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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Sunday: A Day of Heavy Backpacks

Showering on Sunday morning was painful. The backs of my hands were burned, so just washing my hair stung. Not a fan. But there was nothing I could do.

We packed up and checked out of the hotel, then made our way to the main street for breakfast in a café. I had a class of freezing cold milk and was in absolute heaven. I miss cold milk.

Oh yeah, so you know how I mentioned that our backpacks were heavy on Friday? Well, on Sunday, we had to carry them around ALL. DAY. LONG. Not cool.

However, we decided to make the most of it and take the bus tour of Barcelona so that we could just set our bags down most of the day. Yay for being smart!

We rode the red line all around the main part of Barcelona. We saw SO much: the Olympic stadium, the ports, the shopping center where we would later eat lunch (at the same spot the other girls at dinner Friday when we were looking for them), and so much more. I took about a thousand pictures of architectural details. I love European buildings!

And, of course, I put on sunscreen to prevent further sunburning on my arms.

At the end of the line, Karin and I made our way to our chosen restaurant for some paella con mariscos. I was excited to try this dish because I’ve heard so much about it and hadn’t had it yet. Plus, it had seafood (my favorite!). What’s not to love?

Well, it came, and Karin looked at me and said “What are you making me eat?”


I guess she had a point. The seafood did still have eyes, after all. However, it was all so delicious that I didn’t even care. And this is unusual for me, as I am normally very cautious about food.

We had a nice conversation with the Australian couple sitting next to us, Karin and I informing them about what we knew about Spain (they really didn’t know that much) and giving them advice on what do and what to see. I felt so legit in that moment.

We spent some time after lunch shopping in the mall. And, though I tried on a lot, I bought nothing. Nada. Zilch. In fact, all I bought period in Barcelona souvenier-wise were three postcards. Karin, however, bought a gorgeous bathing suit I am extremely jealous of. I tried on bathing suits, too, but I’m discovering that Spain fashion is not geared toward women bigger than a B. Disappointment, anyone?

After shopping, we stopped at the waffle stand again for more deliciousness before getting back on the bus and headed out toward the green line. This line stopped near the biggest mall in Catlonia, right across from our hotel, and we were excited to shop in it.

Problem. It was Sunday. And the stores were closed. *boo* I was very unhappy.

So, Karin and I rode the bus a bit more, then headed to the airport. We were sad to leave Barcelona, but happy to return to Madrid. I had really missed it.

We felt quite legit navigating the train and metro systems to the airport. And by that point, we were so giddy with exhaustion that we kind of floated through the whole experience.

Oh, and you know how we were disappointed that we’d have no more shopping? We were wrong. Barcelona’s airport pretty much has a mall inside it. There’s a Zara and everything. I got Karin a little model of the benches (funny story behind that purchase…but I won’t go into that here) as an apology for being so blech-y on Saturday. She was very excited.

We made sure to keep checking the gate so we wouldn’t get caught be surprise like we did in Madrid, but thankfully, Barcelona is much more consistent. We got on our plane with no problems, and I stared out the window the whole way back.

All in all, a very good trip. I was thoroughly satisfied with the whole experience. And next time, I’m putting on sunscreen every ten minutes.

Hasta luego!

Faith. Trust. Pixie Dust.

~Jackie

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