Last I blogged, we were finishing up our time in Barcelona. Our last day in Barcelona was spent slee

This past week and a half has been such a whirlwind that I have hardly had time to breathe, let alone blog! But I am doing my best to make some time because I have had such an incredible time with this whole welcoming experience that I want to write it down and preserve it forever!!!
Last I blogged, we were finishing up our time in Barcelona. Our last day in Barcelona was spent sleeping in a bit (oops) and taking an amazing tour on Bus Turistic through the city. Lauren and I got a discount on the tour from our hostel, and it was completely worth the €23 that we spent on the pass. It was a hop-on, hop-off tour and there were three bus lines that would take us basically anywhere in the city we could possibly desire to go. There was even a headset included to tell us about the sites while we rode the DOUBLE DECKER bus through the city! I was sooooo hotel accommodation excited! My first time ever on a double hotel accommodation decker bus! Of course, we sat up on top in the open air, enjoying the unobstructed views of Barcelona.
We stayed on the bus from most of the blue line because most of the sights, including the magnificently stunning Sagrada Familia, were best seen from atop the bus! However, we did get off near Tibidibo hotel accommodation in order to take the funicular (cable car a word I learned in Italy that carried over into Spain!) to the top of the hills in order to see all of Barcelona. hotel accommodation We had to take a city bus from our stop to the funicular, and then we rode all the way to the top on something that seemed much more like a ski lift contraption than a cable car. Actually, it looked like a cable car, but it was built slanted, with raked seating, and it moved up and down the hill on cables. Pretty terrifying when I actually stopped to think about it. It was quite hot out, and I was nice and sweaty by the time we arrived at the very top, so I welcomed the breeze that we picked up off of the sea from the hill. I spent a lot of time staring in silence Sometimes my brain likes to take in things that are massive and impressive and it then does this weird thing that I can t really explain. Basically, hotel accommodation I let my brain run and it tries to categorize hotel accommodation and calculate how much organic matter it would take to construct a place so expansive. Not exactly, but like, I like to try to break down things that huge into tangible pieces like bricks and blocks of wood That probably makes zero sense, but it is what I let my brain free to do at the top of the hill, so I figured hotel accommodation it was worth blogging about. After multiple pictures of the scenery, I grabbed a soda, and Lauren and I sat down outside to enjoy our lunch that we had picked up earlier at a bakery. We had purchased a bunch of different items, from sandwiches and tomato bread to spinach loaf and quiche. It was an absolutely delicious lunch, hotel accommodation but unfortunately for us, the bees thought it was delicious too. We spent a good amount of time freaking out, until some man sitting near us tried to gesture (he spoke no English) that we just needed to sit still like he was and the bees would leave us alone. Embarrassed, I sat down and decided hotel accommodation to brave it in order to finish my lunch. Lauren was more skittish and refused to sit, and spent the rest of the time dodging the bees.
On the ride down on the funicular, I befriended a woman who was chuckling at Lauren s lack of acknowledgment that there was a driver on the cable car. When I saw her laughing, I turned to her to explain and discovered that she didn t speak a lick of English, or Spanish, or anything hotel accommodation for that matter, hotel accommodation other than Albanian. Now I would like to think that I could muddle my way through some broken communication in most of the Latin-based languages, but Albanian was completely out of the question. Well, turns out, the woman didn t really understand that I spoke English, but instead thought I spoke Spanish. She proudly whipped out a translation sheet, much like the one that had protected me through Italy, and very slowly and carefully pronounced, ¿Como estas? This began a very funny and heartfelt experience that I will probably remember forever. We didn t speak the same language, not even close, nor did we even speak a common language. hotel accommodation But through hotel accommodation a few non-native phrases for both of us, we were able to have a little bit of a banter, and spent a lot of time laughing and smiling and eventually hugging. It was the perfect travel experience. All I could think of was the fact that people are people no matter hotel accommodation where you are or what they speak. People just want to talk and laugh and ask genuinely, How are you doing today? I left Tibidibo with a warm fuzzy in my heart and a special appreciation for what it means to be human.
Lauren and I parted hotel accommodation ways after that, she to see a park, and me to go the the Camp Nou Experience and Barça museum. I had a fantastic time seeing the stadium from the field, the locker rooms and the whole museum. Barcelona really does love its technology, and I spent a good amount of time playing with the touch screen walls, reading about the history of football and the team, and watching Messi s best goals of all time. I then spent time wandering through the massive gift shop It was more like a department store really- one full of only products sporting red, blue, and gold. I purchased a Barça collar for my cat that is moving to San Diego with me (just for you, Laura!) and I got this huge squishy Barça pillow that was calling to me to be used to decorated my room here in Kent. It was so cool that I couldn t pass it up, though I had no clue how I was going to get it in my luggage and onto the plane. (Note: I figured it out, as you can see!)
For our last night in Barcelona (and our last night of warm weather!), Lauren hotel accommodation and I decided to get piña coladas on the beach (virgin, of course). hotel accommodation We found this cute beach restaurant to sit at, and I got the fresh greens salad I had been craving. I went down to the waters edge to dip my toes in and admire the moonlight, but my bliss was short-lived hotel accommodation as I was bombarded by a drunk man offering me beer and threatening my boyfriend (who, to be clear, is non-existent). I sarcastically insulted him, then went running back to the restaurant, only to be bombarded hotel accommodation by a wall of smoke from our not-so-lovely fellow restauranteurs. Thinking my bit of bad luck was over, we headed home on the metro, but my sour luck didn t end there! As we were walking in a group of people hotel accommodation through the corridors to get out of the underground, I felt someone bump into me and then I heard the zipper on my purse. My hand flew to my purse and I whirled hotel accommodation around just in time to see a young, bald, tan man run his hands through his hair (oh wait, he has none ) and then take off. I was so shocked that I didn t even know what to say. I immediately hotel accommodation checked my purse, and sure enough, found that he had opened the zipper and my wallet was sticking out of the purse. Thankfully, I had caught hotel accommodation him before hotel accommodation he was able to pocket it, but I was really shaken. At first I was just confused, and then I got this weird, sort of primal anger rush. How dare he?!?! I should have shouted at him; there were so many people around he would have been caught for sure. I calmed down and realized that I just needed to be more careful and that I needed to stand up for myself next time.
Our time in Barcelona ended with a quiet night (we had the room all to ourselves, hotel accommodation no more smelly Spanish boys!), and a beautiful early morning walk through the mist down a silent Las Ramblas. I was sad to leave; Barcelona may be one of my favorite cities ever, and I simply cannot wait to go back. It is definitely a place I want to live at some point in my life, and I sincerely hope that that can happen!
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