Madrid

Oh Madrid….

So Tuesday evening we arrived in Madrid and ventured onto the metro system- heading to our hostel. Our hostel was in a really sketchy part of town. I was really disappointed because the hostel looked really awesome online… yeah, it wasn’t horrible, but it was definitely the worst I have stayed in so far. Also, what was so odd about this hostel is that ¾ of the people there were in the country illegally and trying to find work under the table. I don’t get that. There were these two guys that have literally just been wandering around Europe and working horrible jobs for horrible wages and lying to customs in order to stay longer. It just seems so odd to me. They were Canadian, I don’t get why they didn’t just work legally in Canada and save up money to visit Europe legally… I don’t know- it just baffles me, but that’s okay.

Madrid was really fun. It was not as great as Barcelona to me, but there were some really incredible moments.

The best part of the trip by far, well of course besides seeing my sister, was this little hole in the wall bar called “La Solea” that I found randomly online. It was a traditional, old school, family run kind of bar where no one spoke English and little old men played guitars and sang tragic love songs in the traditional flamenco style. I LOVED IT! Oh and apparently I got married there. This waiter kept calling me his wife… haha it was very funny because he didn’t speak English and I only speak a little Spanish- I don’t think the marriage would have really worked out… but yes, that night was incredible. The old Spanish people loved Katy and I and kept calling up “guapa” and trying to get us to dance. It was a great night.

Katy and I had a lot of fun. We spent the majority of our time just walking around the city. We saw the palace, a beautiful park, the financial district, all the plazas and puertos and everything along the way. We went out at night, but other than La Solea- they were all just kind of generic and not too impressive. Oh, but Katy and I have now gone to an Irish pub in every city we have been. When we go to Paris in a couple weeks, we are going to make it a goal to find and Irish pub there.

Friday morning Katy and I met up with Amanda and her friends/co-workers Nick and Aman and Aman’s friend Michael who is Australian but is studying in Barcelona. Her friends are really great. Aman does not have a serious bone in his body and was definitely the weekend entertainment. Nick knows more random facts than anyone I have ever met in my life, and Michael is just an Aussie… but I try not to hold that against him….. no but really, was very nice as well as a great reference point for all us short people trying to stay with the group- his height was very helpful. So we met up and went to starbucks, as all real Spaniards do, and then went out to see the city. Friday night we had dinner at 9PM at this really expensive restaurant (thank you Amanda!) and at like 2 AM we ended up a dance club and somehow five hours went by without us knowing. I got to bed at 8AM Saturday morning. Let me just say- I have never stayed out that late in my life- and just so you know- Thursday-Sunday nights I got a total of maybe 10 hours asleep- and that is probably stretching it. I am so tired right now.

Saturday we walked to the palace and looked at some dead people in old churches. We ate lots and lots of food including a really good dinner at a place we just stumbled upon. Saturday night we stayed pretty low key- we went to another Irish pub with a live band and just hung out for a while. I got to bed at 4AM- at least a little bit better than the previous night.

So now I am at the airport getting ready to go back. Part of me is really ready to have a stable place for at least a week- and the other part of me is dreading going back to school and doing work- yeah, I definitely didn’t do much reading during my “reading week”. Alright- I am signing off now- time to write an essay.

Much love,
Rachel

Barcelona

Barcelona 10/11/09

Today is Tuesday, November 10, 2009. I am sitting in the Barcelona airport about to leave to go to Madrid. Barcelona was AMAZING.

We arrived Friday night at around 8 PM, made our way through a very easy going customs check, took a 12,00 euro bus to a metro station, bought a metro card that gave us 10 rides for 7,70 euros and made our way to the La Rambla hostel. Our hostel was situated near the Passieg de Gracia and the Catalunya metro station- our two ports to the rest of Barcelona.

After we arrived at the hostel, around 10:30PM Spain time (it is one hour later here than in London), we met 5 quite loud and giggling creatures, 4 American girls from San Diego and one Australian bloke named Owen. We all met up and after being handed a glass of Sangria and then dropping my glass of Sangria all over some woman’s luggage without even drinking any of it, we decided to go out. We walked around our area for a bit before stumbling upon a very smoky bar. It was sort of loud and filled with old men smoking, but we were tired of walking around and so we went there anyway. I, of course being me, ordered a diet coke (which is not diet coke in Spain but Coca-cola light… which does not taste like diet coke) and PAPASFRITAS (French fries). I think I have eaten 500 things of papasfritas this weekend- it is the only thing they serve at restaurants besides beverage that has no meat in it- Barcelona is not so great for vegetarians such as myself.

