Barcelona, Part II

So Day 2 in Barcelona, I wake up early (10am is very early here) and head out onto La Ramblas. It's this huge street that goes down the center of Barcelona. They have these live statues, which are crazy. They're people posing as statues and every now and then they'll start moving and freak you out.


Anyhow, went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona...whatever it's called. It was one of the tickets Miguel gave me. So I went over there and...it wasn't great. It was ok, but sometimes, contemporary art makes me wonder...where does art end and bullshit begin?


How is this good art? It looks like sqwiggles to me.

There were a couple exhibits I found interesting, but the funniest thing I found in the museum was this little French girl who's father is trying to take a picture of her with her Mum, but every time, she'd like run off. She was SO funny and her parents getting so frustrated in French. So I joined in and started taking pictures of her as well...

Look I got one! Isn't she adorable?!

Here's a funny picture from the museum as well:

Asian men ARE too small.

So anyhow, I left the museum and was walking down an alley street when I hear these guys speaking English. I ask them "Are you from the UK?" Turns out they are, and they're really funny, so I decide to follow them to wherever they're going. They're going to breakfast (at noon) at some restaurant they swear exists at the end of Piss Alley.

So my new English gent friends take me to Piss Alley...

My new friends, Andy Twat, Gaymie and Spam, in "Piss Alley"

So here's the story. Awhile back Gaymie (real name: Jamie) and Spam (real name: Sam) rented a flat for a week in Barcelona. The street/alley on which it was always smelled like piss, so they renamed it Piss Alley. HOWEVER, when Gaymie actually went and took a piss on the street the night before we met, the Spanish police tried to arrest him and kept telling him "You are PIG!"

Anyhow, after much wandering around Piss Alley, we finally find the restaurant, which happened to be called La Concha (which may be translated to "The Cunt")...lovely...


ANDY: I don't want dairy! It's cow's milk, humans shouldn't drink it.
GAYMIE: You're a twat!
SPAM: It's only 10 euros!
That was the gyst of the conversation for the next hour. These guys are real English blokes like the ones on the telly. They are so fucking hilarious I just decided to keep following them around.

We walked to Sangrada Familia, which is the #1 tourist attraction in Barcelona these days. It's this cathedral that is still being built. The story is (and this is what Sam told me he read while sitting on the shitter so if it's wrong, it's Sam's fault) that Gaudi, this super-famous Spanish architect was building this cathedral and became more or less obsessed with it. He eventually moved into the cathedral and spent day and night on the building. One day, he was outside looking up at the building when a tram came and ran him over. He died and it took them a couple days to realize it was Gaudi, not just some homeless guy. Anyhow, in the 1930s, anarchists burned the original designs, so since then, they've been trying to complete the building by guessing how Gaudi would have done it. So for the past 75 years, this cathedral has been in construction. I don't know when it'll be finished because as the Spanish saying goes "Manana (tomorrow)"...

But first, before we arrived at Sangrada Familia, we went to a pub (they're English...) and passed the Arc de Triomf...


Learned to skip...


And found out how much the Spanish loved us!


But now for pictures of the Sangrada Familia:



Yeah...my pictures aren't very good, but hey Andy...I caught a pic of the scaffolding just for you.

After Sangrada Familia, I convinced the guys to come with me to Mount Tibidabo. Okay, so here is why I wanted to go to Mount Tibidabo. Anyone that knows me knows that I am a Friends fanatic. (What an understatement!) But anyhow, in the 4th episode of the 8th season entitled "The One With the Videotape" where the Friends are trying to find out who initiated the hook-up between Ross and Rachel, there is the following dialogue:

JOEY: Okay. Okay. Umm…Ooh! Oh-oh, I got something. It’s this story I came up with, very romantic. I swear any woman that hears it; they’re like putty.
ROSS: Really? Well then tell it to me.
JOEY: Okay. Now you’re gonna want to have sex with me when you hear it, but you have to remember it is just the story.
ROSS: (sarcastic) I’ll try to control myself.
JOEY: Okay. (Clears throat) Years ago, when I was backpacking across Western Europe…
ROSS: (laughs) You were backpacking across Western Europe?
JOEY: Have a nice six more months Ross! (Starts to leave.)
ROSS: (stopping him) Okay! Okay! Okay. I’m sorry. Please, please, you were in Western Europe and?
JOEY: I was just outside Barcelona hiking in the foothills of Mount Tibidabo. I was at the end of this path and I came to a clearing and there was a lake, very secluded. And there were tall trees all around. (Whispering) It was dead silent. Gorgeous. (Softly) And across the lake I saw…a beautiful woman…bathing herself…but she was crying…
ROSS: (intently listening) Why?

