BARCELONA AND BEYOND

The next morning we got up before the sun had even thought of dawning. We caught the hotel shuttle to the airport, went through security, and hoped on the hour plane ride to Barcelona. We touched down in Barcelona to the beautiful weather and welcoming palm trees. After showing our passports about a bazillion times, we claimed our luggage and set out to find a bus that would take us to the center of the city where our Hotel was located. After overhearing some English women talking, we figured out which bus to take. On the bus we met a lovely couple, the women was Italian and the man was English. They were looking for Las Ramblas. Since, I had already been to Barcelona I knew that we all needed to get off at Plaza Cataluna, which was at the top of Las Ramblas, but I had no idea where we needed to go next. Hopefully the cute couple found their way because we had to walk up and down the streets dragging all of luggage until we found our hotel off the Ramblas.

Our Hotel was called NH Duc de la Victoria. As I said it was right off the Ramblas and it was walking distance (which is a relative term in my book) from practically everything. After checking in and putting our bags down, we and set off to find Parc Guell. Finding Parc Guell turned out to be quite an adventure. After getting off at the metro stop, we thought we followed the correct signs toward Parc Guell. However, somehow we ended up walking through hiking trails. After trying to interpret an old man, who spoke Catalan, I figured out that the hiking trails were actually part of Parc Guell and we just needed to follow them to the other side. My mom thought I was insane, getting us lost in Barcelona, but I have faith that my lack of direction will some how lead me in the right way. We made another stop along the way and I asked for more directions. We were sort of on the right way and eventually we did come to the back entrance of the park.

After much complaining on my parents’ parts, they really thought Parc Guell was spectacular. Once again Gaudi did not disappoint! Since, the park was up in the hills my parents also got a nice view of the entire city. We took the right way back to the metro. This time we did not get lost on any mysterious hiking trails.

We continued on to La Sagrada Familia, another Gaudi masterpiece. After getting slightly confused on the metro stops, we just decided to walk to the distant Sagrada Familia. We had an interesting treat in store for us on our walk there. As we were walking, looking like typical American tourists, I felt something cold and wet fall down on me from above. I started screaming, bird shit, bird shit, bird shit. Then my parents noticed that they were covered in this bird shit substance too. A man who was walking behind us offered to help clean us off. He said he lived right near by and would get us some water and paper towels. I assumed he was just a friendly Spaniard, but my mom knew otherwise. He was actually a scammer, just trying to pick pocket us. Of course mom did not say anything and we walked willingly into his trap. As he was trying to clean off my dad, he managed to finagle my dad’s passport out of his pocket. The scammer had me busy cleaning off my mom while he was working on my dad. Luckily, mom saw that he had my dad’s passport and I grabbed it from him. The man was not done trying to pick pocket us yet. He kept trying to clean off my dad while he tried to get his wallet in the opposite pocket. We realized what he was up to, and decided it was a good time to leave.

After being a little shaken up, especially mom, we continued on to La Sagrada Familia. I thought La Sagrada Familia was quite impressive, even the second time around, but my parents are such traditionalists. The liked the interior designs of the La Sagrada, but they prefer the Baroque and Neoclassical style cathedrals that have visited in Spain.

To avoid more pick pocketing attempts we decided to take the metro pack to the hotel. Unfortunately we did not avoid the scammers. One Indian girl pretending like she did not understand how to the use the tickets to get through the gates and in the process managed to unzip my purse. As soon as I noticed, I pushed away and yelled at her. The pick picketers were out in full force today. We concluded that my dad looks incredibly American, which probably suggests to most scammers please come steal my wallet. It was like my dad had a giant target on his back.

Back at the hotel we rested up and picked out at restaurant for dinner. The tour book listed a famous restaurant called Los Quatre Gats, which was frequented by none other than Picasso himself. We decided we take a stab at finding the restaurant, since it was highly recommended for its Catalonian cuisine and historical atmosphere. I asked the receptionist at the desk to give me directions. She said it was really close and only took about five minutes to walk there. This was not the case for us. We set off in the right direction but somehow ended completely lost and wandering around in the Gothic Barrier. Of course mom was getting really nervous, because this area of town has twisty roads and practically no street signs anywhere. After wandering around for a good half an hour, we were about to give up when we miraculously found the right street. The restaurant was awesome, and it was totally worth getting lost in the creepy Gothic Barrier. When we left the restaurant, we took the right way back and the receptionist was right, it was only a five-minute walk.