The rest of Barcelona...

I left off on Monday, when Hannah and I were awesome tourists and we woke up nice and early to get to La Sagrada Familia.  That was probably my favorite "touristy" thing we did.  We both enjoyed just sitting and soaking in the intriguing facade and learning about the different "scenes" that Gaudi designed for the church.  When we finally pulled ourselves away (mostly because there were too many tourists, not because we were tired of it), we found a grocery store and picked up a really healthy lunch to eat in the park.  Since we are college kids, and we are Americans, what I mean by healthy is chips, nutella (because they didn't have salsa) and Sunny-D.  See, all the food groups...sort of.  Anyway, we enjoyed it quite a lot.  We finished all the chips, but thankfully had a little nutella left over to eat with some baguettes later in the day.

Me, Natalia, Mandy: Knox at the beach!

Hannah and I!

Our next stop was to meet Natalia, Mandy and Chris so they could show us where their favorite "off-the-beaten-track" place to go is.  We took a train to a small town about 30 minutes away.  While we were on the train we passed multiple "postcard-picture perfect" little towns with beaches and beautiful white villas.  I was practically in Heaven.  Natalia laughed about how giddy I looked.  But I truly was giddy. We were going to the beach!! The beach is a rare occasion for an Iowa girl like me.  The town we went to was called Sitges and it was breathtaking.  The blue/green ocean just lapping calmly at the soft, white sand beach, past the quaint streets full of cute shops, cozy cafes and delicious-smelling bakeries.  We were all prepared with our swim suits, towels, sunglasses and some food to eat at the beach.  We spent a whole afternoon just laying out, dozing off (that was mainly me) and just chatting.  We even braved the water a little...Chris went all the way in, I went in to my stomach and the others just to their legs or so.  It was chilly but it was definitely worth it.  The sun was shining brightly Bso we dried off quickly. We spent some time walking around the city after we grew tired of laying on the beach (not me...the lifeguard in me never grows tired of that).  We saw the Barcardi Museum, although it was closed unfortunately, we got some ice cream and baguettes for later and then we headed back to the train station.  It was so nice to get away from the super touristy areas and be in a not-so-crowded, not-so-stressful beautiful area.

Monday night was our failed attempt at going to IceBarcelona, an "Ice Bar on the beach"! Everything in an ice bar is made of ice...the bar, the glasses, the seats, the sculptures.  Hannah was so excited about this, as was I.  We met Natalia in the city and made our way to the beach...only to find out the Ice Bar was closed.  It was the saddest, strangest mystery.  There was no sign saying it was closed due to malfunction or anything, the doors and windows were all closed even though it was the time that it was supposed to be open.  Then we noticed a bunch of ice dumped out onto the beach.  It was still solid, though melting quickly in the warm Spain night, so we knew it hadn't been out there too long.  What happened in the IceBar???  We can only make guesses so we thought the refrigeration system must have broken or (this was my guess) an ice criminal came in and destroyed some of the statues...so then they had to close it down and throw all the ice on the beach.  No matter what happened, we were very sad.  However in the end it all worked out, we went back to La Rambla and found this "grungy" little bar that Hannah and I thought was the coolest thing ever.  We loved it!  It was full of college age kids just hanging out, playing pool and drinking.  It was definitely off-the-beaten-path...it was more like "the path that no one takes unless the know about it" because it was on a dark street, with an intimidating wooden door at the entrance and then the seating and bar were practically in a dungeon they were so far down.  This was where I had my first sangria. And it was amazing!  The most fruity, delicious drink ever.  Hannah, Natalia and I had a wonderful evening (or morning, as it was already 1 am) just sitting drinking, talking about all sorts of things and laughing a good deal.  It certainly was not a bar made out of ice but it still turned out to be a really great night.

 

Since Hannah and I are such awesome tourists, we got up Tuesday morning around 6:30, even after our late sangria night.  This time our goal was to be the first-ish ones in line for La Pedrera, the wavy apartment complex designed by Gaudi.  We were successful-- second in line!! 

La Pedrera was by far the most interesting apartment complex I have ever seen...and I have seen quite a few while being in my Danish architecture course. I can't say I loved the colors (lots of yellow/tan and greens...ick!) but I certainly did appreciate the design.  And we were the first ones on the roof, which was fantastic!!

I do believe Gaudi must have had quite the imagination to design all these figures and shapes.  We spent a good deal of time on the roof, taking photos before it became to crowded by other tourists and then we spent some time perusing the gift store.  My most unique souvenir so far: a shot glass that is wavy and mosaic, just like Gaudi's work.  So cool!  

After that we went up to the Barca stadium where we met Natalia.  We were unable to really see into the Barca stadium without paying a million euros (ok, it was actually only 19 but that is a lot just to walk around the inside of a stadium!)  Nonethelss it was a great thing to see because soccer is such a huge thing in Spain and it was fun to see where FCBarca plays.  We also checked out the MEGA gift shop with everything from tshirts to shot glasses to soccer balls to girly makeup bags and such.  I wanted to swoon just from how much stuff there was in there.  Thankfully, we left before I could actually swoon...or before I could spend way more money than I should.  We met up with Mandy shortly after that and went to a cafe to get coffee and hot chocolate.  This hot chocolate, however, is like no other hot chocolate on the face of this earth (or in my experience, at least).  This was basically a cup full of melted chocolate. Seriously, you can't even drink it, you have to scoop it out with a spoon.  It was amazing...but almost too rich for me to handle. And that is saying something because I have the biggest sweet tooth ever!!  After the hot chocolate we made very exciting plans for the evening: a cozy little picnic on the beach! We went and bought food and wine before heading back to our hostel to relax and change clothes.  

