Barcelona

Entry 3

What an insane 24 hours! So I arrived in Gerona at about 6 pm yesterday and found my way to the bus to downtown Barcelona. 12 Euro later and I was the last to board the bus for our 1 hour 15 mins trip thru Spain's countryside to the bus stop at Arc de Triomphe in dowtown Barcelona. I decided to walk from there and after a short detour in the wrong direction, got on track and made the 30 min walk to the hostel all on my own. I must say I was pretty proud. I checked into my 6 person ensuite room which was empty when i got there. It would have to wait till the wee hours of the morning to meet my roommates.

After getting settled and making my bed I headed out to get slightly acquainted with the area and find some dinner. I tried to make it an early night by heading to bed around 10:30 after a short read. I thought since I'd gotten little sleep on the plane my body would welcome the prospect of a good horizontal nights sleep. It was not meant to be. After a struggle to fall asleep, i woke up 1 hr later to a roommate coming in. A sweet harmless chinese girl who did her best to be quiet. I was excited to talk to someone but she wasn't too open to it. Awake and alone I'll be honest, I began wondering what I was doing here and why I had made this decision- I was totally homesick and lonely. In the midst of journaling (it always makes me feel better) two more of my roommates came in. Presley and Lindsay, two guys from Australia. Even though it was past midnight they were headed out with some girls from Sweden and invited me along. So faced with the choice of sitting in bed awake and alone or going out with all these strangers, I got out of my pjs and cold bed (yes mom and dad, I probably should have brought my sleeping bag- oh well) and I headed out on the town. Well it was one of those nights that just wasn't meant to be. We walked around from place to place, unable to find a club that met our needs. Around 3 we just headed back to the hostel. This evening did allow me to meet people which was exactly what I needed most though I still had trouble fallng asleep when i got back to bed.

Day 1 in Barcelona

I began my day by jumping out of bed at ten to ten in order to make the tail end of breakfast. Then headed to the Gothic area of the city with my new friends Julieta from Argentina and Presley from Australia. We saw the Cathedral of Barcelona and Mercat de Santa Caterina. We spent the morning walking around the Gothic area of the city which was beautiful with its narrow streets and sweet corners full of character. I spoke to them about the Gothic period and the characteristics of Gothic architecture- look university coming in handy! Then we saw one of the lesser known Gaudi buildings just off the main street La Rambla before heading back to the hostel. Julieta left for Grenada and Percy, Lindsay and I were joined by another aussie named Blake for 2nd half of the day.

The four of us navigated our way thru the Metro system to the most famous of Gaudi Buildings, Sagrada Familia. A massive Catherdal that has been under construction for the last 100 years and is still not complete, the Sagrada Familia is unlike any other cathedral I've ever been to. We did an audio tour (cheaper for me thank you student card!) and when given the choice to take a lift up one of the towers the boys opted out and we parted ways with plans to meet back at the hostel later. Of course the lift was worth the extra couple euros as I got to see the details closer up and a magnificent view of the city, my second rooftop view of the day (we went up to the rooftop at the Cathedral too). Gorgeous!

On my own to make my way back I decided to walk. The sky was threatening rain but it held off. You know you've ventured off the tourist path when you start to pass mattress stores and such :) With a hot chocolate and a point in the right direction I passed another couple Gaudi buildings before making my way home. I did find my Wallpaper Guide to Barcelona which I had been looking for to add to my collection.Yes Naomi you got me hooked! Excellent! The boys had dinner ready for me when I got back- such luxury! Which brings me to now. They are playing cards and having a drink while I borrowed one of their computers to book my flight to Italy for Saturday and write this blog entry.

Tomorrow the plan is to catch a tour bus around the city, visit the main market on La Ramba, la Boqueria, Meis Van der Rohe's Pavilion and the old fort Montjuic. I also hope to get into either Casa Batllo or La Pedrera, both Gaudi Buildings. Mosly I really want to get onto the roofscapes and walk around. Gaudi is known for hs unusual roofscape design. One costs 10 euro and the other 14 Euro so I probably won't do both. Its an early start tomorrow to try and fit all that in and probably a late night partying with my new friends before many of us head out on Saturday to our next destinations.

One funny story: On my walk home I all of a sudden saw a woman with a Canada sweatshirt. I practically jumped on her and her boyfriend as I exclaimed, "Canadians!". It was quite funny and clearly I felt some connection to them being the first people I met here from Canada. From Red Deer, they were very sweet and we spoke for a few moments before going our seperate ways. I must have given them such a start with how excited I was lol!

A thought to ponder: I am surprise by how how many woman I am meeting that are traveling alone. Currently I've met three in the 24 hours I've been here, from Argentina, Sweden and the USA. But no solo male travellers... thoughts?

That's it fo today. I still feel lonely sometimes but that's ok. Feeling lonely just makes you appreciate the people you have in your life all the more.

Enjoy the sunshine.