Our second day in Barcelona we planned a day trip to Figueres, a town outside of Barcelona that is home to the Dali museum. It took us about two hours by train after quite an adventure just to get to the train station, but when we arrived in Figueres it was a welcome break from the seemingly constant problems of Barcelona.
We followed signs for about a fifteen minute walk from the Figueres train station to the museum, through some smaller streets with interesting shops. When we got up to the museum we bought our tickets (fortunately right before a big line formed) and then sat down to have a quick lunch before the museum. We got a good deal on a burger/fries/drink/ice cream combo (neither one of us wanted any more Spanish food), sitting outside.
The museum was gigantic. Every time we turned a corner, one room became three rooms, and then sometimes there were little rooms that had just one painting in it. It was kind of like an artistic fun house. There were tons of drawings, sculptures, and paintings big and small. Some things seemed very normal, from when he was learning to paint, and then there was iconic Dali, lots of compositions of unexpected combinations of objects. There wasn't a lot to read though, most things were left completely unexplained. It was really interesting, but we got pretty tired before we were done due to the little amount of sleep we'd gotten the night before.
Admission to the museum included admission to a special exhibit called the Jewels of Dali and was a really beautiful showing of jewelry Dali designed. Some of it was surrealist like his other work, some of it was just pretty, and some was both. Most of it was well-lit, which I appreciated as well. And fortunately the exhibit was small so that we could then head back to the train station.
Along the way we stopped at the grocery store (Caprabo, like the one I shopped at by school in Madrid) and bought some cheese, almonds, and orange juice to snack on. We then only had to wait a few minutes for a train back to Barcelona. Although we were both tired, neither of us got much sleep on the train because we met a very chatty woman from South Korea who was traveling by herself and was just arriving in Barcelona. She asked a lot of questions and I think tried to get my mom and I to show her to her hostel, but we got off the train the stop before hers so we got out of that one.
We had to walk from the train station to the metro station thanks to some construction, but along the way we stopped to see two of Gaudi's most famous buildings - Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, also known as La APedrera (The Quarry). We took a few pictures and then hopped on the train back home. Mom wanted to try getting off at the next stop on the train line because it looked equidistant to our hostel but we'd come at it from the other side, so we'd get to see something new. Turned out the map was not at all to scale, we were far away, and we walked in the wrong direction so that we ended up just getting back on the train and going back to our usual stop. Funny, Barcelona. Real funny.
On our walk from the metro to our hostel we stopped at Wok to Walk, a chain I like in New York and an easy way to not eat Spanish food again. One box of noodles was enough for the two of us and we headed back to the hostel and attempted to go to bed after our roommates headed out for the night.
Things seemed alright, because the air conditioning was fixed and the boys said they'd try to be quieter. But the music was still loud downstairs and eventually the boys came back and weren't quiet and brought friends who weren't even staying in our hostel. We thought about leaving right then, but stayed through the night.
In the morning we ate breakfast in the hostel, checked out, and canceled our reservation for that night. We packed up, put our stuff in the luggage room for the day. Our only agenda for the day was Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell, two more Gaudi masterpieces, so we took our time going places. It was hot and humid so we didn't spend as much time at Sagrada Familia as I did my first time, but mom appreciated all the stained glass. We ate lunch at a subway, mom asked a man for a look at his map, and we figured out how to get to Parc Guell by bus.
Then we couldn't find the bus stop, so we walked back to the subway and took the train up to the park area. I had gotten off at a different stop when I came and walked up the hill, this time we came from behind the park but we still had to go uphill - on a street with escalators. Lots of escalators. I've never seen anything like it. We spent a little time in the park and eventually took a taxi back to the hostel because there was no good public transit option and we were both tired.
After a brief trip out to get Sam a Messi jersey (he plays for FC Barcelona) and a souvenir for Dad, we hurried back to the hostel, picked up our bags, and took a taxi to the airport hotel Mom had booked that morning. It was one of the best decisions we made on the trip. We got there around dinner time, ate our leftovers from lunch, relaxed, took long hot showers, slept in comfortable beds, it was quiet. I found Castle on tv and managed to change it to English and then later watched a Spanish game show called El Cubo. Quite entertaining.
