Barcelona

Hola, mis amigos!
Got home from Barcelona a few hours ago...I had an amazing Ostern Ferien! First and foremost, I got to see Sarah, but in one of the most BEAUTIFUL places I have ever been. It was absolutely fantastic. The city looks like a scene out of Pirates of the Caribbean, it has this antique ocean-y flare but is also ultra modern at the same time. The balance is stunning.

I started out the weekend with a lot of sangria, which I thought was just wine but upon further inspection is actually chock full of booze) and paella, a spanish rice dish, which was amazingly delicious. It was a yellow rice with lots of fresh seafood in it (I've never had to eat a shrimp with its eyes still intact before, but I'll probably do it again). Sarah didn't get there until the next morning, so I kind of wandered around the area I thought was downtown, but actually wasn't. For the best though because everything was so cheap! It was nice to have alone travels again...and I met some interesting British people. It was interesting to hear about what they thought about the upcoming election in the States, they seemed to think that we're smarter than electing Romney. Apparently the whole world thinks he's an idiot except for a large minority of Americans, but I'm not so sure we're 'above' electing him.

The next morning, Sarah got to my hotel bright and early and we set off to explore. We walked all day, all over Barcelona. We stopped only for tapas and cheap wine. Tapas are awesome, but they add up pretty quickly because you have to get so many of them. Totally recommend though because you never get sick of anything and can always order more! We visited the Gaudi apartment buildings, which are crazy weird and cool. Basically he redesigned regular buildings to be more natural looking and the result looks like something out of science fiction novels. We opted not to go in, however, because Sarah had done it once and I couldn't justify the 20 Euro entrance fee (it was free to see the outside!)
The next day, we kind of bummed around the beach. I got a really weird sunburn from wearing my sunglasses all day (and three lovely mosquito bites!), but it was totally worth it! We got cervezas on the beach and later in the day happened upon a really cute, tiny local bar with live music. The music was sweet spanish guitar and the mojitos were strong :) I love little venues like that...the hidden gems that you either have to be lost to find or know where to go.

Gaudi apartment complex

After a sad goodbye to Sarah in Barcelona, I came back here to Bonn...but for the first time since I've been here boarded the wrong train. In Köln, I went the direction away from Bonn. Luckily, I figured out I had made an error and only lost about an hour. But out of frustration I ended up taking the S-Bahn home because it was late and I kept missing the train. It was only an hour...(for what could've been a 20 minute endeavor, I spent about 2.5 hours). No worries, though, because I had time and I've wanted to see the area more anyway. I now know that there's nothing east of Bonn but woods and houses. And also that I really need to update the songs on my iPod Touch...

little Spanish bar we found

In store for this week: my dad is here tomorrow! He's probably leaving Madison soon! Upon further research, we discovered his hotel is on the opposite side of town (Bad Godesberg) so that kind of sucks. I'm not sure how we'll coordinate, but I'm sure it will klapp somehow.



Bis später!!