We arrived in Barcelona (sort of) at Girona airport, which is actually about an hour outside of the city, and took a bus to the Barcelona Nord station where we then took the metro - one stop on one line and one stop on another line - to then walk about ten minutes to our hostel. Along the way we decided to stop and get something to eat because we happened to pass a place with salads (we'd been a bit light on vegetables on our trip, especially in Madrid). I reached into the backpack for my wallet and found it was missing. Yep, someone snagged it in the metro, within 15 minutes of being in Barcelona. Lost: driver's license, debit card, two credit cards, metro card, I think about 20 euros, and my cards for crepeaway and 16 handles, meaning I lost my free crepe and free frozen yogurt that I had worked so hard to earn. :( I also lost the wallet, which was a bummer because I really liked it and my friend Isa gave it to me. Sad because the thief probably just took the cash and maybe my debit card and tossed the rest. On the bright side, I was able to freeze or cancel all the cards before any fraudulent chargers could be made, and I still have my passport. Additionally about 500 of the 600 euros I had withdrawn from my usual ATM in Madrid were with the passport, so we had that too. I do have to figure out how to get a new license though, as I need some form of ID, and I guess I'm in the market for a wallet.
We checked into the hotel and tried to deal with all the card companies, but ended up mostly leaving that to my dad back in the states because my phone only had about 10 minutes of credit left on it and our Internet connection was shaky, which ruled out phone calls via Skype. We tried and it was maddening. It was also hot and humid and the air conditioner in our room wasn't working, so it wasn't the best day.
Still, we tried to make the best of things and headed out to visit the Picasso museum, within walking distance of our hostel which was located right in Plaça Reial, the starting point of the walking tours I did last time I was in Barcelona and the site of Gaudi's only public commission: a set of lamp posts immediately deemed ugly (they're not) and resulting in no further public commissions for Gaudi.
The museum was okay, and we got to see some interesting small streets, but we were both tired so afterwards we ate near the hostel, ironically at an Irish pub with a very eclectic menu, but including a good deal on sangria and paella, which was the one Spanish food Mom still wanted to have. I should mention our hostel technically offered free dinner from 8:30 "until the food runs out" but the food runs out within five minutes. We had actually come back to the hostel and taken a nap after the museum and went downstairs for dinner, waited in line to be served paella of all things, and were about 10 or 15 people behind the final serving. The food at the restaurant was fine though.
Then we tried to go to bed, around 10. Well, our hostel had a bar area on the first floor (we were on the second) and the bar liked to play club-volume music with the bass amped up so that it vibrated my upper bunk bed. On top of that 3 of our 6 roommates were loud obnoxious giant (but really, they were all like six and a half feet tall and muscley) men from I think Ireland, based on how difficult it was to understand them. I found the idea of then trying to fit into five foot long beds funny, but other than that it was pretty unpleasant. The only light in the room was very bright and disturbing when trying to sleep, if you could fall asleep with all the noise in the hallways and coming from downstairs. We thought about canceling the rest of our reservation and finding somewhere else to stay, but that would have meant not having time to take a day trip the next day, so we decided to tough it out.
It was not the best night.
The next day, we made one of our best decisions and left for he day to go to Figueres, w hours by train, to the Dali house and museum.
More on that tomorrow maybe. It's 10:30 here in Paris and we fly early in the morning, and I'm exhausted, so it's time for bed in the very comfy airport hotel room. Aurevoir! (Screw my attempts at spelling in French.)
Oh. In case you were wondering, don't stay at Kabul backpackers hostel if you actually intend on sleeping while it's dark out.
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