Day 24

Day 24

Beach Day.

A much better day. I can´t complain about much when my toes are in the sand and I´m soaking up the sun on the water. A margarita and my man might have made the experiance a little more enjoyable, but my mood certainly improved from the day before and I am thankful.

Melissa and I ventured to Sitges. It was my second trip to the sleepy city and Melissa´s first. We layed out, played in the sea, and did some shopping. I´m pretty estatic about a beautiful black cotton dress I found at The Colors of Benetton. I love it!!! for almost 70 euro I better be wearing it everyday!

After our beach and shopping extravaganza, Melissa and I jumped back on the Renfe train to meet Ashton and Charli in Barcelona. Ashton and Charli had invited us to join them for a live flamenco shop at a local bar. After an hour or so of wandering, asking for directions, and wandering again, we finally found the bar, but not the flamenco. To our surprise and confusion, we stumbled into some sort of grunge band show... not quite traditional Spain.

We gave up on our quest and found an Irish Pub.

Day 23

Today was frustrating.

Like so many others on my trip, I feel as though I´ve crossed the line from being labeled a "tourist" to something else, what that is, I don´t know. We´re not even close to being locals, yet we´ve done all the cliche ¨touristy things. We´re tired, and school is becoming more and more pressing, as we all have a five page economics paper to write, a group project to coordinate, a confusing problem set to conquer, and two presentations to prepare. We don´t have much time left in Barcelona, our class trip to Madrid is looming, and our bus passes expire soon. We´ve all come to dread the hour long ride into Barcelona, where all the action and excitement happens.

I guess what I´m trying to say is that Saturday sucked for me.
I missed Texas. I missed Cody. I missed my family. I missed my Daddy´s superb seafood (Barcelona and Catalan cuisene have nothing on him).

Day 22

a wonderful, lazy day in Spain.

I got up just in time for breakfast, showered, and worked on my Economics paper. 

After getting started on my paper, some of the girls and I went into Barcelona for a little shopping and dinner. I bought a beautiful watercolor of Port Vell, the harbor here in Barcelona. I can't wait to put it in my bathroom with my artwork from Seattle of the harbor and my Paris purchase of the Seine and it's riverboats. 

Attempting new cuisine, we tried a Mexican restaurant called Rosa Negra. I must say that as a South Texas girl, I was disappointed, but I didn't go in with high hopes either. My shrimp, mushroom, and onion quesadillas were okay, nothing spectacular. 

Katie and I bought a bottle of Vodka at the campus store, Spaniards not only allow alcohol on campus, but they make it as easy as possible to purchase, and headed back to my room to drink and chat with a few other girls. A beer girl under normal conditions, the vodka was not very nice to me, and I woke this morning with a dull headache. I'm missing my Miller Light. 

Day 21

Today started off early. We met our bus at 7:45 to travel to Lleida, where the first San Miguel brewery is located. The tour of the brewery was quite nice. We did the standard, "these are hops, this is malt, you add the yeast and then its beer" thing. Then we walked through a non-descript door and a massive ship (well, a reconstruction of a ship) was waiting. We boarded the ship and watched a movie about the history of San Miguel beer. After the movie, we ventured to the bar for some taste testing and were quite surprised by the gift of beer glasses the brewery gave to the entire group. 

Melissa and I decided to try a Spanish McDonald's. The "1 euro menu" was amazing! I got chicken nuggets and a salad and split a coke with Melissa, all for a thrify 3.10 euro. I'm still quite proud of our value meal. 

After lunch we had more than enough free time before our scheduled tour of the Lleida newsoutlet, Segre. Escaping the heat was quite difficult, and we were excited to visit the second rate news station just for the air conditioning. 

Next we went to the town's cathedral, where the first stone was laid in 1203. It was very pretty and quite a workout as we climbed 243 stairs to the to of the bell tower that overlooked the city. 

Day 20

I'm finally getting a chance to update my blog. My trip to Paris wore me out and homework and school has been pretty time consuming, so I put my blogging on the back burner and caught up on sleep. 

Today I took a long nap after class and headed into Barcelona for dinner at El  Tropezon. The food was just as wonderful as our last visit, and the company was fantastic as well. 

Today's my daddy's birthday!!!! I really wish I was there to plant a kiss on his cheek and give him a big hug!!!! Happy Birthday Old Man! I love you!

Day 19

The highlight of my week was a wonderful box from my perfect boyfriend. He takes such great care of me and I am the luckiest girl in the world. 

Melissa, Karen, and I went to Casa Batllo, an apartment designed by Antonio Gaudi. It was absolutely amazing and totally worth the 13 euros entry fee. They give you an audio tour guide that helps you understand the intricate works of Gaudi.

