Barcelona
Next up on our trip was Barcelona. We arrived there at like 7:00 PM on Thursday and went to walk around. Just like everyone says, it is really, really touristy, but that's because the city has a LOT to do for everyone. Seriously. We didn't really do anything on Thursday, but I did eat chicken paella (paella is the rice thing that Spain is supposed to be famous for). It was pretty good at the beginning and it was okay at the end, I kind of got tired of it as I was eating it.
The next day, we went on a free tour of Barcelona (not the normal ones we go on with New Europe Tours or whatever) and it wasn't bad. But I think the reason it wasn't as good as the ones we usually go on is because Barcelona is more of a city you need to experience rather than tour, and it's way too big to do a walking tour of. During the tour, we saw a place that had 4 euro haircuts, so a few of us went there to get them afterwards. The guy was so fast, and didn't even use anything electronic. That night, we went to the casino in Barcelona where I played blackjack and roulette. I lost like 5 euros at roulette, and then proceeded to go up 15 at blackjack and end up down 20, but it was definitely fun. Also got instructions on how to get to the casino in... you guessed it, Hindi. Seriously.
The next day, we woke up and rented bikes (10 euro for the entire day), which was freaking awesome. We saw the outside of La Sagrada Familia (the line was probably like 2 hours long, at least), Barcelona's Arc de Triomf, biked along the beach, and went up to see the castle in Barcelona. Funny story about the arc - it was built for the World Fair. Another proposal? The Eiffel Tower. Paris had the fair the next year, so they decided to build the Eiffel Tower. Another funny story - we saw the castle on the map and decided it'd be a cool thing to go see. Little did we know it was up a gigantic hill, but we braved it out. It took us like an hour to get up to the castle, and literally like five minutes to get down with our bikes.
The last day, we went to go see the chocolate factory (not that cool, to me at least). We wanted to go to the market, the biggest market in Spain, but apparently it's closed on Sundays, so that was kind of a let down. We headed back on the train at around 6:00 PM and that was basically the end of our Spring Break. Another funny thing, when we left Spain, it was like 60 degrees. We had a train exchange literally right inside the French border. We got out, and it was like 40 and windy. Welcome to France.
Oh, and the passport thing. So we were at a random park with our bikes, and there's this awesome fountain, so we all get off our bikes and go up. I get down first, and there's a cop there with two horses. He stops me, points to a spot and says something in Catalan, so I assume what he's saying is to go around so the horses don't get bothered. I start moving and I soon realize he's telling me to stand there. He starts asking me for my passport, and I'm like crap, I don't know how to speak Catalan - I can only somewhat speak Spanish! So I tell him that, but he doesn't really listen. But he started talking in Spanish, or I magically began to understand him, so I guess it was okay (Cool! I talked to a cop in Spanish!). I catch random phrases like 'Te nervioso?' which means 'Are you nervous?' I'm like crap, this guy thinks I'm going to blow up this park or something. But yeah, so he's like are you here by yourself, and I tell him there's 9 of us and I don't think he believed me. So he just stood there and waited for his partner (meanwhile, two girls come up and ask to take pictures with the horses and he says yes, all while I'm standing there getting my passport checked). The guy comes down, and one of my friends starts to come down, so I point him out. The police officer calls him over and asks him if we're friends, and he says yes. Then the guy lets me go and tells me to be careful. I THINK (maybe this is me trying to be optimistic) that he thought I was part of a group of two people at the top of the fountain that were trying to get people to sign stuff (which sometimes means they're going to pickpocket people), but who knows. I think overall in Spain, I got my passport inspected (not checked) like 4 times, but whatever, such is life.
Now, pictures!
Chicken paella
Modern art of George Orwell getting shot in the neck, in George Orwell square, which funnily enough, is under 24 hour video surveillance (big brother!)
Space invader - Apparently these things are at random streets all over the world at places of important history. This one was outside of the school Picasso and other famous people learned from.
A portrait of Eulalia - a 13 year old girl who was tortured in 13 different ways because of defending her beliefs (she died after the 13th one). The street to the right is named after her - it's called the Descent of Saint Eulalia. Her 13th torture was to be put in barrel of knives and razors and be rolled down the hill of that street.
A Barcelona (or Catalonian, not sure) tradition. At any festival, they have a person-pyramid competition. Apparently the record is like 10 stories or something. This was on the architecture building.
Barcino - the original name of the city before it was renamed Barcelona.
Foozball table in our hostel
All of us on bikes!
The park
(this was the fountain, the cop with the horses was to the right)
Arc de Triomf, right outside the park
La Sagrada Familia
The beach
On the way up to the castle... (You can see La Sagrada Familia clearly in this picture)
...the next level of the ascent...
...and at the very top of the castle. We biked up that far and back down. It was awesome.
Chocolate museum pictures (all of these were made of chocolate)