Saturday was really fun. Owen, Katy and I walked around this amazing Gaudi cathedral called Saggrada Familia or something like that. It had a beautiful park surrounding it, and when it began to rain, we all ran under trees in the park and stumbled upon a little pond with a stream running around it. Us, being the adventurers we are, skipped around the stream- hopping from rock to rock, and Owen, being the gentleman he is and trying to help me my next rock, ended up falling into the stream. Unfortunately it wasn’t too bad- he only got his leg wet. It would’ve been funnier if he would’ve fallen on his butt…. Oh well.

After the cathedral, we walked to Las Ramblas, watched street performers, gushed over the cute little animals that they were selling everywhere (tons of street vender/pet shop things with chickens, pigeons, doves, turtles, frogs, fish, chipmunks, chinchillas, rabbits, hamsters, mice, ferrets, and tons more random animals), looked around this massive outdoor food market, and then headed back to the hostel so Owen could catch his train. That night we met up with some other American study abroad students at Queen Mary for some food and drinks and then called it a night.

Sunday was incredible. We slept in, ate some good breakfast of toast and cereal (I am stuffed with carbs from these few days), and then headed to a Catholic choral mass at Santa Maria del Mar which was beautiful and wonderful. It was basically 3 men singing in Spanish about Jesus- what more could you want? The Cathedral has some really cool history too. It was apparently from like 500 AD or something ridiculously old like that- was in ruins, was discovered and then rebuilt thousands of years later. Yeah… not really sure on the dates- but its old and rebuilt to look old- so its awesome. Basically- it was just massive and gorgeous.

After mass, Katy and I went and wandered around the city- we decided to get lost and it was an awesome decision. We just walked wherever our little feet would take us and ended up finding a really awesome park called Parc de la Ciutadella. It was SO green and had tons of palm trees and other tropical plants. There was also a little kid’s birthday party going on… and let me tell you… Spanish kids are the cutest things in the entire world. They were all adorable and tan and running around screaming and laughing in a different language- it was adorable. Next we walked around and stumbled upon the Arc de Triumph which was gorgeous and basically just a massive arch.

Next Katy and I headed to the coast and found this awesome port called Port Vell. It had an IMAX theatre, an aquarium (which we couldn’t afford but went to the gift shop), a mall, supposedly lots of night clubs (but Monday night we couldn’t find any), and lots and lots of boats and seagulls. We sat on the edge and looked out into the Mediterranean Sea- wow, so beautiful! There were tons of cruise ships, fishermen, sailboats, and adventurous kayakers moving in and out of the port. We headed back as the sun was going down. Sunday night just stayed in and played rummy with a Lithuanian guy named Rokas, a Frenchman named Romain, and a Brazilian girl named Renata. Katy was the only non “R” named person playing- we almost didn’t let her J. That’s the thing I love about hostels though- you meet so many people from all over the world- it makes the world seem a little bit smaller, which I love.

Monday was my favorite day, though Sunday is a close second. Monday, Katy and I had a brilliant idea. We headed back to Las Ramblas, the road with all the animals, and went to the street market. There we bought loads of chocolate, fresh fuit, a loaf of bread and butter. Then we took the metro the Parc Guell- the most beautiful place I have ever been! We hiked up this MASSIVE hill (which luckily on our side was partly covered with escalators, then walked up another massive hill, and then finally we made it to the top of the Hill of Three Crosses. Basically- the name says it all- it is a little mountain with 3 stone crosses at the very top. Let me tell you- the view from this place was phenomenal! So of course, we had our picnic up there and enjoyed true Spanish chocolate (some of which was good, some of which was terrible) which looking over one the most beautiful cities in the world. After our picnic and a bit of sightseeing, we walked around the rest of the park. The park was designed by Gaudi and was filled with mosaic art and more adorable Spanish children. Katy and I did some Christmas shopping at street vendors and little hole in the wall shops, bought some green beans at a market, then headed home for dinner.

Monday night was really “interesting”. We met two more American girls at the hostel, also from San Diego (apparently it was San Diego goes to Barcelona weekend) and went to and Irish pub with them. We were supposed to be meeting up with one of their friends who was studying abroad in Barcelona, but he ended up bailing on us. However, we ran into some of their friends from Denmark where they were studying abroad, and decided to meet up with them later at a club named Apollo- bad decision. We got so lost on our way there and ended up walking through the sketchiest part of Barcelona until we came to a very wise decision of catching a cab back to the hostel. Not the best night in the world but at least Katy and I can honestly say now that we saw ALL of Barcelona.

So now I am at the airport and it is Tuesday afternoon. I am so excited to head to Madrid. Barcelona was tons of fun- but I am ready to see what else Spain has to offer. Also, I am super excited to meet up with Amanda on Friday in Madrid. We are staying at this renovated palace and it is going to be INCREDIBLE. More to come. Love you guys!

-Rachel