In the morning we took the first shuttle to the airport and checked into our flight to Paris. Due to a long line at the Ryanair visa check, the desk we were supposed to check in at closed and we had to go directly to our gate where we had to gate check our bags. That meant that even though we'd already paid to check them when we booked the flight, we had to pay again. I started yelling at the woman in Spanish. But there was nothing we could do so we paid and checked the bags and got on the plane. The only comforting thought I remembered this was the flight we had never actually gotten charged for because Ryanair doesn't charge right when you book, so we hadn't actually already paid for the bags. In any case, it was one last crappy thing that happened in Barcelona. But, we were on to Paris!
Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Monday, June 4, 2012
Barcelona, Unfortunately (Day 9)
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Mira a Barcelona
Okay so I went to Barça a month ago. Here's pictures!
A view from my hostel in the mountains. How scenic, right?
Palm trees and sunshine!
Palau Güell (Gaudí)
Palau Güell
Casa Batlló (Gaudí)
Covered in mosaics.
La Pedrera/Casa Mila. He asked Gaudí for something better than Casa Batlló and got this. (It's not better.)
SAGRADA FAMILA - Nativity Façade
Hello! (It's really tall.)
Sagrada Familia - Passion Façade
What you see when you go in the current entrance (on the Passion façade side)
Main altar.
Pretty.
Not even half of the stained glass is in yet and it's still amazing.
Nativity facade.
More stained glass.
So many colors.
Look at what the sun does look at what the sun does look at what the sun does!
Sunlight through the windows... (Are you kidding me?)
Sagrada Familia in the late afternoon sun.
Another side.
Barcelona from Parc Güell
My map was sponsored by a shopping center so it had all the shopping information. And then on the back it said, "You should also visit La Sagrada Familia." Well, I did.
Yes, I went to this.
Colón monument
Port de Barcelona. Reminds me of St. Augustine, because St. Augustine is Spanish.
Boat and palm trees.
Rose window in one of the oldest Gothic churches in Spain.
Santa Maria del Pi - pi is Catalán for pine (like the tree).
The Venetian style - layered and scraped away.
Narrow streets in the Gothic quarter.
Where the senate has resided since Roman times.
The 13 geese. Long story involving a 13-year-old girl who wouldn't renounce her Christian faith and therefore got rolled down a hill in a barrel full of broken glass 13 times. She became a saint and these are her geese.
My favorite goose, the rebel with the mohawk.
Why I ate lunch where I did on Sunday.
Picasso's Las Meninas. I was not supposed to take this photo.
Cop de Rock! (Time of Rock)
Arc de Triomf - Catalans can't spell.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
To Barça by Bus
This past weekend I went to Barcelona. It was rather last minute, as I was holding out hopes that my mom would make it. Unfortunately due to various circumstances she isn't here, so I went to Barcelona by myself. Because it was so last minute (like always, here, apparently?) I decided to take the bus instead of flying, because it cost about half as much. And I'm sick of hauling myself to the airport before the sun rises. So instead I went to the bus station before the sun rose. And I took an almost 8 hour bus ride on Friday to Barcelona. It wasn't too bad; I slept some, read The Glass Menagerie for my Lorca class (don't ask), slept some more. Watched the empty Spanish countryside. It's very desert-esque actually. Really dry with shrubs and wimpy trees. And mountains.
Eventually I arrived in Barcelona and figured out where the entrance to the metro was, after being thwarted by some unforeseen construction. Without really any more trouble I made it to the train station of my hostel. So I go out, and start following convenient signs for my hostel. Well, good thing those signs were there because my hostel, it turned out, was in the mountains. On google maps it looked like a short walk up the street to the hostel. Turns out that short walk up the street was actually a ten to fifteen minute steep uphill walk through the woods (but lit, at least). It was actually really pretty and smelled very fresh and, well, woodsy. After all the work to get to the hostel I decided to stay there for the night, do a little Barcelona research to get oriented, and go to bed early and get going early the next morning.
Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. It was sunny and in the 70s - t-shirt weather for the first time in a month! The hostel included breakfast, so I ate there and then took the train back into the city center to go on a guided tour of Gaudí's architecture. Gaudí did some reforms to the main altar and some other parts of the cathedral in Mallorca with which I am so in love, and he did a lot of things in Barcelona, where he lived most of his life. It was really cool for me to get to see so many of the places I talked about in my Spanish presentation a month ago. We saw his only public commission, some lampposts in Plaça Reial (back to Catalan land, guys), followed by Palau (Palace) Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Mila also known as La Pedrera (the stone quarry), and, finally, La Sagrada Familia.
La Sagrada Familia is a huge cathedral 120 years in the making and it's still not finished. Gaudí spent 43 years of his life working on it, and for the last 20 or so it was his only project. My two and a half hour walking tour probably spent at least 45 minutes walking around the very ornate outside of Sagrada Familia, as it has three facades (two of which are done) that depict the life of Jesus. The nativity facade and the passion facades are finished, the glory facade really has yet to be started and in stark contrast with the other two looks a lot like an ugly gray wall. The tour ended there and I got in line to go inside, bought a ticket and an audioguide, and then spent the next three hours walking around the entire building. I don't know what else is on my bucket list, but seeing Sagrada Familia again when it's finished is now officially on it. It's awfully beautiful for a building that's only maybe 2/3 done. Of course, some of the stained glass has been installed and that's all I really need. There's so much to say about La Sagrada Familia but pictures are really necessary. (I'm going to try reaaaallllyyy hard to get caught up on pictures today and tomorrow, somehow while I'm writing two papers.)
When I finally made myself leave - a benefit and curse of traveling alone is no one ever makes you leave things you like - I walked what was probably at least two miles (I had no sense of scale on the map I got at the hostel) to Parc Güell, also designed by Gaudí. It was nice to see some of Barcelona as I made my way to the park, which is at the top of a hill and provides a nice view of the city where I watched the sun set and wrote some postcards. Then since it was getting rather dark I decided to head back to the hostel, where I got some homework done and made some plans for Sunday.
Sunday I tried to go to mass at the parish church of La Sagrada Familia (church isn't held regularly in the basilica) but got tossed back and forth by signs pointing in opposite directions and I never found an entrance or anyone to help me. So instead I went and sat on the docks by the sea and did some writing. Then I went back to Plaça Reial for a walking tour of the old city. My tour guide's name was Gorki and he was from Bilbao, in northern Spain. He was really cheerful and funny We saw one of the oldest Gothic churches in Europe, the Jewish quarter, and a lot of tiny streets and such. Half an hour into the tour, though, it started to rain. And it didn't stop. Sometimes it let up, and if we walked close to the walls under balconies, we stayed pretty dry. (My water proof not-quite-Leather jacket helped.) We made it through about 2/3 of the tour before our guide gave up after we tried to wait out the storm inside a building for 20 minutes.
On my own I went to see Santa Maria del Mar, a famous church that was really pretty, and then I went in search of lunch. I found the café that Alejandro had recommended to me, Bosque de los Hades, Forest of the Fairies (which is kind of like Rainforest Cafe but less aggressive and prettier) but they didn't really have much real food so I kept looking and ended up eating at a little place close to where the walking tours started, which was organic or something but cheap. I got a crepe with apples, cinnamon, and almond, and a cappuccino to warm up. (I spent the day walking around in wet shoes. No fun.)
After lunch I headed to the Picasso Museum, which is free after 3 on Sundays. I waited in a line probably as long as a New York avenue block, but it moved pretty fast and I had time to enjoy the museum before my night plans. It was really interesting to see the evolution of Picasso's style, although I saw a lot of it out of order because the floor plan of the museum is really confusing. I wish I had had more time there, but I had a little subway trouble getting there and I wanted to leave myself plenty of time after because I had exciting plans for the evening.
