Barcelona!
Yeehaa,
So I´m in an internet cafe only paying 50 cents for a half hour (which is a golden deal compared to back in Ireland)....yes..that´s right...all of my school work is finished and I´m now embarking on the "Euro Extravaganza" I´ve been talking about in probably every one of my entries.
My journey here was pretty interesting though. Mom and dad are cringing right now...I missed my morning bus to the airport due to a snooze button mishap on my alarm clock. Luckily, I have a travelling partner (my friend Will)..who called me to ask where I was once he got on the bus, but at that point it was too late. Despite my best efforts to imitate "the Flash" (and if anyone here has seen me try and run fast, yes, it was pretty funny) I missed the bus and had to catch a taxi to try and catch up to the bus. That didn´t work, so I ended up having a lovely taxi ride to Shannon Airport. It´d be the equivalent of taking a taxi from Harrington to the airport. Ouch. It would´ve been more expensive to change my tickets, however, so it ended up being the most practical thing to do given the circumstances of my stupidity.
Anyway..we made the flight and had a series of amazing flights over England and Central France and the Pyrenees, and arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday Night. I´ve only been here for two days but I am in love with this city. The avenues are broad and tree-lined, it´s relatively clean, the buildings are bright in color and the people are friendly and always enjoy when I try my broken Spanish on them. Oh, and the weather! I love the weather here, at least at this time, because it´s very comfortable (stays around 20 celcius for most of the day) and it has been sunny. This is compared with Ireland, which, on a "warm" day gets to about 15 celcius. Will and I have been sticking to the bus tour, which is a great way to see all of the big "sights" of Barcelona. Every major European city has these things, and you basically buy a "hop on, hop off" ticket and then do just that, camera in one hand and guidebook in the other. One of the coolest things about Barcelona has been the architecture by a man named Gaudi. I´ll post pictures up when I have time, but his buildings are nothing short of amazing, we even visited a park that he designed. The nightlife here is spectacular, and unlike Ireland the bars are open until around 6, and there is always a place to go for a bite to eat, although what they eat here can be pretty interesting (the grease coated octopus was a true gastronomical experience.)
The hostel we´re staying at, "La Pension Pairaso" is well within walking distance to the main "strip," La Ramblas, where most of the fun bars are. I just can´t stop beaming about this city though, and I seriously feel like I could spend a year here just living and taking in the culture. It´s so different than anything I´ve experienced thus far and really excites me to see the rest of "the world" in my marathon 2 week trip. I went to the beach today and took my first dip into the Mediterranean. That was also fun, and I was shocked to discover that not everyone goes to beaches clothed. Moving on...
So tomorrow around 7p.m. Will and I have to catch the ferry for Rome. Before that I´m going to check out a museum or two in dowtown Barcelona..at least that´s the plan. For tonight?...most likely going out with some new friends from the hostel and "hitting the town"..because there are always new places to discover in the evenings.
¡Salud!
-Nathan
"So tell me when will you be mine? Oh...cuando cuando cuando..."
So I´m in an internet cafe only paying 50 cents for a half hour (which is a golden deal compared to back in Ireland)....yes..that´s right...all of my school work is finished and I´m now embarking on the "Euro Extravaganza" I´ve been talking about in probably every one of my entries.
My journey here was pretty interesting though. Mom and dad are cringing right now...I missed my morning bus to the airport due to a snooze button mishap on my alarm clock. Luckily, I have a travelling partner (my friend Will)..who called me to ask where I was once he got on the bus, but at that point it was too late. Despite my best efforts to imitate "the Flash" (and if anyone here has seen me try and run fast, yes, it was pretty funny) I missed the bus and had to catch a taxi to try and catch up to the bus. That didn´t work, so I ended up having a lovely taxi ride to Shannon Airport. It´d be the equivalent of taking a taxi from Harrington to the airport. Ouch. It would´ve been more expensive to change my tickets, however, so it ended up being the most practical thing to do given the circumstances of my stupidity.
Anyway..we made the flight and had a series of amazing flights over England and Central France and the Pyrenees, and arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday Night. I´ve only been here for two days but I am in love with this city. The avenues are broad and tree-lined, it´s relatively clean, the buildings are bright in color and the people are friendly and always enjoy when I try my broken Spanish on them. Oh, and the weather! I love the weather here, at least at this time, because it´s very comfortable (stays around 20 celcius for most of the day) and it has been sunny. This is compared with Ireland, which, on a "warm" day gets to about 15 celcius. Will and I have been sticking to the bus tour, which is a great way to see all of the big "sights" of Barcelona. Every major European city has these things, and you basically buy a "hop on, hop off" ticket and then do just that, camera in one hand and guidebook in the other. One of the coolest things about Barcelona has been the architecture by a man named Gaudi. I´ll post pictures up when I have time, but his buildings are nothing short of amazing, we even visited a park that he designed. The nightlife here is spectacular, and unlike Ireland the bars are open until around 6, and there is always a place to go for a bite to eat, although what they eat here can be pretty interesting (the grease coated octopus was a true gastronomical experience.)
The hostel we´re staying at, "La Pension Pairaso" is well within walking distance to the main "strip," La Ramblas, where most of the fun bars are. I just can´t stop beaming about this city though, and I seriously feel like I could spend a year here just living and taking in the culture. It´s so different than anything I´ve experienced thus far and really excites me to see the rest of "the world" in my marathon 2 week trip. I went to the beach today and took my first dip into the Mediterranean. That was also fun, and I was shocked to discover that not everyone goes to beaches clothed. Moving on...
So tomorrow around 7p.m. Will and I have to catch the ferry for Rome. Before that I´m going to check out a museum or two in dowtown Barcelona..at least that´s the plan. For tonight?...most likely going out with some new friends from the hostel and "hitting the town"..because there are always new places to discover in the evenings.
¡Salud!
-Nathan
"So tell me when will you be mine? Oh...cuando cuando cuando..."
posted by Nate at
12:32 PM
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