We tried very, very much to plan as well as possible for our trip to spain. Thankfully it worked out, for the most part. No major disasters or catastrophes, no creepy homeless men or drunks on busses. I'd even say it was all meant to be and happened according to plans.
Its Saturday afternoon and two of my three traveling/room mates are already in Barcelona waiting for us. We haven't heard much from them but we know they're safe. Sara, my 3rd travel mate, and Ana, another NYU girl and I are all on the same Ryanair flight to Barcelona. It leaves from Pisa, which is about an hour and a half train ride from Florence, so we have to do a lot of back timing to catch it. Unfortunately for us, we got on the wrong train to Pisa, missed our transfer stop and sat in bum hickville Italy for a good half our just fretting that we'd miss our flight. YET... we prevailed.
A train pulls up and we hop on, to try to catch another transfer train straight to the aereoporto. We missed it by just a few minutes. With no time to wait for the next train, we run out of the train station looking for a taxi, a bus, we'd have taken a mule to get onto our flight. We see a bus, and ask the driver if his route goes by the aereoporto. Two vecchi pazzi(crazy old men) told us "Si!" Of course, get on, get on. Well we get on, don't pay the toll as always. And the driver tells us to get off at this particular stop and keep walking for 5 minutes a diretto (straight) and we'd find it. Well, it was more like a brisk 15 minute JOG, which we jogged.
YES! We arrived at our check in, just minutes away from the cut off-- the flight has been delayed! hahah... the hilarity. The security line flies by, but the terminal is packed. Just getting onto the plane is like trying to herd a hundred wild bulls and not get trampled.
Arriving in Barcelona, we make it to the center of town, its about 11:30 PM... and the place is unbelievable lively. The city is, no doubt, crawling with night life of the darker kind. I get offered cocaine, 1 euro beer, Estrella Damm... I declined both.
We check into our hostel, its SO MUCH nicer than the last one its laughable.
I think the rest is better illustrated through pictures:
Iggy Pop and Ozzy sitting on the ancient steps were Christopher Columbus once spoke to Isabel and Ferdinand, the people that started the Spanish Inquisition.
A fountain designed by Gaudí, who, as you will see... designed practically all of Barcelona.
This new european thing... bicycle rentals on the streets.
The costa Brava looks a lot like home...
With the absence of both Halloween and Thanksgiving, Christmas starts early in Spain.
The Sagrada Familia... a church still in construction, Designed by Gaudí, even though his patron died while they were first trying to finish it.
Park Güel, CRAZIEST mosaic land ever... I mean, truly... you've never seen so much.
The Entrance to Park Güel.
18 euro Soccer game... Barcelona Vs. Almeria... 2-0... victory is priceless, even when you don't like sports.
Then we got on a midnight bus... I cannot sleep on buses, I realized.
Two days later in Madrid, tried to go to the best museum in all of spain, and what do we get? CLOSED. Great! Can't see my favorite painting in life. "Las Meninas"...
We decided to make our own art... They're spelling out Prado.
Walked the few blocks to the Retiro Park. Used to be the garden to the king of spain, filled with fountains and intricate geometric shrub designs.
Yummy Yummy Chai tea latte.. STARBUCKS in ESPANA!
Puerto Del Sol, major commercial center of Madrid.
NEXT! Down south to Cadiz... a quiant little town with views of Africa. WINDYYY
View of the old center from south on the coast.
How many people can say they've seen two oceans in once week vacation!? On the other side of the strait of Gibraltar
12 hours later we're in the ancient muslim citadel of Boabdil, the last reigning moor in spain. The Legendary ALHAMBRA. And YES... its 8:30 AM, the traveling is setting in... we look like major bad-ness.
Just a little piece of the walls. Its ALL covered in this.
Patio De Los Leones... minus the leones. They've been taken out due to acid rain and other environs damaging the stone fountain and lions.
The ceiling of the Salon de Mocarabe... can you imagine being in charge of THAT?
View from the back of the Alhambra...
Gardens of the Generalife.
Self-Timer group shot, obligatory as alwayssss
This is the extent of Halloween, some big giant spiders and orange cob-webs on a discoteca.
Kelly fell asleep in the Plaza... so we threw muffins and danced around her.... taking pictures. yes, we love eachother.
In the airport, finally drinking the wine we'd bought four days earlier--
This was in our airplane magazine, its sums up our trip and says:
"This Euro-Backpacker is the prototype of "The Person With No Urgency." He is seated on the ground, leaning against a backpack twice as big as himself . Moving his head to the rhythm of the music coming from his white earphones. He hums in quietly while observing the scene and smiling tranquilly. "
Back TO Barcelona for our flight home... last tourist shot... The Arc Di Triumf! Nope, not in paris.
Out of my airplane window... the tuscan coastline at night!
Either way, I had a great time... It really showed me how much I like ( and KNOW!) Spanish, how much the bread in tuscany is crapola, how the food in spain in general is crap. The price difference between different countries even though they're on the same currency -- and how much a little (or a lot, in our case) of planning can help a trip go soo smoothly.
Now don't think we were getting all high and mighty, we slept in buses, two star hotels (the way to go for SURE), airports. We ate bread by the bucket, and were retaining water like no other. But through it all we really hit every scene spain has to offer.
We saw the north, the use of a language (Catalán) that Franco had forbidden during his rule, Guernica the famous Picasso painting inspired by the civil war of the 1930's, the Muslim influences in the south, the art nouveau of Gaudí in the north, the capital and their shopping. Paella, Hookah, Tea, Churros con Chocolate, movies, haircuts, shopping, all forms of travel (Minus nautical).... even a museum we paid 50 euro cents to go into without knowing what it was (it was a photography museum, with the current exhibition being a chronicling of prostitution and strippers and crossdressers and all things in between, across the world.)
You know you're jealous. It was pretty fun.... Now its countdown to home time... 38 days!
Thats the Leaning Tower of Pisa from the airplane!
Us on the airplane! (minus Lindsay!)
The quintessential London sight.
Gangsta Face b4 kanYe started!
A notable Native on the Tube
a blurry one of the venue
Kanye West!!
Me on the London Bridge after Dark!
St. Paul's Cathedral... Looks a little by the Capital Building?
St. Paul's Cathedral... Looks a little by the Capital Building?
Tower of London... sppooookyyy
English Breakfast tea!
The Pantheon of Rome in the British Museum
Egyptian Sarcophagi!
Easter Island statue, anyone?
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag" Our Mary Poppins moment in the park
Streets
Theater tickets... ($2 = £1)
The Review of Kanye in the paper the next day... 5 stars!
Trafalgar Square
Kellster and Linds with the Eye of London in the background!
Me... I'm there I swear! and BIG ol' BEN!
Best Pasta Sauce Ever, I've learned at least one thing from Italy! Pasta sauce from Scratch!
Self-Timer Portrait at the dinner table...
Me and the Guinness I was carded for!
And an older one with the Sabatini Fam! (when it was still warm out!)
