hyde Park as Kate Middleton arrives at Westminster Abbey. |
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| A sea of British flags as Kate and Will say their vows. |
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| Will and Kate say their vows :) |
So, there go my spring break adventures in Spain! Lots of love to everyone back home... see you State-side in 5 weeks!
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