Last day in Barcelona

So today was our last day in Spain.. officially crossing the atlantic 1 time, 1 port and 1 country down.. 7 ports, 6 countries and crossing the atlantic time 2 left..

This morning I started off with my Barcelona Bike Tour. It started at 7:30 AM yuck! I always like to think about what time it is at home when I do things so really it was like I was going on a bike ride at 1:30 in the morning.. so crazy..I had to wake up the earliest yet and it was awful! I’m doing so much better at getting up in the morning but still 6:45 is not a pleasant time.. so I got up got ready real fast with no real effort.  So I remember my ticket, my SAS ID some money in case, my camera everything I needed to do and I even got a nutra grain bar… so I get to the bus the suggested 15 minutes early and I’m sitting there by myself eating my bar because I didn’t know anyone else on the bus.. and it’s really early in the morning, nobody in their right mind wants to make friends at 7:15 in the morning! =)  so then I decided I should go through my memory card and delete some of the videos and stuff so I have room for the tours pictures and stuff (I upload my pics every time I come back to the cabin so I had them all saved already)  well as I go to turn on my camera it wouldn’t turn on… I forgot to put my battery back in after charging it over night!!! CRAP! So I run off the bus ask the trip leaders if I can run to my room and grab it and they were like well if you can do that in 2 minutes.. and I was like yeah I’ll run the whole way.. so I sprint into the shack thing that has spains customs.. they look at me like im nuts as I am rushing through their scanner have to go through sas’s scanner and stuff.. I sprint up the 2 flights of stairs going 2 at a time.. and run past Shane and go into my room grab my battery stick it in.. go into the bathroom where I had a glass of water sitting their from when I took my medicine this morning that had a little bit of water left in it and chug that down in like 2 seconds run back down the hall down the stairs through the tent shack customs place and to the bus.. the trip leaders look at me and go wow.. that was fast.. you really did do that in like 2 minutes.. good job. And I am back on the bus exhausted at 7:30.. what a way to wake up!

So we go to the bike rental tour place and get bikes and then go around Barcelona.  It was really easy only a few hills on some of the side alley streets so not to strenuous.  I would say that about half of the stops that we made were to places I have seen but that’s alright good to have some of the information re said to help me really remember it.. like in the gothic quarters that we went to on the first day’s tour we learned that one of the buildings was the kings castle and these steps that I have a picture of me and Kristi standing in front of are where the king received Christopher Columbus after he returned from America. Also the cathedral there is dedicated to this girl who is a patron saint I believe and I cant remember her name but she died when she was 13 so whoever built it or designed it and somehow had a connection to her dedicated the cathedral to her and  at the front of the church there are 13 I think white ducks or geese or something like that to symbolize how she died when she was 13. And that wall that I had talked about being from the 6th or 7th century and not really remembering it yeah I didn’t remember it and was way off.. its from the 14th and 15th and part of it was a roman wall the other I forget. . but for the amount of information ive heard and learned about from all these places it is pretty good for me to remember all this.

We rode through Las Ramblas a  little bit too and it was really scary because we had to cross the streets which are really busy so the one tour guy just rides out and is literally like less than a foot away from a city bus I’m not kidding I thought it was going to hit him.. and here I am like 5 feet in front of him crossing the street as this happens!! So freaking! Let’s just say that bus wasn’t very happy with us at all! So then we also went down towards the beach its an area called Barceloneta. It was cool and pretty areas.  They gave us a 20 minutes break at the beach so a bunch of people wanted to go over to the water and officially touch the Med. Sea. I DID =) I also happened to forget (even though they said this a few times before we got to Spain) how the beaches are topless.. yeah so I was just a little stunned when I saw that at first but.. hm yeah interesting

Then biked a bit more went through a park and some really pretty streets. Last few stops we went to a little “square” not like the square in Chardon but literally a square of stoned ground surrounded by buildings. This is the most widely used area for films being shot, also one of the buildings although it doenst look like it is the nicest hotel in Barcelona 5 stars.  Then also one other side has a cathedral and the walls have all this stone blocks that have whole and lots of pieces off of them because that is where bombs hit and they left the blocks to remember the war that that happened in, not sure which one though.