We all met up in the late evening and walked down to the beach.  We got a late start so our picnic began around 10:30.  We had a smorgasboard of delicous food, fruit, baguettes, meat, cheese, peeps and wine.  Could it get any better than that??  Unfortunately, when we bought the wine, we didn't even think about needing a cork screw to open the bottle.  Natalia and I made a quick trip to the grocery store nearby to sweetly ask if they could open it for us.  Natalia speaks fluent Spanish, so I was not nervous to go with her to ask them.  When we asked, one guy motioned us to go over to the other guy. He got out the cork screw and said "You want it open?"  We smiled and nodded our heads tow which he said "Cinco euro".  Us: Hahahaha....*silence and nervous smiles*  Him:  So...yes? (and he proceeds to open it, then he hands it to us)  Us:  Gracias! Gracias!  Him:  Yeah...cinco euro!!  Us:  Hahahaha!!.....um.....*we look at each other to see if he is actually joking or not.  He says it one more time as if he actually is not joking...Cinco euro!  and when we start to look really nervous (neither of us had money, and cinco euro would be a heck of a lot of money for just opening a 3 euro bottle of wine!) Natalia tried to say something to them and then I tried to say (in spanish) I don't speak spanish (yo no hablo espanol)...then the other guy just waved us off and said Buenas noches! (goodnight)

Haha, we grabbed our wine and scurried out of there and then burst into laughter about how we thought he was actually serious!  We all enjoyed the rest of the chilly evening on the beach , watching the dark waves roll onto the beach while the moon reflected off the distant water.  It was a very memorable evening.  By the time Hannah and I made it back to our hostel we were so sleepy but definitely sad that we had to leave in the morning.  It was a great way to end a great stay in Barcelona.  

In the morning we packed up our stuff and went out for one last exploration.  We met Mandy for coffee and croissants from the best croissant place ever.  It really pays to know someone who knows their way around : )

We begrudgingly waved good-bye to Mandy at the train station and went back to the hostel to check out.  We lugged out stuff up to Plaza Catalunya and finished off all the food from the night before (including half a watermelon that we spilled all over the ground as we slurped it up using only plastic forks from the hostel kitchen).  We briefly met up with a friend of mine from DIS who was also traveling in Barcelona and we chatted with her before she went off to take a Tourist Bus ride around the city.  Then it was off to the airport for us.  

My flight left around 3 and Han's didn't leave until 6ish so we had to say goodbye at security.  Since we traveled together so much, Han and I are even closer than before. We are more like sisters now (especially because we got a little snippy with each other when we were tired and hungry and cranky...hehe), but I could not be happier that I got to spend part of my spring break with her.  We had bought a few croissants to go from breakfast so we sat down outside security to finish eating them.  Before we sat down Hannah spotted some money on the ground.  Turned out to be 20 euro, just sitting there.  We contemplated the whole time we ate our croissants about what to do:  do you turn in 20 euro thinking someone will realize they dropped it and go to someone in the airport asking for it?? or do you just pocket it and think it was your lucky day??  We eventually decided, after difficult discussion, that we should keep it but do something cool with it. Since it was 2 ten euro bills, we each took one and I already decided what I will do-though I have yet to do it.  There is a man who plays clarinet sometimes in the train station hallway and I have always wanted to drop more than 2 kroner into his case.  He is quite good and I've never even heard him squeak.  So hopefully I will see him before I go back to the states...because I have ten euro for his case : ) 

Well, that was my wonderful, relaxing and yet exciting, barcelona trip with Hannah.  After chilling in the airport for an hour or so my plane took off and I slept the entire way back to Copenhagen, where I was greeted by my friend Bess!  Bess is from Knox and is studying in Scotland.  Hannah and I saw her when I took my trip to Dundee and then she decided to come to Copenhagen to see the city and visit me! I was more than thrilled to play tour guide for the weekend and my family was nice enough to let her stay with us the whole weekend and even have a wondeful easter celebration with traditional Danish food!  But....more on that later.  For now, I best get to bed...thanks for sticking through this long post!!  I gotta get all caught up soon so I have time to write all those scary "reflect on my experience" type of posts before I head back to the states which will be....next Wednesday. EEEK!! 

Oh, before I sign off, Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mom!! Karen Clark is beautiful, strong, kind and loving. She taught me how to strive for the best, but also to love myself as I am...because she always loved me, no matter what.  I hope your day is lovely, Mom...just like you : ) 

And also a special Happy Mors Day to my awesome host mom, Karina. Sorry we all forgot about it until today when you reminded us, haha-- I hope tomorrow turns out to be a wonderful and special day!    

And of course happy mother's day to all the other mothers I know.  You all are so special and deserve to have a most beautiful day.  Lots of love from Copenhagen!