Sunday night I went to see a musical called Cop de Rock which is Catalan for "Time of Rock." It's a musical of 80s Catalan classic rock, I think basically their equivalent of Rock of Ages. I had an AMAZING time. I only understood like every tenth word of the dialogue, because Catalan is more like a combination of Portuguese and French than it is related to Spanish, but I followed the whole story. And the music was great, and everyone in the audience was really into it. The choreography was probably the most enjoyable part, as it was a bizarre mix of West Side Story meets Elvis meets contemporary hip hop plus a little bit of stereotypical 80s rock star posing. I bought the cheapest seats (and got a discount for being under 25) but was able to move a lot closer once the show started, so I had a pretty good seat, and had a blast. I've now seen theatre in three languages I don't understand.
After the show I headed to the bus station a little early just to make sure I knew how to get there and had time to eat something and whatnot before heading back to Madrid. Our bus left at 11pm and I had the misfortune of sitting in front of the only unhappy baby on the bus. It didn't help that my iPod battery was almost dead because I had been counting on an outlet to plug it into on the bus, since I'd had one on the way there, and there weren't any on this otherwise-identical bus. I did get some sleep off and on, and eventually made it back to Madrid around 7 am, before sunrise. I took the metro home and slept happily in my bed for a few hours before getting up to go to class.
And that was Barcelona! A really fun couple of days. So glad I decided to go, but I still really wish my mom could have been there. She would have loved how colorful it is.
This weekend I'm going to Roma! So excited for lots of gelato, pizza, and pasta, the Coliseum, hopefully some Opera, so much art...
Tomorrow if I have time I'm going to write more about my Spanish family, with whom I am totally in love. I also realized I never talked about Columbus Day, and last week I took a day trip to Toledo, so there's still much to report!
Eventually I arrived in Barcelona and figured out where the entrance to the metro was, after being thwarted by some unforeseen construction. Without really any more trouble I made it to the train station of my hostel. So I go out, and start following convenient signs for my hostel. Well, good thing those signs were there because my hostel, it turned out, was in the mountains. On google maps it looked like a short walk up the street to the hostel. Turns out that short walk up the street was actually a ten to fifteen minute steep uphill walk through the woods (but lit, at least). It was actually really pretty and smelled very fresh and, well, woodsy. After all the work to get to the hostel I decided to stay there for the night, do a little Barcelona research to get oriented, and go to bed early and get going early the next morning.
Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day. It was sunny and in the 70s - t-shirt weather for the first time in a month! The hostel included breakfast, so I ate there and then took the train back into the city center to go on a guided tour of Gaudí's architecture. Gaudí did some reforms to the main altar and some other parts of the cathedral in Mallorca with which I am so in love, and he did a lot of things in Barcelona, where he lived most of his life. It was really cool for me to get to see so many of the places I talked about in my Spanish presentation a month ago. We saw his only public commission, some lampposts in Plaça Reial (back to Catalan land, guys), followed by Palau (Palace) Güell, Casa Batlló, Casa Mila also known as La Pedrera (the stone quarry), and, finally, La Sagrada Familia.
La Sagrada Familia is a huge cathedral 120 years in the making and it's still not finished. Gaudí spent 43 years of his life working on it, and for the last 20 or so it was his only project. My two and a half hour walking tour probably spent at least 45 minutes walking around the very ornate outside of Sagrada Familia, as it has three facades (two of which are done) that depict the life of Jesus. The nativity facade and the passion facades are finished, the glory facade really has yet to be started and in stark contrast with the other two looks a lot like an ugly gray wall. The tour ended there and I got in line to go inside, bought a ticket and an audioguide, and then spent the next three hours walking around the entire building. I don't know what else is on my bucket list, but seeing Sagrada Familia again when it's finished is now officially on it. It's awfully beautiful for a building that's only maybe 2/3 done. Of course, some of the stained glass has been installed and that's all I really need. There's so much to say about La Sagrada Familia but pictures are really necessary. (I'm going to try reaaaallllyyy hard to get caught up on pictures today and tomorrow, somehow while I'm writing two papers.)
