June 15, 2008
Lauren and I got on the bus around 10 p.m. Wednesday night. It was an eight hour bus ride. We were able to get seats together, however we were seated directly in front of 2 guys who smoked (no lie) crack the whole way there. It was miserable to say the least. They blasted Maria Carey and poked at us and smelled horrid. When we arrived in Barcelona at 6 a.m. we went searching for a hostel. Unfortunately the hostel that I wrote down from backpackers.com did not exist, so we settled for this hostel owned by an Indian family on the popular street, Carrera Rumblas.
There, we caught up on our missed night of sleep until 3p.m. when we decided to go to a computer café to print out our Radiohead tickets. We were able to get into the concert just fine – we were actually surprised that there weren’t that many people there. While waiting for Radiohead to get on stage, we lounged around this deck facing the Mediterranean and enjoyed our relatively cheap beers (cheap for a concert). The performance itself was excellent. They put on a really good show with Thom Yorke dancing, and crazy lights. The audience though was
horrible. It’s bizarre to see a show with English speaking performers in a non-English speaking place. So while Thom was singing his slow songs on the piano, I heard people all around me singing off key- with Spanish accents. (Also too many people would not lower their cameras). I suppose this just means I will have to see Radiohead again, preferably with the option of seating, good friends, and more privately! (yeah right!)
After the show Lauren and I decided to walk back to the hostel. We strolled down the boardwalk for about an hour and realized that we could not walk any further. So we went to the nearest bus stop. To continue with our gross Spanish men encounters, we saw a man blatantly pick his nose and eat his boogers. Yes, no shame.
On Friday we hit the BEACH. Although the weather was cloudy and only about 70 Fahrenheit, we carried our beach towels with us and absorbed harmful UV rays. Although Barcelona’s metros are filthy (in comparison with Madrid’s), their beaches are very clean. I found some neat little rocks and spotted some nudies. From the beach we returned back to the hostel to freshen ourselves and then we went to the Sagrada Familia church.
This gothic looking building was the inventive idea of Gaudi, a famous Nouveau artist of Spain during the late 1800's. We also went to his park (Guell park), high in the mountains. It was quite a hike to get up there – but the view was fantastic! If you’ve seen L’abourge Espagnole, you will understand.
Barcelona is truly beautiful. The architecture is amazing and the weather is superb. I am glad I got to go to compare it to Madrid. I was not expecting to see so much Catalan there. Everything is in Catalan: the streets signs, the metro ticket booth, the cities, the two annoying girls at the concert – I expected to see both Spanish and Catalan, but Catalan is most definitely the primary language there. It’s interesting because Lauren and I did meet people who only spoke Spanish who live there, in Cataluyna, but could comprehend Catalan if they heard it. I’m glad I was not placed there (although I wanted to follow my dreams of L’abourge Espagnole). I’m guessing that I would have come out to France as a very confused child.
And I’m glad to be back! I’m glad to be riding clean metros! And away from the crazies! I’m glad to be in the political and sporty atmosphere of Madrid! There is always a protest, a museum event, or something of the sort to see by simply walking around. I love my room and my apartment-mates. And lastly, I’m glad that I do not have to be living off of peanut butter and bread :D
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