Dublin I decided I being outside of the US is awesome. London I decided I wanted to see more of my own state. Montserrat I decided I needed to be in way better shape. And in Barcelona I decided I really need to learn Spanish. Barcelona was the portion of the trip I did completely alone but the place I probably felt the most comfortable and at home the whole time I was there. I don’t know what it was about it but I really did feel like I fit in there, and no it wasn’t the insane amount of tourists, I think it was more their lifestyle and how alive everything felt.

The first day I was there I went on a hop on hop off bus tour of all of Barcelona. There were three different routes you could take after the first one I decided I wanted to go on them all. And I did. I saw so many awesome things. Like Casa Bastilo which was remodeled by Gaudi. It is nicknamed the house of bones and I agreed it kind of looked like a skeleton. I loved that there were absolutely no straight lines, that everything was kinda wild and crazy, I actually thought it looked like a dinosaur, especially with the roof.

The other house I saw that was pretty neat was La Pedrera which means “The Quarry” also designed by Gaudi. I decided Gaudi was pretty amazing on this trip. Gaudi had meant for this to be a religious symbol for the city and the couple he was designing it for but the design plan wasn’t able to be followed because the local government objected to a lot of the project. Gaudi was about to leave the project entirely when a priest convinced him not to.

After a full morning of touring, I ended that part of the day at Sagrada Familia, another Gaudi masterpiece. Gaudi began working on Sagrada Familia in 1883 and the goal is to have it completed by 2026, 100 years after Gaudi’s death. He knew when he started this project he would never live to see it completed. He plans for it to have 18 towers total: 2 for each apostle, four for the evangelists, one for the Virgin Mary and the tallest tower for Jesus. Only 8 of the towers are complete. I decided I liked Gaudi even more when I read about how someone asked him why hasn’t it been finished yet and his response was “My client is not in a hurry.” One can only assume his client is God.

I ducked into a little pizza place right next to Sagrada Familia and ordered my entire meal in Spanish and even talked to the waiter. I guess I remember more than I thought.

I had the bus to myself a lot….thought that was pretty funny considering I was on the trip by myself.

<3

Leave it to me to walk into some sort of rally/protest in 2 different countries.

When I was finally done all three tours I decided to wander up and down La Rambla which is just a really long street in Barcelona that is just filled with shops, restaurants, and tons of people. I really don’t get the tourist who are fascinated by the people that paint themselves to look like statues. But then again, I had never seen a cowboy statue before.

The coolest part of La Rambla has got to be the market place. I had never seen so many colors or tried so much delicious fruit, fruit that we don’t even have here….well, at least not at Giant.

I walked until I got to the pier and found a quiet spot to read. I know, I am on vacation, in Barcelona and all I can think about is how the last book to the Hunger Games ends. So, I found a nice place to sit and read with my pineapple-kiwi smoothie I got at the market. Yum. Down by the water is absolutely gorgeous.

The next day is when I went to Montserrat. But when I came back I got to have dinner at Tablao Cordobes where I got to see some flamenco dancing!! Great way to spend my last night in Barcelona.