Next we went to another cathedral when we got there we were gathering in our circle to hear our guide. Well on the opposite side on the street there was a restaurant with people sitting outside eating and a musician standing there playing music. Well this woman comes out of her apartment onto her balcony above the restaurant and starts totally bitching out the musician.. And I could understand most of what was being said which made it all the better… She was complaining that they were trying to sleep and he was being distracting mind you it’s now after 10 am.. and she is telling him she is going to call the police and he is yelling back at her how he is just trying to play music for these people enjoying their meals and says ok go ahead call the police.. she goes inside slamming the door.. pops out on the other side balcony yelling more at him and I mean everyone is standing there laughing even the people sitting at the restaurant.. so they yell and yell back and forth (I videotaped some because it was just so funny) she goes inside again and as soon as she does he starts playing again just like 30 seconds worth, just as a screw you type of thing! We all clap restaurant people included we are all cracking up he takes a bow, she comes storming out again yelling more we’re all still laughing and clapping ppl at the tables give him some change and he walks away as the woman starts bitching to the people at the restaurant that in English she says “it is forbidden to pay him like that do you know that it it is forbidden” just awesome really… and that was the last stop our trip haha great way to end it.. really though it was just really relaxing and I really enjoyed it a lot I’m glad I did it!  I was kinda glad that I didn’t know anyone because I just like peacefully going along on my own, I mean I talked to people don’t get me wrong but I didn’t have to constantly be talking with someone which was nice.

The bike trip actually ended up lasting an hour longer then they had it planned.. but that’s okay so I came back to the ship got Kristi and we headed out to La Pedrera, the Gaudi house with the wavy sides.  Before we went in though we wanted to find somewhere to eat in the area.. so after we got of the metro and got our bearings of where the building was we wandered a couple blocks to find a café.. we had yet to get churros con chocolate like we had been suggested to get… well with it being Sunday that was harder to come by than we had anticipated.  We could hardly find places that were open.. when we did they didn’t have what we wanted.. and we knew we were in some pretty good places because they couldn’t speak English so that means they weren’t tourist places… it was a real struggle though.. we tried asking the one woman if she new of a café that had that around the area… my verison of spanish to ask this. “tu sabes donde un resturante tienes churros con chocolate y asientos aqui” totally not the correct way to say it all but to me in my Spanish speaking skills that make me sound like a 3 year old I attempted to say do you know where a restaurant is that has churros con chocolate and seats here (because her place didn’t have anywhere to sit) so she tried explaining.. after stopping at another place and being directed somewhere else again we finally found somewhere with it!! SO YUMMY! Churros are like a donut stick with sugar on top and then they give you a cup of this melted chocolate stuff that you dip them in and it was so good! Good thing though because it was a bit pricey-er than we had expected. Totally worth it though because what happens if I cant afford to come back here someday! =)

Finally we made it to La Pedrera. We decided to do the headphones tour for this because we regretted not doing it in La Sagrada Familia.  What it turned out to be was you go in and the main floor that they take up to is a display of all of Gaudi’s work so each stop talked about different buildings he has done and how he designed them and such.. like using chains hanging from the ceiling to somehow make his designs and get dimensions and ideas about it.. by hanging the chains and placing a huge mirror under it you can see what it would look like right side up.. pretty intense thinking. Also Gaudi designed some really cool furnishings like a variety of chairs that are designed to the human body’s curves and correct placement.. and also handles and things that are really weird shapes because he would take clay and pinch it in the way that would me most comfortable to open a door or lock it was really cool.  Then after going through all that we went to up the terrace! So intricate! The steps are really interestingly designed and there are all sorts of chimneys that look like heads and are supposed to be situated to blow the air out in some specific way that goes with winds of the area or something like that.. I have lots of pictures of it once you guys see them it will make more sense I guess.. so then we got on the metro again for our last time and headed back to Las Ramblas and took some side streets to find somewhere good to eat again. We found a little place and got way less food than what we paid for.. Kristi ordered another tortilla (egg & potato omelet) and got a slice like the size of pizza for 6E, rip off. And I got paella con pollo (chicken paella) for the first time and got a skillet plate of it but like one layer of rice grain all around.. so another rip off considering it cost 13.50!!!! gr. We also ordered Sangria and spilt the 1L glass.  Then we headed to the bus stop and got there at about 4.. got to the ship at like 430ish after having to wait for another bus and no dock time for us!!!! =) I took a nap, we had dinner, organized my pictures and I think I got them uploaded to my external hard drive correctly.. and now I wrote this it’s a little before 10 and im going to bed!!!  Tomorrow is Italy day so no classes!! We just have meetings and lectures we can choose to attend.. we only have one mandatory meeting at 11 and that’s the first thing all day! Meaning I get to sleep in for the first time in 2 weeks!!!! NO ALARM CLOCK WOOOHOOO =) 

More tidbits of information I learned that I haven’t posted in past blogs

Colon statue points to the Med. Sea.  He is supposed to be pointing towards America to symbolize how he discovered it by going out to sea and all.. only thing is that he isn’t actually pointing to America.. if he were he would be pointing towards Barcelona and so when they built that statue they decided to have him point to the sea even though they knew that was wrong because when people think of him discovering America he did it by the water.

Metro doors you have to push a button for them to open.. they don’t otherwise.. useful to know! =)

Officially at sea again Italy here we come =)

now after wondering around trying to get my email to connect i can finally post this and actually go to bed for real!