I mean, when I say that I really just mean about half the people from Toledo, a few from London, a handful from Rome and one from Dublin. But it seemed like a lot. Even though I have an extreme aversion to groups this large, it's okay because the only people I really cared to see were Annie Gurney, Emily Wurz and Clare Cooney!!!!!! and of course my traveling compañeros from Toledo and Caitlin's friend from Rome. The BFFs graced España with their presence all the way from London, London and Dublin (respectively) and Spain, The Bacon Wallet and I couldn't have been more ecstatic to host them.
I was the first of the 4 to arrive in Barcelona (Transportation Modes #1, 2, 3 and 4: bus, metro, plane, train). After a restful night's sleep with Caitlin at her aunt's house in Madrid (as opposed to the cold floor of Barajas Terminal 2), I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the rest of the group. We couldn't check in until the whole party was there so the Toledanos and I wandered around Las Ramblas for a while. When Clare FINALLY arrived around 3:45, we headed out to find the most typical Spanish lunch we could find--paella and sangria. Full and happy and lacking sufficient time to do anything on our list of sightseeing, we just kind of walked around aimlessly. We saw some....interesting....things in the shopping center near the port and wasted time until it was time to get ready for the night. Feeling fresh and looking fresher we headed out for tapas and drinks and more drinks and Harry Potter and Boy Scouts and dancing and South America. It was a rousing success and Day One of the Barca adventure was completed with almost nothing to show for it!
Day Two was only slightly more productive. We woke up late (too late for the hostel breakfast...oops) only to find that it was RAINING. What? It never rains in Spain! But we couldn't just sit around and do nothing again. So we grabbed our umbrellas, prayed for eventual sunshine, and went to search for breakfast. We found a cute cafe that was perfect for us: coffee and recovery food. Feeling better, we began our trek to the Sagrada Familia. Most people take the Metro there, but we decided to walk (Transportation Mode #5), partly because we wanted to see the city but mostly because we didn't want to spend money on transportation. Walking directly there should have only taken about 30-40 minutes, but we managed to turn it into an almost 2 hour ordeal. And BONUS by the time we got to the church the rain was gone and the sun was shining!
First pit stop: Mercat de Sant Josep. This bustling, colorful food market provided a plethora of entertainment. Buying oranges, discovering mystery fruit, taste testing interesting smoothies and........BEING ON TV!!!!!!!!! We were just standing around near a fruit stand and this woman from TVE 1 (the Spanish equivalent of E! News) came up to us and asked if we would like to be on TV. Of course we said YES, and she produced a list of music artists to see if we recognized any of them. The only one we knew was Shakira because the rest of them were rando Spanish artists that we had never heard of. So the woman and her camera crew recorded us saying, "Hi, we're from the United States, our names are (insert names here), and the Record of the Year is Shakira: Sale El Sol!" The Record of the Year will be announced at the end of December, and if Shakira wins, they're going to air our clip!!! We're going to be FAMOUS! Emily has pictures of us with the big blue TVE microphone so when I get a copy I will post it on here. After the market we continued onward with our journey, on a media high and super stoked about our potential debut on Spanish TV. My only regret: not whipping out The Bacon Wallet for a surprise appearance.
Quick side note: My Econ professor just appeared on TVE in a segment about the current economic crisis. NBD.
After two or three more small, insignificant pit stops, we finally made it to the most spectacular church I have ever seen: La Sagrada Familia. It easily surpasses any other church I've seen in my life, without a doubt.
Workin it in front of La Sagrada Familia.We marveled at the outside for a long while and then got in line to go inside. The wait was going to be about an hour, so since we were starting to get hungstown we decided to get lunch first and then get back in line later. Best. Decision. Ever. 1) The wait was only 10 minutes the second time around. 2) The sun was starting to go down when we got inside, making the stained glass shine like nothing I've ever seen. 3) Lunch was the most hilarious experience of all time.
There were 4 waiters at this restaurant: one whose name I don't know (we'll call him Patricio), Raul (who actually served us our food), and Roberto and Sebastian (who just came over and chatted with us). They all wanted to be our best friend. Every time one walked by, he would either stop to chat or squeeze one of our hands. One small problem: none of them spoke English so I was the only one who could talk to them. This circumstance made one-liners and witty banter even funnier because there were four rounds of laughter every time. Waiter would say something hysterical, I laughed. I translated for the girls, they laughed. Waiter and I laughed together at the girls' delayed reaction. Then we all laughed some more together. Our abs were getting a great work out and I'm sure we amused/annoyed the rest of the restaurant. It's a good thing this lunch was so entertaining because the food was actually pretty mediocre. The paella was kind of dry, the steak we ordered was so tough and fatty that our wrists were in physical pain from cutting it, and to top it all off, the ice cream for dessert was served in a plastic cup with a paper lid like something you might find in the discount section of Costco. Hilarious. Sebastian empathized...he knew it was cheap.
