Friday, November 5, 2010

Barcelona

So I just realize that I never wrote about our stay in Barcelona, so here goes! Hopefully I didn't forget too much of the good stuff!

Back when we were in Spain, we spent a few days in Barcelona. We arrived in the morning, so we dropped off our stuff at our hostel, rested for a bit, and then decided to go check out this place called Montejuic, which is a huge mountain with an old castle/jail on the top. There is supposed to be a funicular that takes you to the top, so originally the plan was to take that and walk down. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't figure out where you get on the funicular and by the time we saw it, we had already walked up a little ways, so we decided to just walk up.

Here we are about a third of the way up, feeling good about our decision to hike.

It started raining shortly after we started hiking and we slowly realized that the hike was a lot longer than we had thought it would be! (P.S. - check out Kai's awesome hair -- hahahaha!)

By the time we made it to the top, it was a full on downpour. The castle was worth it though -- check out that former moat turned into garden!

Us in the center of the castle/jail.

After the castle, we walked down and checked out the Olympic Stadium (behind us). It was really cool, but kind of eery. I feel like the Olympic Stadium would be a tourist attraction, but there was NO ONE there! So, we decided to take a jumping picture (obviously one of us hasn't mastered the jump quite yet).

Also on the Olympic grounds, we found a vent that was blowing out tons of air, so Kai pulled a Marilyn Monroe.

Finally, at the bottom of the hill, we found the Museo Nacional, but of course, it was closing right as we got there, so we didn't actually go inside (not to mention, I don't think we looked very good after hiking in the rain).

Check out the view of Barcelona from the Museum! It was seriously amazing!

Kai loved this sign -- not exactly positive what it meant...maybe something like, 'Don't swim in the fountain or you will get electricuted?'

The view of the Museum from the bottom -- amazing!


We both had to take pictures in front of the Magical fountain, which was pretty magical.

And then we took some more pictures when the little light/water show came on (now you can see the effects the rain had on my mascara!)

Kai wanted to show off his muscles by picking me up...noticed the stressed smile on his face ;)

From the Museo, we rode the metro back to where our hostel was and had dinner at Somys, which was good, but the highlight of the night was getting gelato at this little shop!

The next morning, we headed into the city center to check out La Rambla, this big open market they have. On the walk down, they have all these famous houses that we didn't go to because it was expensive and the lines were super long! Instead, when it started POURING, we decided to stop and have tapas and Paella :)

Then we got to Placa de Catalunya where there were millions of pidgeons! Honestly, I do not like pidgeons at all. They are sooo annoying and gross, especially when they are in huge groups. The guy on the left was just feeding these things and they would land all over him! It was nasty, trust me.

Bet you didn't know Marilyn Monroe is now in Barcelona?!?

Possibly my favorite place in Barcelona -- the sweet shop (I don't even remember their name). We walked in and this guy gave us a sample cookie, which was DELICIOUS! He totally got me hooked, so I convinced Kai that we needed to get some. Of course, with all the varieties they had, we ended up with lots of cookies, which were NOT cheap, but soo I was hooked. Even after the shock of realizing that we were paying like 25 USD for 5 small cookies, I still made Kai go back there before the end of our trip so I could get more :)

After getting our cookies, we went to this park (can't remember the name) and hung out for a little bit.

The fountain was soooo pretty and they were getting ready for some event because they had speakers set up and kept testing the sound. Aaandd...as a side note, there are stairs that go up each side and that meet at the top below the arch. Kai thought he was faster than me, so we had a race to the top, and guess who won?! Yup, thats right...ME!

After that, we went to the Arco de....something...I left our tour book at our hostel when we left Barcelona since I figured it would go to better use there...the only thing is now I don't remember what the places were called! Oh well.

The next day, it was sunny (huge change from our first few days), so we decided to take a trip to the Mediterranean Sea! It was really pretty, but the water was a little too cold for me, so Kai went swimming on his own while I laid out. Did I mention that it was also a topless beach? Yup, old women everywhere with no tops. It was a little disturbing, but the most disturbing? As we were leaving, there was this old man walking down the beach completely naked! Seriously, no shame, just taking a stroll. It was hilarious!

On the boardwalk, they have all these workout contraptions, so of course, we had to test them out.
Then we stopped and had more tapas (Kai's favorite -- NOT!).

Luckily, he was a lot happier when we got ice cream afterward!

From the beach, we went to La Sagrada Familia -- this amazing cathedral that was designed by Gaudi. It was seriously sooo cool. I would give you lots of facts, but to be honest, you really just need to experience this place.

The front entrance to the church...

Kai with his trusty audioguide inside the church...

Some of the architecture inside the church...


And us at the top of the church!!! You had to pay 2 euro/person to ride an elevator up, but it was sooo worth it! You could see everywhere in Barcelona!

We walked down and got a cool picture of one of the Jesus sculptures looking out over Barcelona.

The stairs were like this all the way down!!!

Our last day, we hit up La Rambla again (to get more cookies)

Went to their cathedral, which was really cool inside.

Here is Kai in front of the cathedral.

And of course, right next to the cathedral, you have a porter potty, and urinals. No doors, no screens, just urinals in the middle of the plaza!

Then we went to Parc Guell, to see Gaudi's house (which if you ever go to Barcelona, we wouldn't really recommend. It was not worth the money at all)

But the park itself was sooo cool! Tons of cool stuff to see!

Overlooking the entrance to the Parc...

Sitting in the plaza with all the mosaic benches

Under one of his archway passages.

Kai posing under this overhang with huge pillars!

And finally, me in my awesome outfit (I was out of clothes and was going for comfort!) in the front of the park.

That night, we hopped on a night train back to Madrid. Kai looks happy here, but shortly after we took this picture, we realized that we had gotten bed bugs from the train! Here is what happened...our car was full of people (who all spoke spanish). I had thought I felt something on my arm, but figured it was just a piece of hair or something. Anyways, a short time into the trip, the two women sitting next to Kai and I got up and left. We saw them talking with the conductor, and then they never came back. Looking back on it, they must have realized it too and left us to be eaten! Shockingly, we didn't get bitten at all, but we had to go to the laundromat to wash all of our stuff! 20 euro later, we were bug free, but still definitely annoyed. Needless to say, I am not a fan of Spain overnight trains!

2 comments:

  1. Nikki! I love your travels. Makes me so jealous. You and your husband look so happy together. Congratulations on your marriage. I know, way late, but better than never. Have fun traveling :)

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  2. so the second to last picture in this post, you look TALL. weird haha.

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