Jan 25th – Day of Going ‘Straight Tourist’

Our plan was to start getting up at 7:30am so all the girls could take their showers and we could be out of the room by 10am. Now this is a feat with 5 girls in a room but for all 6 of us to make it happen since we are late night partiers and not familiar with being awake in the morning (unless we haven’t gone to sleep). The first of all 6 alarms went off and our room became a musical concert. Katy took her shower first, then me, Victoria, Dominique and Trevor went last (Michelle took hers later in the day). Next a series of clothes flying around trying to decide what we all would wear as well as the loud blasts of hair dryers came. After all the makeup was done, we were ready and putting away our suitcases and things in the closet. We made a last minute check or anything else laying around, and locked everything up. We left the room, and walked out onto the street. Our hostel was right on Las Ramblas which is the main street for everything in Barcelona; people watching, street performers, outdoor restaurants, shopping, tapas, bars, clubs, everything. Walking out onto Las Ramblas we first saw the sunshine brightening up the street and illuminating the outdoor tables and restaurants. We are dying to eat and since the weather is so nice, we decide to eat outside with fellow Catalunyans (those from Barcelona and the surrounding cities). Sitting at a table, we order our breakfast and start to look around. Man was this great…this was a sweet slice of life right now. And a time check, it was now 10am. I can’t believe we really did it. I ordered eggs and bacon, with toast and a hot chocolate. We all ordered about the same thing except for Michelle who ordered churros (Spanish version of a donut…well kind of) and hot chocolate. The churros and chocolate we so good, and I taught Michelle how to eat them; dipping the churro in the chocolate and eating it. After we had finished our breakfast and I finished the rest of my hot chocolate (which was deliciously rich), we all had the same feeling. That breakfast with the weather and view made us feel like we had definitely woken up on the right side of the bed. Now we were officially ready to take on Barcelona. Today we wanted to see the sights, and museums…but they are kind of far from us. Thank goodness I had my map with us. We walked up the street to the Plaza Catalunya which had the bank of credit, a huge amount of businesses and other shops. It’s very busy and very big; there is even a park in the middle of it. As we cross the street towards where the park is, we are trying to figure out where we need to walk to find things. By now we are realizing that this may be harder than we thought since they are very far walks. Then we come across double-decker buses parked on one side of the park. They say Barcelona tours, so we decide to at least ask how much they are and the details. Good thing we did! What a deal! It is 20 Euros for the tour, they have 20 major tour stops throughout the entire city of Barcelona with what it is. At these different stops you can get off and explore, then as long as you keep your ticket you can get back on the bus which comes back through with another bus tour in 15mins. And the entire tour ran until 9:30pm and you could take the two-day pass tour in case you don’t finish for 4 Euros more. This was a no brainer since we would see everything we wanted to see and then some. And BONUS we wouldn’t get lost. We got on the bus and they gave us a map of the destinations with explanations, as well as ear buds you can plug in to hear the tour. Since the weather was so nice, we got on the top level which didn’t have a top, so it was completely open. Good for snagging pictures on the go which we did, VERY often. We went by the Casa Batllo (Gaudi’s house), Casa Mila “La Pedrera” (another building Gaudi designed, for music performances), the Sagrada Familia (the cathedral Gaudi designed and started building up until he died, and is still being constructed; It will be completed in 2026), Park Guell (biggest park in Barcelona at the top of the mountain and overlooks the entire city), the official futbol stadium for Barcelona, the Spanish steps (which I will comment later), Joan Miro’s art museum (a very important surrealist artist), the official Olympic stadium in Barcelona, their World Trade Center, the marina (where flea markets and the sea view are), as well as the main harbor. Our favorite moment of the entire day (and the weekend) was at the Spanish steps. It took forever to get up them, but once we were at the top of them, you could get a panoramic view of the city. At the top was an art museum, and a guitar player. After all the stairs we climbed and the long day of exploring the city, we sat and listened to the guitar player. Listening to him play so gently with the sun starting to set and the beautiful view, it was one of those perfect moments we had shared together that you never forget the rest of your life. I only have a few of those moments where I have always remembered them the same way as this moment. Funny that this one is in Spain. *Not the Spanish steps, as I found out later…the real ones are in Rome. I’m dumb. I thought they were it, now I’ll have to tell my friends that they weren’t it. and feel very, very silly for thinking I knew something like that.* It is the premier art museum in Spain with hundreds of different genres of art collections. After we went to our last stop, we were hungry and tired from our full day. We came back on the bus and it took us back to where we started. The first restaurant we saw, we walked in. It was a very classy (chocolate and cream colors) restaurant called Divinus, and wasn’t expensive but still had a great atmosphere and quality food. We ordered a bottle of wine to share and laughed about our day and recapped everything that happened and how great we felt to be there and together. The entire day was perfect. After we left the restaurant we walked towards Las Ramblas towards the hostel. We wanted to go to a bar for a few drinks then turn in. We wanted to take the city like we did today but see the sites that we right by us (and we wouldn’t need the bus for these). Street performers were still out, and we were walking past one that was dressed in a long, hooded black cloak with a big blue puppet in hand, near his chest. Trevor walked straight in front of him and a crowd was standing around him. We knew Trevor walking in front of him would make him do whatever he did, but we didn’t know what. Suddenly, the man made the puppet’s mouth open quickly and he said ‘Ah! Hahaha!’, Trevor almost fell over because he was so startled by his sudden movement and the whole crowd including us jumped (I screamed a tiny bit). Then we wandered past a woman who gave us a flyer for their two-for-one deal on drinks a their bar. We decided, sure, we’ll check it out. The bar’s name was Q-Bar and walking in it was a mix of Eastern Indian and Spanish architecture and décor. Only lit by dim lights and candles (except for the bar, which was fully lit) there were areas for couples to have drinks and feel like they were in their own world; benches with medium-height tables and candles put in the middle; long bench-like corner seats adorned with colorful pillows to lounge in. The music was similar to what you would hear in a more alternative coffee shop for college students who are looking for something more somber but not boring. Think Joss Stone, some Jazz, Coldplay-like artist, and Feist…any other artist that fit those types were in their playlist. The walls were either lovely shades of deep red, browns (to accent all the wooden features), or golden-brown wallpaper that looked like a fabric that Indian dresses we made from for ceremonies. It was beautiful and somber, and I feel in love with it instantly. I secretly wished it was at home so I could visit it again. We had a few drinks (wine for me…it wasn’t the kind of bar where you would have a hard drink) and then went to the hostel. Recapping funny moments and talking until we couldn’t anymore, we fell asleep anticipating the next day.