Day 18

Breakfast. Class. Nap. Laundry. Trying my best to recover from Paris. 

Day 17

We squeezed in a trip to Notre Dame first thing Sunday morning. Our visit coincided with a mass, and we were allowed in during the service. I really enjoyed the beauty of this house of worship on a Sunday morning, although I still felt like a tourist, as I didn't understand a word of the priest's latin service. 

We grabbed lunch and headed back to the bus stop for our hour bus ride to the airport.  On our way, we ran across an awesome bird and flower market. The animals were so cute, and the flowers were absolutely beautiful!

The train back to Barcelona dragged on, and we arrived, exhausted and dirty, to our hotel around 1Am. 

I think we an amazing job at conquering Paris in less than 48 hours. I saw everything I needed to see, but a return trip may be in order with Cody to take part in all the romance a city like Paris offers. 

Day 16

We woke up early to get to the 11am Fat Bike Tour. Took some time to visit and get acquainted with the Eiffel Tower. It's kinda a big deal. We took tons of fun picture and explored the park before meeting up with out tour. The Aggie Connection is a strong and worldwide force as we found out at Pilar Sud of the Eiffel Tour. Here is where we met Sarah, a soon to be Aggie, Class of 2013, and her mom, Madie. We chatted with them for a while and got to know the darling mother daughter pair. 

We then headed off on our bike tour. It was an amazing ride, and a great way to see most of th important landmarks in Paris with a little bit of historical references thrown in by our guide, Kylie. After the tour, we met up with Sarah and Madie who invited us to dinner later. We headed to the Louvre, visited Mona Lisa and the Napoleon Apartments, and then up the mountain to the landmark Sarah and Madie had suggested. We enjoyed a beautiful dinner overlooking Paris at dusk and did a little shopping as well. 

Then it was off to see the Eiffel Tower at night, something Karen, Melissa, and I had been talking about all day. We managed to find a bottle of champagne in shop that was closing its doors and enjoyed our evening at the base of the world recognized landmark, taking pictures, and telling stories of life's adventures. We headed back to our hotel just after the tower, in it's best display of grandeur and beauty, twinkled at 1am. It was breathtaking. The best moment of the trip. 

Day 15

Paris Day 1

We woke up at 8, ate breakfast at the hotel and left for the airport in Reus. Our flight to Paris was on RyanAir, a cheap airline that flies within Europe. Our flight was kept interesting by an entire little boys soccer team who screamed and sang throughout the entire flight. It was so frustrating. Our landing in Paris was also interesting, as we sort of nose dived our way into the airport. But we made it, and all was well. Got to our Best Western Hotel with the most amazing roll away beds in the world and then headed out for dinner. We went to Bar Brassiere Flo. Amazing dinner with champagne and wine. I ordered the tartar at the english speaking manager's recommendation, and although it basically looked like raw a raw hamburger, it was delicious. Headed to bed after a long, tiresome day of traveling. 

Day 14

Today our Texas A&M planned excursion took us to the Monestir de Poble and Cova Museu de la Font Major in l'Espluga de Francoli. The monastery was quite beautiful, with is beautiful arches and "simplistic" adornments. I thought the details above doors, windows, and the alter of the church were quite beautiful and unique, but compared to the gothic styles of parts of Barcelona, I suppose the decor was "simple."

 Beautifully quiet, the Monastery of Poblet is one of the oldest and largest functioning monasteries in all of Spain. Built over 100o years ago, it at one time housed 100 monks and 40 laypersons. Now about 30 monks reside in the beautiful buildings on a hillside just a few miles from the village of l'Espluga de Francoli. 

After the tour we enjoyed a traditional Catalan meal. Salad, sausage and noodle soup, fish, and creme brulee made up the four course meal. It wasn't the best, but it was welcome to a hungry belly like mine. 

We walked through the town to a local cave which was more a second rate museum than an exciting cave, disappointing those of us with Carlsbad Cavern-like expectations. 

Hour and a half bus ride back to campus. Melissa, Karen and I are getting ready for our trip to Paris tomorrow!

Day 13

Breakfast, Class, Lunch, Nap.

After our siesta, we took  the train into Barcelona with plans to visit Park Guell, a park designed by the ever imaginative artist and architect, Gaudi. A cute gate welcomes you into the oasis of vegetation, water, flowers, and structures amidst the bustle of Northern Barcelona. We explored the park and I was pleasantly surprised to find the arches featured in a season finale of America's Next Top Model. 

