BARCELONA, SPAIN
6th May 2002 to 8th May 2002
How Gaudi is this place....
Some Gaudi Buildings, these type buildings are everywhere...very unusual designs
Got up at the ungodly hour of 5.30am to catch a bus to the train station. normal time to station - 5 minutes, bus time - 45 min. remember we are but humble backpackers and have to save deniros wherever we can.... so bus it was.
We met 3 Aussie travelers whilst we were waiting for the bus. 2 guys and a girl. The guys had been working in Aspen Colorado (USA) during the winter and had just flown to Europe to go to Monaco to see if they could get work on one of the cruise ships for the next 6 months or so... how cool would that be!!! Trying to convince Rob that that is exactly what we should be doing:)
The kids were going to Barcelona too, so we had traveling buddies for half the way, they then went to cattle class and we sat in our very comfortable 1st class cabin...hehehe.... Europass for over 26´s is compulsory 1st class... so not complaining. The train trip was excellent, I'll give that to Europe .. it's train system is fantastic!!!! it certainly is a great way to travel.
Took us 7 hrs and we finally arrived in Barcelona.
Now I have to tell you, whilst having lunch at this cafe in Madrid, we started chatting to this black American dude who had just come from Barcelona.. and he told us that there was a place in Barcelona called "la rumbla" that we just had to stay away from as it was a bit seedy.... now coming from a black American... is serious stuff... I mean.. hey!
So Rob got the fear of god in him, (especially after Amsterdam), Barcelona transformed itself from an exciting new Spanish city to the place from hell, with nothing but scum bags of the earth hiding in every dark nook and cranny, in fact, he was convinced that all the Moroccans were waiting to grab his new daypack.... soooo we decided to stay in Barcelona only 1 full day and spend more time in the French Riviera and Italy.
Now this is not a bad idea, I mean helooooooo, French Riviera?, But I also know that Barcelona was full of weird buildings all designed by Gaudi....(thanks to the discovery channel), so I knew that Rob would change his mind,,, but as any good wife should know, you do not argue with your husband.. you know all that obey stuff ..:)
After spending an hour at the train station phoning around to find a place to stay and after about 30 "żablo inglese?".... we decided to brave the "element" and do what we normally do, arrive at a place and send Rob out to find accommodation. We ended up in the centre of Barcelona (very close to La Rumbla) and found a lovely hostal. We then went for a walk and guess what?.... Rob was pleasantly surprised....Barcelona Skyline and more
We walked up this street called Passieg de Gracia, and I was in shopping heaven again.. everything was here.. and I DO mean EVERYTHING!!! Prada, Channel, Issy Miyaki, Calvin Klein, Donna K, etc etc....yip, you guessed it there was a hell of a lot of drooling happening again. I love it here!!! Even better than Paris
There are also a lot of weird looking buildings designed by Gaudi and as I imagined...Rob was enthralled too:)
A Gaudi designed building
We planned to get a better look the next day and also go to a church that had taken over 200 yrs to build....and was still being built:)
For those of you who don't know who Gaudi was...
Next morning woke up and went past Temple of the Sangrada Familia. You have to see this to believe it... now I know why it has taken them sooooooo long to build! We then walked down "that " street La Rumbla and it wasn't really that bad... but then again it was raining so the "element" (as we now fondly call all thieves and Moroccans) might have been inside.
This led us to the harbour and there we came across the Statue of Columbus, who points the way to America.
As I mentioned, it has been raining all day, and both Rob and I were drenched, Rob has offered to buy umbrellas but I won't let him. I absolutely refuse!!!! to buy a friggin umbrella, I have come to Europe for summer.. the rain will not get the better of me....pah!
Rob in the rain on La Rumbla
As we were hurriedly making our way back up la rumbla to get to the internet cafe, I mentioned to Rob that I must look like a drowned rat, because all these people where just staring at us.. or at me... and I know I'm pretty and all, but really now... Rob looked me up and down and casually told me that my zip was undone.... yip... not a little bit, or half way... or anything, but the whole zip....all the way down and gaping... and to top it all off, I was wearing black underwear...sooooooo... now I know... I almost died!
Well on that great note, that was Barcelona.... we will definitely be coming back though because there's a hell of a lot that we have missed. Look at this:)
Can't wait to get there and also to get to Ibiza next time... Anyway amigos, we are off to Nice tomorrow, for a planned 5 days. Just checked the weather on CNN and guess what... good ole rain for the next 5 days.... oh well..... I just might have to buy that umbrella... aahhhhh now that I think about it.... reverse psychology... yip! ...that should work
Adios......I'm off to secure some good weather