Barcelona round two

So on May 13 Lori decided to conquer her fear of flying and boarded a plane all by herself and made the flight across the Atlantic Ocean to come see me! She arrived on that Saturday and from that point on I didn’t give her a minute to rest. I took her on a walk through the city shortly after her arrival and tried to take her out that night but instead went to a long dinner and trekked across the city only to arrive at our destination club and decide we should go home and get some sleep instead of going in. Why get some sleep instead of going in you ask? Well the next morning Lori and I got up super early and crossed town to the shuttle to take us to Beauvais airport, “Paris’ low cost airport”, so we could board our plane to Barcelona. This would be my second time in Barcelona as I went out there in October to visit Sotiris, a friend from Pepperdine studying aboard there, however, it would be the first time for Lori. We got a hostel right on the beach which turned out to be a great location but the hostel was only so so. When we arrived we were pleased to find excellent weather, perfect for a day at the beach. Thankfully since we had taken such an early morning flight, 9 a.m., once we arrived and took another hour shuttle ride into the city we still had plenty of daytime left. We settled into the hostel, ate lunch then hit the beach. As mentioned before I had been to Barcelona back in October, and while I had a blast and definitely rank it among my best vacations in Europe so far, I didn’t have the chance or the weather to enjoy its beaches. So this time I was super excited to be able to soak up the sun on its beaches and escape the chilly Parisian weather.

After enjoying our time on the beach we decided to clean up and walk around the city some. We strolled Las Ramblas like typical tourists and ate a very late dinner like typical Spaniards. Being too tired to do much else we called it a night after dinner and returned to the hostel. This is where we decided the hostel was only so so. Seeing that the walls didn’t go all the way to the ceiling, leaving enormous gaps, the hostel was extremely loud. Come that morning we could hear everything happening within the hostel. Even still, due to our crazy German roommate who apparently couldn’t sleep but instead chose to walk in and out of the room brining in various people who turned on the lights the next morning, we wouldn’t have been able to sleep much even had the walls been complete.

That morning after being forced awake, we got up and went to see Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. This would be my second time seeing it, Lori’s first. But considering it’s a must see in Barcelona I couldn’t let Lori miss it. This time however, instead of going up the front spires as I did last time, we opted to go up the back spires. However, the elevator was not working as we found out after getting in line. We decided to make the trek up the spires by foot which turned out to not be too bad as it was a long line and went very slowly. We had a great view of the city and enjoyed our time but were anxious to get back to the beach since we were blessed with another fantastic day of great weather. So we hurried back, grabbed some beer, and enjoyed relaxing on the beach for as long as we could. Once the sun started going down it started getting chilly so we had to retreat back to the hostel. We got cleaned up and set out with the two British guys in our hostel room for a dinner of paella and sangria. We found a great restaurant near our hostel and had a great Spanish meal. Afterwards the four of us set out to enjoy the Spanish nightlife; unfortunately it started raining and was a Monday night so it wasn’t all that great. Nonetheless we found some nice bars along the beach and still managed to have a fun time despite getting soaked in the rain.

The next morning we were forced out of our hostel at 10 a.m. which was way too early for Lori and I considering we didn’t get home till about 5 a.m. the night before. However, determined to enjoy the last of the beach Lori and I put on out bathing suits and packed up our stuff and made it out of the hostel by 11 a.m. (upon them telling us we seriously had to get out of there) only to discover it was cold and rainy. Being extremely disappointed and exhausted we changed out of our bathing suits and took our bags to the bus station where we put them in a locker for the day as we weren’t supposed to leave Barcelona till the evening. We set out for Parc Guell on Danielle’s insistence that it was a must see. It is a Park done in Gaudi style that I had not seen on my first visit so I was willing to go and see what it was all about. While it was worth seeing the weather kind of ruined it for us as we were cold and tired and couldn’t get the great view of the city as you normally would had the weather been better. We eventually made our way back to the bus station where we picked up our bags and started the long trip back to Paris. We made it back late that evening and as usual it was back to work for me on Wednesday.

While extremely exhausting, as expected I really enjoyed my second visit to Barcelona. Still ranks high on my list of favorite cities as it can always provide a great time and a great meal of paella and sangria. While this trip ended on a down note with the weather, I was still very thankful to have received the 2 days that we had of great weather and to have had at least some time to escape the weather in Paris and actually relax on a beach for a while.

Below Lori and I are on the beach in front of our hostel...look how pretty and warm it looks!