Alas I leave Spain tomorrow.
I'm going to miss it a wee bit. I went end out and bought myself new cords so all my devices charge properly. And then I went on another free walking tour to see famous buildings built by the Spanish architect Gaudi. Interesting stuff. Made me want to be an architect. I considered it at one point. As I was looking for a place to eat lunch I found a place that sells hot dogs and French fries. It's funny to me that all the signs on their wall are in English and all the music they play is in English, but I'm not sure they understand what the signs or music say. The sauce they give you to eat your French fries in- is mayonnaise. But it's really good mayonnaise. I thought that was just a Belgium thing, but apparently it's a European thing. Another thing that they do is they give you bottled water with a cup. Too fancy to drink from a plastic bottle. I think some places in the U.S. do that, but it should become more universal. This is the part where I want to say WHO'S WITH ME? And then you all agree to make changes. If only change was that easy. First we need to unite behind something. First step cups and water bottles. Next step politics. After that I went to Montjuc which is a castle museum in a beautiful park close to the beach. I didn't ever get a chance to go inside because I met this guy from Bulgaria and we hung out for a few hours. Well I better pack my stuff up for tomorrow. Cheers friends! Next stop is... Well I have another layover in Paris (3 hrs) and then 5 hrs in Milan, and then Naples! But you have heard how reliable train travel can be. I'll keep you updated.
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After church today I took the train to a Spanish town called L'Ametlla de Mar. My train pass lets me use trains whenever I want and I wanted to see more of Spain. De Mar means ocean right? That's why I chose it, I thought the beaches would be good. I was right.
It seems like no one here speaks English, not even a little. Not the guy at the train station and nobody at the restaurant spoke either. I kind of love that. I kind of love that I'm in a town that seems to be in the middle of nowhere where I am completely annonomous. You know, I've been planning this trip since October. I bought myself a plane ticket for my birthday. When I pictured what it would be like I pictured myself sitting on a Spanish beach. That was today. There's something I love about being alone in nature. It's like I think more clearly. I suppose I don't necessarily need a Spanish beach... In Cedar City I had a pretty awesome rock. I don't make any amazing discoveries, but if you want to read about what I was thinking about go to iwandered.weebly.com/3 That's about all I did today, fulfilled my dreams. Um Barcelona is AMAZiNG!
Truth be told I was a little worried because I speak 0% Catalan and .005% Spanish. You know how I was saying tourists are the worst? Well I should be eating my words today because I was 100% tourist. Everyone here speaks English. I think the whole of the British Isles comes to Barcelona for vacation. So many British dudes in this hostel. Actually the other Europeans I've talked to have all said Barcelona is the party city. Last night I speak most of my time in the hostel common room because that's the only place where wifi is available, and all the chargers in my room were taken. I sat in the corner and kind of people-watched. I actually took notes while I was droppin' eaves. Learned some interesting things. I took a free walking tour today, took notes and pictures like a true tourist. Our tour guide was actually from Wales. Her accent was really similar to Hermione Granger. Is she from Wales? Lunch was was actually really fun. You know those restaurants on the street that post their menu and then pull you in where you can eat on a table looking at the street? Well that happened to me, only they pulled me in and they didn't have any free tables. So I sat in the part of the restaurant where the cooks were. They were all super friendly. I kept taking pictures of my food (ya I'm THAT person... But I've never had cuttlefish!) and the waitress told me to give her my phone so she could take a picture of me. And then a waiter joined. And then she took a selfie of all of us. That's my Instagram post. Then we chatted about traveling in Barcelona- one of the waiters was from the Dominican Republic. He offered me free coffee. I souvenir shopped a lot. Cheap stuff because I'm like that. Saw a lot of Roman streets, and medieval squares, that was cool. I walked down to the port, didn't make it down to the beach though... I'll do that later :) There's this awesome store that I wrote about for a whole page in my journal. The store has maybe 8 different levels-, about 4 are devoted to clothes, there's one for appliances, one for furniture, one for electronics and musical instruments, and the basement is a supermarket. They had a serving counter for everything, it felt very posh. The posh posh traveling life, the traveling life for me. They had a serving counter for produce, for fish, for beef, for deli meats, and huge counter for cheese. They were giving out free samples of cheese and I took one and was delighted. I actually went and found that kind and bought a slice. Fruit, croissants and cheese. That's what I bought for dinner. I'm real good at this European thing. I've always been a little apprehensive about fancy cheeses. What if they're too strong and I spent all that money for nothing? Well my friends, this one was delish. All the food I had for dinner was delicious. In fact I'll attach a picture. On my way home I was sitting on a bench waiting for the metro and this guy sits down and starts speaking French to me. Interesting that in Barcelona he assumes I'm a French speaker? We have a little chat in French. See what I mean? These Europeans are so friendly! And MUCH more flirtatious than Americans. I met another French man on the train yesterday and he was trying to help me do a French crossword puzzle. When he left he showed me a traditional French goodbye (not as annoying as when you do it Kyle ;). I know now I spend most of my time talking about the people I meet, but that's the best part! I also like to sit and people watch. I'm like an American spy. I hope to be an expert on European behavior by the time I return. IF I return. |
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