Party, party, party...

Written 7/31

I am ever so behind. I knew the train trips were perfect blogging opportunities but I hadn't realized how essential they had been to keeping me up to date. But now that I am back in Paris and don't have a map covered in stars, I have the time to catch you up on the ending of Spain.

July 27

My bus got in around 8am to Barcelona. I managed the metro trip to the hostel with little incident. When I got there it was of course too early to check in but I only had two days in Barcelona so I wanted to get started. I showered up and checked my luggage. Elissa once again hooked me up with a list of Barcelona musts so I starred up a map. I started by walking down Las Rambla, stopping at the huge food market, La Boqueria, and ending at Plaza de Cataluyna. From there I just walked around exploring the city. Seeing various sights and doing things tourist do, like shopping.

When it was time for a late lunch, I stopped at the tapas place I starred on my map. I walked to the counter, which was loaded with various snacks and tried to decide what I would order. I ended up picking five bite-size yums: jamon, tuna wrapped in a spicy pepper, cheese and pepper wrapped in a spanish omelet, bomba, and a potato filled with some creamy stuff. The best part of this restaurant though is the family that works there. They are so very entertaining. The father/grandfather is the cutest and his son took to joking with me by my second visit (yeah, I went back the next day).

After lunch I returned to the hostel to check in. I also wanted to take the Gaudi free walking tour. I figured that since all my Gaudi knowledge had come from the quick scan of a wiki page the day before, I might appreciate his work more if I had a guide. And I did. The tour wasn't all that great but it was definately better than if I had gone by myself. After the tour, I stopped at a restaurant by the Sagrada Familia for some patatas bravas and went back to the hostel to try to find party partners.

There was one thing that I expected from Barcelona and that is to party. The hostel takes a group of people to a different club every night so I signed up to go to Opium that night. But since they didn't actually leave the hostel until 1:45am, I had plenty of time to sit around and not go on the internet. *sidebar* I am sure you know by now that I have been very reliant on the internet for a multitude of functions throughout this trip. While this hostel was pretty nice, it had timed internet. Each person receives 20 minutes a day for free. WHAT!! Who can get anything done online in 20 minutes a day. And of course I was opposed to paying for additional time (it wasn't cheap either). I managed to get an extra card so I luckily had 40 minutes a day but still not enough to facebook, gchat, skype and blog. *end sidbar* I went to the common room to do this sitting sans internet. And as usually happens in common rooms, what I always bank on happening in common rooms, I met some people. We sat around drinking 1 euro San Miguels, which had a taste that corresponded appropriately with the price.

I went to my room to get ready around midnight. I asked my roommates if they were going out with the hostel. They weren't. But one of them seemed like she wanted to. Actually, it was obvious she wanted to go and when I told her I was definitely going and would love the company she said she would join me. We got dressed and went looking for the pregame. The stores had stopped selling alcohol so we ventured to a fairly cheap bar and got a couple 5 euro mojitos. We returned to the hostel and on the way met this promoter (a cutie from CA) who invited us for a couple free shots, which we did not refuse. We made it back to the hostel just as the huge crowd of partygoers was coming out the front door. The swarm migrated down Las Rambla to a taxi stop and filed into cabs four by four. Soon we were at Opium...standing in line for the bathroom. The club was really nice but the drinks were super expensive. 10 euros for a vodka and pinapple. And even my tall, hot, blonde roommate couldn't get guys to buy her drinks. These Spanish dudes are stingy. *teeheehee* After some dancing and a fruitless quest for hot guys, we were getting very hungry and increasingly tired. We decided to cab back, but not without a stop to Mackers, as my tall, hot, blonde, Aussie roommate (and all her countrymen) calls McDonald's. *I'm loving it* My Fourth of July meal might have legitimately been good. And if it was, it was because Italy just knows how to do food. Even in my inebriated hunger I could tell that my Spanish McRoyal was no where near the caliber of my Italian McRoyal. It made me remember all the reasons why I don't eat at McDonald's and broke the delusion I was under after my Italy experience. *ba, da, buh, buh, buh*

July 28

We got in at 6am so you can imagine how I spent my morning. Asleep. When I finally got going, I needed lunch (or a late lunch). My original plan was to do a paella cooking class but they only had them on Tuesdays and Thursdays (which I found out after a 2 euro phone call. Freakin' timed internet inhibiting my skyping). I still had to have paella, I was only in Spain one more day. I found this restaurant with a paella menu that wasn't 30 euro and ordered. I was thoroughly unimpressed. I have never had paella before but have heard so much about it. I don't know if my expectations were too high or if it just wasn't good paella. When I get back to Waterbury, I am going to the Puerto Rican restaurant to give it a second try. Once I was full of lackluster paella, I hopped on the metro to Park Guell. I spent the afternoon walking around the housing complex turned park, checking out more Gaudi work.

Then back on the metro to the center of town for dinner. I returned to the tapas place (Elissa, who needs LP Spain when they have you?). A plate of machego cheese, bread, more jamon, and pepper wrapped tuna. I am really not sure how tapas managed to fill me up on so many occasions in Spain. After my dinner of snacks, I went back to the hostel to get ready for the bar crawl that was on tap for the night.

I met up with my San Miguel friends around 10 and we made our way from bar to bar, ending at some night club. It was no where near as nice as Opium on the beach, but the music was so much better. They had two rooms, one with hip hop and R&B (the FIRST time I have been to a club/bar that played this my whole trip) and the other with other great stuff. And the other great stuff would have satisfied but I have missed partying to my kind of music so we divided up time between the two rooms. And around 4, my party partners were ready to leave (although I still had some party in me). The other great thing about this club...It was right around the corner from the hostel so a quick walk and we were in bed.

July 29

I had a flight at 4pm meaning I need to be at the airport by 2pm. I also had to be checked out by 11am despite the fact that I had bar crawled last night. I woke up at quarter to 10, just enough time to get breakfast...in my pjs. From there I went about packing since I hadn't done it the night before. I really should have because at quarter to 11, I was still cramping stuff in my pack and hadn't yet showered. I decided to just check out...in my pjs. I made it by the 11am deadline and checked my luggage. And while pjs are comfy, I prefer not to wear them during my daily activities so I returned to the bathroom to shower and get ready.

Once I was both checked out and clean, I started to worry about my Paris accommodations. I originally wanted to couchsurf after having a really great and enlightening conversation about the network with one of the ladies I met in Madrid. I set up my profile and send requests while I was in Madrid but I hadn't heard back from anyone and my flight was in a couple hours. I wanted to take my time to search for another option so I took my laptop to the streets of Barcelona to find these free wifi hotspots that I was told exist. I did not find a hot spot but I did find a guy, not necessarily hot. In the end, I just ended up going back to the hostel and quickly following Plan B, booking at St. Christopher's. By this point, I was running late. I didn't realize I was running late until I got to the metro and was told that the metro didn't actually go to the airport. It went to the train station and the train goes to the airport. IDK why I didn't check how to get to the airport beforehand. Maybe if I hadn't had to ration my internet minutes I would have. I think the main problem is that I have just gotten sloppy in the final stages of travel. Whatever the case, I made it to the airport in time and subsequently to Paris and after that to St. Christopher's. And it felt (feels) great to be back in Paris.