Barcelona

3/15/2009
We woke up and we were starving and no food of course. So, we freshen up and head out for the streets of Barcelona. Remember, it's a Sunday and mostly everything is closed. Except for those cafeteria/bar places, but I think they only have beer. We walked for like what seemed forever, and we could not find a single place to eat. We found a churro stand and a couple of "restaurants". We had no idea what that food was or how to ask for it (yes, I know, I speak Spanish) but some words were different. We finally got the courage to go into this little cafeteria where Asian people ran the place and spoke Spanish. They had some type of paninis, pizza, and other pastry items displayed and they seemed to have been sitting there for a while. They did not look fresh, but we were hungry and we did not care, and it would have to do. We finished and left and started walking back to the apartment, and we saw a Cathedral from the distance. It was La Sagrada Familia (work of Gaudi). We started walking toward it. It was a breathtaking view, and creepy at the same time, and you can't help but stare. It was the biggest Cathedral I have ever seen! And, this time we found a KFC, and a Pizza Hut! I was the only one that ordered a chicken salad, but the taste was not the same by any means.

The lions are the work of Gaudi
Bike stroll
The work of Gaudi

walking between buildings....

Camp Nau (Barcelona stadium) again, not very good quality. Just to give you a sneak peak

I feel like I'm losing my sanity...and why do I keep breaking out in places where I never thought possible?????? I need to do homework. I need to walk the dog. I need to eat. I need to workout. I need to sleep. Augh! I need to......

Barcelona

3/16/09
We finally got to our stop. We got off the metro (still not knowing where to go) but, managed to get out of the metro station and on the corner of this really busy street. I really felt helpless and overwhelmed. We still didn't know where to go. I asked someone for directions on how to get to the apartment, but he wasn't from Barcelona, so that what helpless. The taxis would only take 4 people at a time (we were 5!) Luckily a "taxi van" saw us and told us we could get on his taxi! Yey! He took us to the apartment for 20 euros (but I didn't care, as long as we got there!) I came to find out later that the apartment was only 5 blocks from the metro station! The apartment was tiny, the elevator was tiny, and it seemed as if all the furniture was from IKEA. I didn't care I just wanted to SLEEP! Needless to say that we slept for the next 5 hours...View from the apartment (taken with my video cam. not very good quality. more to come. stay tunned)

Barcelona

So much to write about that great city! Oh, where to start! Traveling on a plane for more than 8 hours is aweful. But when you start seeing the landscape and the beautiful mountains thru those tiny airplane windows, makes you think...Wow it was all worth it! It was all ok on our way there, but once we arrived at the airport in Barcelona that was a completely different story. I felt completely lost, but I tried not to show it so I would not make my kids or my sister panic. I wanted to keep that feeling to myself. I opted to just follow the "crowd" after getting off the airplane. We were greeted by an "hola" from the customs man. He was quite friendly. We kept following the crowd and we picked up our luggage, but after that we were on our own! Scary! Well, we knew we were going to need euros, so we exchanged our worthless dollars! I think the euro is worth $1.35 dollars. Even though these people speak Spanish, it was hard for me to understand. I felt really embaressed using my Spanish. Their Spanish is so proper and so fast! I was so exhausted from the trip, and all I wanted was to get to the apartment and get some badly needed shut eye! We needed to take the metro to get there, and we had no idea where the heck to get it! And we couldn't understand when we would ask them for directions. We always had to ask more than once! We finally found which direction to go to get on the metro. The next ordeal was to figure out how to purchase the ticket! Not to mention that everything was in two languages. Catalan and Castellano (Spanish). The guy at the metro explained it to us and somehow I ended up buying 40 passes! We got on the metro (later we found out it was the train and no the metro) and we knew which stop to get off on. Somehow I got really confused and we were at our stop, but I thought that it was the next stop where we had to get off. We took a long time to make a decision, and everybody ended up getting off except me! I was stuck on the train, and the doors had shut! Luckily there was a button on the inside and outside that you can press just in case you get stuck like an idiot. to be continued....