¡Vamos a la Playa! Barcelona

By Friday we were exhausted. Luckily, we had 3 whole hours to rest on the train from Valencia to Barcelona. Which, actually, was the prettiest train ride ever. We rode right along the Mediterranean coast, and it was sunny and beautiful.

When we got to Barcelona, it wasn't so sunny, or beautiful, or warm. It was cloudy and gray and cold, more like London than we expected of Barcelona. We checked into our hostel and decided to adventure, only to learn that they were out of maps of the city. What? We don't need a map!

Despite the cold weather, Andrea, Casey and I really wanted to go to the  beach. Since Christina and Sarah weren't so keen on that idea, we split up, promising to reunite later at the hostel. We asked which metro stop was closest to Barceloneta, Barcelona's famous beach, and went on our way, armed with jackets, sweatshirts, towels, and my scarf to keep us warm. Upon getting out of the station, we realized it was a longish walk to the beach. Not anything like Valencia, but still long enough that we considered asking directions.

Barceloneta

We bought some pringles, sunny D, and Chupa Chups (the DELICIOUS Spanish version of dum-dums) and sat down in the (very cold) sand. We even, for some reason, took off our shoes and buried our toes in the sand. We watched the waves for a little while, then decided it wasn't worth the cold. Also, we were hungry. We gathered our things and put on our shoes, then hobbled on numb feet up the street until we found a restaurant that would let us sit inside, and wasn't so touristy that we could afford to eat there. I was in the mood for pasta, so I ordered that instead of paella. Andrea got the same, and we had a fun time trying to convince Casey to try one of clams (?) that were included in our meals. It was getting dark, so we went back to the hostel and hit the hay.

Day two we woke up to pouring rain. We are talking torrential downpour here...I haven't seen that kind of rain in a long time. It made me realize that every time I go on vacation, it rains for at least one day. Oh well.

We walked to the Barcelona stadium (home of the Barcelona Football Club) and took some pictures of Andrea and Casey for their Sports in the UK class. Then, Andrea's sixth sense kicked in, and she saw a kebab place just across the street. We crossed the raging river of death that was the sidewalk in front of the stadium, and made it to the restaurant without needing to break out a kayak and paddles.

please ignore the blue stripe...my uploader is trying to emphasise the amount of water in the photo
casey and andrea outside the stadium 

the raging river of death down the stairs

We figured since Barcelona only has one airport we would need to get there early. After all, it was a Friday afternoon, and we figured the airport would be busy. We got there, and it was dead. Security took us less than five minutes, and we found our gate in another five. Thank God for Duty Free and airport cafes, because we were very bored until it was time to board the plane. Off to Paris!