We took many pictures and played around for a while before climbing to the top of a mountain in the park where several crosses have been erected. Also worth noting was the performer signing Elvis songs at the top of his lungs with a thick Spanish accent. Well worth the hike for that alone. 

We souvenir shopped our way back dow the mountain and hopped on the train back to the university. Melissa and I watched Twilight and drooled over the dreamy Rob Pattinson.

Day 9

Worst day of class ever. In my entire educational career I have never been so worthless and distracted. Rosella, our professor from Barcelona taught European Union Economics for 4 straight hours. I couldn't pay attention to save my life. 

But, the best experience I've had in Barcelona thus far saved the day! Kelli, Katie, Scott, Eric and I went on the Fat Tire Bike Tour of Barcelona. It was absolutely amazing. I suggest anyone traveling to Barcelona, Paris, London, or Berlin to do it! We loved it!

During the bike tour alone, we saw:

• Placa Sant Jaume - the Plaza housing two very important Catalan government buildings
  
• The Cathedral - a beautiful cathedral just off Las Ramblas that even the scaffolding and tarps of refurbishment and construction cannot mask
  
• Palau del Musica - a wonderfully interesting building covered in sculpture and decor
• Parc de la Ciutadella - the huge city park where people play table tennis, sunbathe, rent boats, and walk dogs
• La Sagrada Familia - The crown jewel of Barcelona, Gaudi's baby. 
• The Barcelona Beach - a fun ride along the coast was relaxing
• Santa Maria de Mar - a plaza were a flame still burns for the last Christians soliders killed there hundreds of years ago.

All these places were absolutely amazing. Our tour guide was witty, fun, and energetic and we enjoyed the ride. We asked our guide for dinner suggestions and he pointed us to Bar El Tropazon, the most delicious tapas bar hidden in the Gothic part of the city. We feasted on calamari, spicy potatoes, two types of mussels, pork kebabs, peppers, mushrooms, squash, delicious peppers(shown being "toasted" below), and spanish omelets. To top the delicious meal, we downed three pitchers of the most delicious sangria known to man, two of the cava variety, made with a white sparkling wine, and one traditional. 

Stuffed, we headed back to the hotel and stopped along the way for me to make my much anticipated purchase of "Aladdin pants." I'll let you know if I ever wear them. Kyle fell prey to the magician on Las Ramblas who slipped a scarf in his sock and we searched in vain for un bano.

Day 11

A rather quiet day.

Breakfast, Class, lunch. An awesome run up several flights of stairs and homework with my roomie, Melissa. 

Day 10

I finally got a chance to sleep in. The beds in our hotel may be lacking, but the dark shades on the windows are perfect. 

Karen, Katie, Amanda, Jessica, Josh, Rose, Rupal, Colby, Diana, and I left the hotel at 1 for Sitges, a beach to the west of Barcelona. After almost an hour of wandering around Passeig de Gracia trying in vain to find our R2 route, we stumbled upon the correct station almost by accident. A fun 40 minute ride on a double decker train later we were in the cute beachtown of Sitges. 

The beach here is beautiful with its soft sand and large breaking waves. We soaked up what sun we could on the partially cloudy day and people watched for several hours. Apparently Sitges is known as a gay and lesbian friendly area, which I read AFTER our visit, and the gays and lesbians were getting friendly all around us. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day to spend with fellow "leftovers," who have now become my friends. 

In search of food, our noses led us to the most fantastic aroma know to man; hot, fresh, chocolate covered waffles. We passed them up before dinner but promised to come back for dessert. 

After much debate and aimless wandering we decided to eat at Mamma-Mia, an italian restaurant near the beach. The food was good, I had Lasayna Verde, a green noodle, bell pepper, and cheese creation, and several others ordered delicious looking pizza. The sangria was disappointing and I regret allowing Rupal to taste sangria for the first time at this place.

As promised, we came back for our waffles. They lived up to their expectations and then some.

After scarfing down our sweets we headed back to Barcelona for Font Magica, a spectacular fountain, light, and music show at the base of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. Every Thursday through Sunday night, the fountain puts on a great spectacle throughout the evening hours. Tourists and locals alike gather around the area to watch. If anyone is looking for date ideas, this spot is quite romantic. Getting to Placa D'Espanya in Barcelona might pose a problem, however. 

Cody's African Safari Begins

For those of you who don't know, my fantastic, amazing, and perfect boyfriend is going to Africa on safari for about 12 days. Today marks his first leg of the trip. I'm pretty excited for him, and I'm gonna try to keep his adventures up to date as well. 

I miss him a lot, I'm wondering if having him in the eastern hemisphere with me will help. The northern one didn't do much for me, so I'm doubtful.