Barcelona was a blast! We saw many monuments, but perhaps the enjoyable activites for me was strolling through a beautiful park. There was a fountain designed by Gaudi (we also a different park that he helped designed) and a manmade pound, which Purvi and I rowed throughout in a rowboast. Very romantic ;-P
We say many palaces, parks, archs, and the 1992 Olympic stadium. We walked down Calle Las Ramblas (known for drugs, prostitution, and muggers), but no worries we made it through the street without any problems! We drank natural fruit juices from a HUGE outdoor market (the smells were amazing, except when you got to the meat and fish sections...pew wee). We saw a beautiful church, Iglesia de Santa Maria del Sol, along with other buildings from the 14 and 15 centuries (like a 14th century hospital).
The art throughout the city is amazing. There is definitely a great gothic influence along with many pieces by and inspired by Gaudi and another sculptor/painter whose name escapes me (it starts with a B and has the common theme of bubble/fat objects). We saw the Sagrada Familia. A church that has been a work-in-progress for the past 128 years. It is extremely intricate and is going to be HUGE!!!
So now, we are in Madrid...what an experience getting here! I was expecting to sleep on the bus--that is why we perchased the bus that traveled from 10 pm to 6 am (save money by avoiding an additional hostel stay). Besides the normal uncomfortable bus seats, which is expected, our bus was FREEZING. Literally, I cannot fathom why it was so cold. Everyone on the bus thought so, expect the driver. First of all, Madrid weather is cold, like 45 degrees fareinhiet; however, when you are sitting in the second seat behind the driver who has is window OPEN while it is raining the cold starts to become a problem even for a Wisconsinite like myself. I legit was shivering and could not get warm until the last 2 hours when I moved to the back of the bus where it was less windy. Oh, also, the driver didn´t even have the heat on. I think it was broken. GAH!
Our hostel was great. Met a guy from U.W. Madison and some Austrailians!
Ok, so right now I´m in our hostel waiting to check in, which I am okay with because I am out of the cold. But, once again a mini adventure was required before being in the current state that I am. Our taxi dropped us off at the location. After Purvi rang like 4 different doorbells, all of which were not ours, I rang the right one. lol. No answer. Then we decided to try calling the hostel. No answer. The we were like, ¨"Ok, it´s 6:20 am they probably don´t open until 7 am. Let´s wait next door at Dunkin' Coffee (aka Dunkin'Donuts)." Well, as luck would have it, they were not open. So we were literally standing in a sketchy side street, which in reality wasn´t that sketchy because there were people walking down it...people that were finishing off there night on the town. I decided we needed to go somewhere--I refused waiting in the street. Not only was it cold, but we had our traveling bags, and I did not want to get jumped. So, me being the problem solver that I am saw that all of the bars were closing and decided to go across the street and ring the doorbell for another hostel. Please keep in mind that all of the doors on the side streets are locked, you need to call someone to let you in. So, I called another hostel and, in Spanish, explained that we had a reservation at the hostel across the street that was not answering us and if he could let us in just to get of the street so we could wait--thank gosh he said yes. Purvi and I passed about 40 minutes in the vacant-eque building that was something out of Home Alone the movie. I decided to try the hostel again at 7:05, only to turn back around because a couple that was standing next to the doorbell decided to start making out.
Basically, I had the luck to go try again when another women was entering. I proped the door open slightly so Purvi and I could transfer our stuff into the doorway of the building we were staying at--which was the first place we encountered with heat since the bus!!!! We finally got into the hostel after 10 more minutes of confusion. We discovered that they don´t have a reception until 9 am! Thank goodness I had more luck to ring the bell at a time when someone happened to be here. He let us in and then litterly left 5 minutes later. Purvi and I are now going to eat some breakfast before taking a LONG nap in our room that will be ready in another hour. :-)
We are alive, well and have an awesome story!
Morgan
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