Barca Baby

After completing our midterms for the week we felt relieved and excited to finally be on Spring Break. Lacey and Dillon had been talking about seeing FC Barcelona (Barcelona's soccer team) play for a while. Being busy with midterms, we had no time to plan anything until Thursday night, when we decided we should go to Barcelona for the weekend. We booked our plane tickets around 11pm Thursday night for a flight Friday at 1pm. We went to buy tickets for the soccer game, but they were sold out. So now we have tickets to Barcelona with no idea of where we were going to stay or what we were going to do when we get there. I have to say this is where I kinda freaked out. I don't know what I was thinking spending a good deal of money with no plan in mind. After calming down, I accepted the fact that Barcelona was going to be great, with or without a plan, and started packing a bag.

This is where the bus from the airport dropped us off. Welcome to Barelona!

Streets of Barca

Upon arriving in Barcelona we started walking. We found La Ramblas, which is a main street where there are many restaurants with outdoor seating, gift shops, and crazy street performers.

 

Great band playing on the streets!

We would pick random streets to turn down and wandered through the city. After a while we decided we should probably try to find a place to stay. We found a hostel that was right on the beach, it included breakfast, sheets, and internet. What more could you need? We stayed in a room with four Irish guys, who just "decided to travel the world." After checking in we went out and got a bite to eat. We stopped at a place right on the main strip with a pre-set menu: two tapas, a paella or pizza, and sangria. The food was pretty good. I enjoyed the seafood paella, a rice dish cooked with seafood.

Seafood paella

After we went to a bar and sipped drinks upstairs overlooking a bachelorette party going on downstairs. We were beat from a long day so soon after we went back to the hostel. Saturday I had breakfast overlooking the beach and ocean. It was so peaceful. After breakfast I walked down to the water, which was cold, but not freezing. We were going to check out a walking tour, but the meeting spot was wrong on the flyer so we just walked around the city.

We went up the coast, which is lined with palm trees. Gorgeous!

Playing around on the beach!

The beaches were practically empty except for some surfers. We were going to take a Gaudi walking tour, but it didn't work out. Instead, we went to the Picasso museum. It was amazing. The museum starts with his earliest art starting from age 15. He came from a family of artists and attended multiple art schools. After the realist paintings, there are blue period paintings, and his cubism abstract paintings. There were even some ceramic pieces Picasso did later in his life. After the museum we made our way to the stadium. We didn't have tickets, but took a chance on getting tickets at the stadium. Once there we made friends with a Kuwaiti who showed us where the ticket booth was. By the time we got there all the cheap tickets were sold out, and hell if I was spending 84 euro for a ticket! Well our Kuwati friend started bargaining with the scalpers and ended up contributing towards our tickets. My legs were shaking the whole way to my seat. I kept thinking, this ticket but couldn't be real. Sure enough I got to my seat with no problems. Unfortunately, Lace, Dill, and I got split up. The game was great, even from the nosebleeds. Barca dominated. At halftime I was thinking how or if I would be able to find Lacey and Dillon after the game, when all of a sudden I see them. Lacey came to find me because she knew I would be freaking out. So the second half was spent sipping a beer with Lace and Dill. It was a great time.

After we hung out with our Irish roommates from the hostel. They were some characters. By the time we got back to the hostel it was around 11pm. Seeing as we had to be up at 3am to head to the airport, we decided to pull an all-nighter and go out with our new Irish friends. We laughed all night and then headed to the airport in the wee hours of the morning. We took an hour long bus ride to the airport and boarded the plan exhausted. After a layover in Rome, we finally made it back to Florence, only to get on another train to Orte where Lacey's parents rented a villa for the week. The place is gorgeous!

Tomorrow I am meeting my mom's first cousin who lives in a neighboring town. I can't believe I am actually going to meet family while I'm in Italy. I am so excited! I will post again when I get back! Ciao!