Okay...so why did I HAVE to go to Tibidabo? They said it on Friends! Also...I like funny words. (I first went to Chipotle in Berkeley because I like the funny word, too.) So anyhow, to get to Tibidabo, you have to the take a Metro, switch to another Metro, then take a tram...or so we thought! Turns out, tram was closed we had to take a bus. (Huge debate over this, and yes, Spam, you won!)

So eventually we get up to Tibidabo, but everything was closing, so we ended up more or less coming right back down. Thank you boys for coming up with me, however! You guys are troopers, and now we have the following pictures:





The next day, I went up to another mountain called Montjuic with another new friend named Yaka, an American who was staying in the same hostel. Originally it was to go to a couple museums, but we were really hungry and finally we found the place and they had some great tapas, actually. Took some pictures here as well:




Yaka turned out to be quite a character as well. As is his friend Jeff. We ended up not having time to go to the museums and ended up MISSING THE PICASSO which I am still mad about, but we did some walking, shopping and eating. I don't have many pictures from the third day. I'll get them from Yaka and post them later.

SOOO...that was Barcelona! I plan to go back someday because I still want to go to the Picasso Museum. Also, it's just a great city! I met a lot of interesting people along my journey and had lots of fun. France has been pushed back because I got sick in Barcelona, but we'll see how that one goes. I talked to my friend John from Australia today, and I think we're planning Denmark for February. Lots of travels ahead of me.

But to all my new amigos from Barcelona, it was a pleasure.

Sitges

Hola amigos! I got back to jolly old England last night and promptly went to go pick up Lily at the Mac store. She's much better now, but the funny thing is...she's turned a bit British! They replaced my US keyboard with a UK one. The buttons are a bit different so I'm still getting adjusted to it.

Anyhow, back to Barcelona. This will be a two part entry. The first one focusing on my three days in Sitges.

I arrived at BCN airport and then tried to get to Sitges, which was no easy feat since I don't speak Spanish and most of the people on the train didn't speak English (yo habla Anglais?) but I managed and arrived seaside. After a walk along the beach, lunch and 2 bottles of Sol Damm, I went in for my siesta and didn't wake up until the next morning!

The next day, I had breakfast at 11am seaside at this quaint little cafe. Then met up with Gabe and was finally able to change up my camera! So here are some of the sights of Sitges:


Gabe walking on the beach holding his shoes.


Where I stayed.






Gabe and I sat on these steps waiting for the tide to get high enough to reach our feet. Everytime it did though, I'd miss the picture or my camera would be off. This is probably the best one I got.


I saw this local guy with a metal detector looking for treasures left on the beach by tourists. Thought it was a cool picture. He found a 2 euro coin while we were watching him.


Me in Sitges.


Me and my Spanish boyfriend.

Sitges, Day 3

Hola amigos. I´m still in Sitges and I got my camera working so pictures will be posted once I get back to London. I´ve spent three days in Sitges now, and I love this place. Wednesday, it was REALLY crowded and then yesterday...it was like dead. Turns out, Wednesday was a Spanish holiday so all these people were in town and yesterday, I felt like Sitges was my private beach.

My new friend Gabe came out to Sitges to hang out with me. We walked around Sitges, and then had tapas and beers for like 4 hours...just lounging around and listening to the sea. It was so pleasant. Everything´s so chill here.

I woke up today and got a massage (no, not a "massajee") and about to pack up and leave for Barcelona.

I´m on a Spanish keyboard so I can type "ñ"...tight. I wish I remembered some Spanish from the Fairmont and Delores days. I don´t remember shit. But it´s pretty easy to get by since SOME people speak English and Spanish and English are similar so you can just try to guess what the signs say and stuff.

Sitges

I´m in Sitges, a beach town about an hour outside of Barcelona. I got here yesterday afternoon. It took me forever to get from the airport to here because the RENFE (Spanish train) just kinda comes and goes whenever it damn feels like. Spain seems to be about that. It´s 12:30pm and there´s barely anyone outside. People tend to be lazier out here. The streets fill up with people like at 2-3pm but breakfast is served until 11:30am!

I´m having trouble because my camera is out of battery and the outlets are different here. I brought my UK adapter thinking it´d be the same as London, BUT of course, it´s different from that. SOO...hopefully I can find an adapter, charge my camera and take some pictures because you all have to see this place. It´s just...WOW. It´s like a cross between San Diego and Mexico meets Europe...I know, you don´t get it, but it´s really cool. The weather is great, too. Kinda like Cali "winter" weather. Like t-shirt and shorts during the day and maybe a long sleeve or sweater at night. Great change because London´s getting pretty cold these days.

I go into Barcelona city center tomorrow. :) Yay me! Just wanted to brag...I love my life.