Sorry it's a bit late this week, but school work was calling when I got back, pushing everything else off until it was done. This past weekend my friend (and roommate) Alana and I jetted off to Barcelona (quite literally). Getting there was quite an adventure, but not as much as getting back! We left Harlaxton in a cab around 10:30 on Thursday night in order to catch our 11:08 train into London King's Cross. Once we got to the train station, we actually met up with 2 other Harlaxton girls who were going on the same train as us all the way to Gatwick before each heading off on their separate weekend trips, so they were super excited to find out that they wouldn't have to travel alone. After a train, a bus to a different train station, and another train, we arrived at Gatwick airport around half 2 in the morning, leaving us sitting around the airport and waiting until our plane left at 7. By this time, warm drinks were a must, so we found the closest Costa and ordered up some hot chocolate and coffee. Eventually the ticket booths opened up and we could get our tickets and go through security. Then we had to do some more waiting until they told us what gate to go to! Our gate showed up literally half an hour prior to departure. I was surprised how nice Easy Jet's planes are. I had a good six inches in between my knees and the seat in front of me! Despite this flight being the loudest one I have ever been on (there was a bachelorette party on board), the two of us were out as soon as our seat belts were buckled and didn't wake up until our plane hit the ground in Barcelona. Once we went through customs (yay passport stamps!) we took the Aerobus into the center of town, Plaza de Catalunya. This is where our hop-on hop-off bus tour starts from. We took that around the city, not really getting off much, but getting lots of good pictures! Especially of Gaudi buildings and the Sagrada Familia cathedral (still in construction, which is really cool to see). We got off back at Plaza de Catalunya and had a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe because we were hungry and it was right there. And the food was really good! Then we hopped back on our bus, on the other line this time. We didn't get off this one at all, since Alana ended up falling asleep on it (she had a cold and hadn't slept at all last night). So I didn't get to go up Montjuic on the cable cars, but I got to see them and ride a bus on Montjuic, so that was good. We got off the bus at the nearest stop to our hotel, which was still about half an hours walk away. We saw lots of palm trees on the way, and even an orange tree! Our hotel was a couple of blocks off the beach, right across the street from the Forum. We didn't get a chance to go down to the beach because we fell on our beds as soon as we got up to our room and slept for a good hour or two. Once we got up, we walked down to McDonalds so I could grab a little something to eat before we went to bed. We were asleep by 8:30! (yes, we really were that tired.)
The next morning we had breakfast at a little cafe in the mall (Diagonal Mar) right next to our hotel. It was amazing. The hot chocolate literally had a piece of chocolate melting in it and the croissants were dipped in chocolate on either end and had chocolate in the middle! I would eat that meal every day. After breakfast we took the tram line (we had asked reception the best way to get places) to one of our bus stops and got on until we got back to Plaza de Catalunya. We got off there and spent some time on La Rambla, a big shopping/art/tourist -y street that runs from the Plaza down to the sea. It had a big walkway in between the buildings where all sorts of stalls and outside restaurants were set up. We saw a lot of street performers, some of whom were quite clever! I really liked the guy dressed up as a bunch of flowers and the guy sitting on the toilet. There were lots of artist stalls and I totally would have bought some artwork if I would have had a way to get it back to Harlaxton without it being folded up or anything. I did end up buying some really nice rings from a stall, which I really like. Also, a few souvenir things, postcards, key-chain, a mosaic twisty mug. There were also flower stalls, where Alana bought her mom some bulbs. We had lunch at one of the outdoor restaurants, where we split a seafood paella (the rice was absolutely amazing!!!!!!), a four cheese pizza, and a quart of sangria (which was good, and which we finished after finding out how much it cost us!). It was really nice to sit outside there and eat, a really good atmosphere. On our way back to Plaza de Catalunya we stopped at one of the many gelato stalls and had some absolutely amazing chocolate gelato in a cone. I wish I could have had more! After our fun on La Rambla is was back on the bus, first for a quick stop at the Sagrada Familia so we could get some better pictures, then to Mount Tibidabo. We rode the Tramvia Blau halfway up Tibidabo, which is an old-fashioned blue trolley. After getting some pictures there, we hopped on the Funincular Tibidabo (a cable car, on the ground) to go up to the top of the mountain. At the top they have a little amusement park and a church, which you could climb up the out side of to some amazing viewing decks. Barcelona looked so beautiful from up there! I would have liked to spend a bit more time up at the top of Tibidabo, but we needed to make sure we got back down and didn't miss the last bus to take us back to the Plaza. Once back at the Plaza, it was time for dinner, so after asking for directions from the information place, we went off in search of Taller de Tapas, a restaurant recommended to Alana. The restaurant was very nice. I had chicken kebab and potato tapas and Alana had mussels and mushrooms tapas, all of which were good, according to their respective eaters. We finished off the meal with some dessert tapas, chocolate pofiteroles and white chocolate and milk chocolate mousse, and a dessert wine, Moscatell. The dessert was absolutely amazing. If I could have just had double of that for dinner and dessert I would have. And the wine was the first wine that I really, really liked. It was the underground and tram back to the hotel after dinner, our last real meal in Barcelona.
Sunday morning we had the croissants from the same cafe, which we had picked up the night before, for breakfast in our room. Our flight left around noon, so we left the hotel at 8:30 so we would have plenty of time to get to the airport. First, we had to wait forever for the tram to come, and when it did, it only took us one more stop before it was finished! Because of the Barcelona Marathon that was taking place that day, which we did not know was occurring. So we got off and found the nearest subway station and got on to Plaza de Catalunya, where we planned on taking the Aerobus back to the airport. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to start running until 11:30! Out of options, we found a taxi queue and took a cab to the airport. It took longer than it should have because half the roads in Barcelona were closed because of the marathon. You could tell the driver was a bit upset. We finally got to the airport, after a 40 euro cab ride!, around 10. It took a bit to get our tickets, but going through security was quick, and we got another Barcelona stamp on our passports (random, I know, but whatever. plus he put it like 5 pages past the current stamp page.). Once we got to our gate we went to a cafe and got some hot chocolate, and a chocolate muffin for me!, and waited for our plane to start boarding. In the mean time, I went to the duty free store and found the rum that my parents were wanting me to get for them, rom de miel (honey rum), so that's going home to them now. I was excited to find it though, and it was cheap! We flew into London Luton and got some lunch to eat on the train at M&S. From Luton airport we took a shuttle to Luton Airport Parkway, the train station, and took the train to St. Pancreas, crossed the street to King's Cross, took a train back to Grantham, and a cab (that was late picking us up) back to Harlaxton, in time to drop our stuff off in our room before dinner.
I absolutely loved Barcelona and wish I could've spent more time there and really gotten to see everything. Because I, while I wanted to go to Spain in general, I wanted to go to Barcelona because of books. Two of my favorite books, The Shadow of the Wind and The Angel's Game, both by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, take place in Barcelona and I loved getting to see all of the places that I had read about in those books. The Shadow of the Wind has a self-tour in the back of the book that you can do in Barcelona and I definitely would have done it if I had had more time there. These are the books that I bet Hermione has read. You can't go wrong with them, even if you're a witch!
This coming weekend is basically a well-deserved break for me. I'm going into London for one day to see all the museums that I ran out of time to see the last time I was there! Look for that next!
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