We asked Sebastian where were the best places to go out on Saturdays. After a 10-minute schpeel from Roberto, Sebas gave us his phone number and said he wanted to come with us and that he had a friend of a friend who could get us on a VIP list fo free. Holler! After almost 2 hours of chatting, translating, laughing, trying to eat terrible steak, hand-holding, dos-besos-ing and marriage proposals (Emily), we tore ourselves away with promises to call and meet up later.
Back to La Sagrada Familia (not to be confused with La Sangre Familia, which means "The Blood Family," AHEM AHEM HOLY TOLEDO BLOG STEALER). The inside was absolutely incredible. Gaudi is a genius. The church can fit up to 8,000 people, with room for 1,000 in the choir loft. Can you imagine a Mass with music led by 1,000 voices? In my lifetime I WILL go to Mass there.
After we left the church, we tried to go to Tibidabo. Unfortunately we failed, but we made it the next day, so no worries. More on that later. So instead of Tibidabo, we went back to the hostel to siesta and get ready for our night on the town with Sebastian and friends. Tapas, drinks, more tapas, more drinks and NO call back from Sebastian left us feeling weary and ready for bed. Clare wanted to go to a club so we went to the free one right next door to our hostel but it was lame and empty so we left after about 5 minutes. Good thing too because Day Three was jam-packed with all sorts of Barcelona fun!
On Sunday we did more things than we did Friday and Saturday combined. First we made it successfully to Tibidabo. Annie thought Tibidabo was the Old City of Barcelona (as seen on Samantha Brown) so after taking Transportation Modes #6 and 7--trolley halfway up the mountain, cable car the rest of the way--we were surprised to find that it was just actually an amusement park and a church on top of a mountain! Not quite what we expected, but we had an amazing view of the entire city from up there. After lunch we hauled it up another mountain to Parc Guell to see more Gaudi things. Luckily there were escalators all the way up or else it would have taken ten times as long and we would have been exhausted. We power walked through the park, rather in a hurry to snap our pictures and be on our way because our last adventure was about to begin. We left the park and hailed a cab (Transportation Mode #8) to head back to the city so that we could hop into Transportation Mode #9, the most anticipated activity of Barcelona...............
GO CARS.
Hitting the road!Yes. Go Cars. We rented them with our hostel discount--9 Euros per person--for 90 minutes of sheer joy and hilarity. These tiny cars have a talking GPS system in them. They talk you through a guided tour of the city and tell jokes too! At one point, our car asked us, "Are you having fun yet?" To which Annie and I replied, "YES!!!!!!" The Go Cars are actually really easy to drive. We were given a 5 minute tutorial and then they set us free on the streets! The best part of Go Cars is the reaction from other people. So many people took pictures of us as we zoomed by. They waved, shouted, cheered, and one man even whipped out his Camcorder and asked us to say hi to the camera. We were such a hit.
The Bacon Wallet driving the Go Car.Unfortunately Annie and I got separated from Clare and Emily, but we still had a blast. We actually saw them from afar one time and they looked SO ridiculous. Emily had the camera poised at the ready and Clare was flooring it. Annie and I were crying from laughing so hard at them and then we realized that we probably looked the exact same, which made it even funnier. It made me a little nervous driving in Barcelona, but we survived. I think at one point I was violating about 10 traffic laws in this one roundabout because cars were honking and I think I was in the wrong lane and Annie and I probably both looked terrified. And also really stupid. But in retrospect it was really funny...even though we almost went on the highway! Oops.
After we returned our Go Cars, we all booked it back to the hostel to grab our bags, say goodbye to Clare who was staying one more night and take the shuttle bus (Transportation Mode #10) to the airport. It was sad saying goodbye to everyone, but I know that January will be here before I know it, the way the semester has passed so far. Time has flown! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend with the besties. I love the people I've met in Toledo, but it was especially wonderful to spend time with friends I've known long enough to spend hours on end rehashing those "Remember that time when..." stories. I miss them already!
I have a lot more pictures to post of this weekend. Some I need to steal from Annie and others I have to upload myself. I'll do it.....eventually.
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