When I finally made myself leave - a benefit and curse of traveling alone is no one ever makes you leave things you like - I walked what was probably at least two miles (I had no sense of scale on the map I got at the hostel) to Parc Güell, also designed by Gaudí. It was nice to see some of Barcelona as I made my way to the park, which is at the top of a hill and provides a nice view of the city where I watched the sun set and wrote some postcards. Then since it was getting rather dark I decided to head back to the hostel, where I got some homework done and made some plans for Sunday.
Sunday I tried to go to mass at the parish church of La Sagrada Familia (church isn't held regularly in the basilica) but got tossed back and forth by signs pointing in opposite directions and I never found an entrance or anyone to help me. So instead I went and sat on the docks by the sea and did some writing. Then I went back to Plaça Reial for a walking tour of the old city. My tour guide's name was Gorki and he was from Bilbao, in northern Spain. He was really cheerful and funny We saw one of the oldest Gothic churches in Europe, the Jewish quarter, and a lot of tiny streets and such. Half an hour into the tour, though, it started to rain. And it didn't stop. Sometimes it let up, and if we walked close to the walls under balconies, we stayed pretty dry. (My water proof not-quite-Leather jacket helped.) We made it through about 2/3 of the tour before our guide gave up after we tried to wait out the storm inside a building for 20 minutes.
On my own I went to see Santa Maria del Mar, a famous church that was really pretty, and then I went in search of lunch. I found the café that Alejandro had recommended to me, Bosque de los Hades, Forest of the Fairies (which is kind of like Rainforest Cafe but less aggressive and prettier) but they didn't really have much real food so I kept looking and ended up eating at a little place close to where the walking tours started, which was organic or something but cheap. I got a crepe with apples, cinnamon, and almond, and a cappuccino to warm up. (I spent the day walking around in wet shoes. No fun.)
After lunch I headed to the Picasso Museum, which is free after 3 on Sundays. I waited in a line probably as long as a New York avenue block, but it moved pretty fast and I had time to enjoy the museum before my night plans. It was really interesting to see the evolution of Picasso's style, although I saw a lot of it out of order because the floor plan of the museum is really confusing. I wish I had had more time there, but I had a little subway trouble getting there and I wanted to leave myself plenty of time after because I had exciting plans for the evening.
Sunday night I went to see a musical called Cop de Rock which is Catalan for "Time of Rock." It's a musical of 80s Catalan classic rock, I think basically their equivalent of Rock of Ages. I had an AMAZING time. I only understood like every tenth word of the dialogue, because Catalan is more like a combination of Portuguese and French than it is related to Spanish, but I followed the whole story. And the music was great, and everyone in the audience was really into it. The choreography was probably the most enjoyable part, as it was a bizarre mix of West Side Story meets Elvis meets contemporary hip hop plus a little bit of stereotypical 80s rock star posing. I bought the cheapest seats (and got a discount for being under 25) but was able to move a lot closer once the show started, so I had a pretty good seat, and had a blast. I've now seen theatre in three languages I don't understand.
After the show I headed to the bus station a little early just to make sure I knew how to get there and had time to eat something and whatnot before heading back to Madrid. Our bus left at 11pm and I had the misfortune of sitting in front of the only unhappy baby on the bus. It didn't help that my iPod battery was almost dead because I had been counting on an outlet to plug it into on the bus, since I'd had one on the way there, and there weren't any on this otherwise-identical bus. I did get some sleep off and on, and eventually made it back to Madrid around 7 am, before sunrise. I took the metro home and slept happily in my bed for a few hours before getting up to go to class.
And that was Barcelona! A really fun couple of days. So glad I decided to go, but I still really wish my mom could have been there. She would have loved how colorful it is.
This weekend I'm going to Roma! So excited for lots of gelato, pizza, and pasta, the Coliseum, hopefully some Opera, so much art...
Tomorrow if I have time I'm going to write more about my Spanish family, with whom I am totally in love. I also realized I never talked about Columbus Day, and last week I took a day trip to Toledo, so there's still much to report!
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