Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Trains, Busses, Metro and Taxis... Oh my? [Barcelona Trip]

Oh boy.  Where to start this second crazy travel adventure...  Well, you all know what happened with the tickets, so I can skip that part.  I guess the easiest thing to do is start at the beginning.

Elle and I had decided that we would meet at Zocodover (the big plaza by the Fundación) at 7:15pm and then take the bus down to the bus station.  I left my house at 6:30pm, but forgot that it really doesn't take that long when I'm just going to Zocodover and not walking all the way to the Fundación, so I was there really early.  Like 30 minutes early.  I sat down on a bench near where we'd planned to meet and ate one of the two "bocadillos" my "mom" had made for me.  I finished my sandwich about the time we were supposed to be leaving and I still hadn't seen her.  So I walked all the way to the Fundación assuming I'd run into her as she was walking towards Zocodover.  But I got all the way there and she wasn't there.  According to Laura (her roommate), she had already left to find me.  Uh oh.  I walked (really fast) all the way back to Zocodover and finally found her... standing behind where I just sat for 30 minutes.  I didn't know she was already there and she didn't recognize the back of my head.  We both felt really silly...  We then caught the bus and made our way towards the bus station.

You'd think after the trouble in the first part of this story, we wouldn't have more for awhile...  You're wrong.  We got off the bus too early and had to walk the rest of the way to bus station.  I was alright with walking because I knew we were going to be sitting for a long time on the bus and train, but Elle's backpack was heavy, so she wasn't terribly happy.  It wasn't that far (and it was all downhill) and we made an 8:30pm bus to Madrid.  From Madrid, we had to take the Metro to the right station to catch the train.  We were there at least 30 minutes early (which made me happy!) and got on and settled in for the upcoming 9 hour ride to Barcelona.

Oh. My. God.  The train was definitely more comfortable than taking the bus, but it was like a freaking jigsaw puzzle!  The way the cabins were arranged was three sets of two seats facing each other.  Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be a problem, but when everyone wants to extend their seats as far as they go, you end up bumping legs, knees, etc.  Therefore, the majority of the ride (that wasn't spent sleeping) was spent thinking, "Ok, if I curl my legs just so and put my feet here, I can get comfortable while not bumping into the lady in front of me."  And it wasn't just me thinking that... it was everyone.  It there had been a video camera, I'm sure we would have looked ridiculous.

7:30am and we arrived in Barcelona.  The adventure of finding our way to the hostel is a long one.  To keep it short, we took the Metro and some buses and asked LOTS of people how to get there.  We finally arrived... at 10:30am.  Three. Hours. Later.  I was so happy to see a bed.  We had agreed that we would nap for a little bit (or shower) and then go back into Barcelona to walk around.  We walked into our little log cabin (yes, it was a log cabin) and I quickly realized that I should have brought a towel... because they only provided bed sheets and that was it.  No bath towels, no kitchen towels (we had a kitchen)... nothing.  I looked at Elle and she (very nicely) told me I could share hers.  I owe her for that.  So she took a shower while I napped and then we hopped back on the bus and went back to downtown Barcelona.

We got there and just walked up and down the big, famous street called "Las Ramblas".  It's basically a big pedestrian street with lots of little stores and kiosks and stuff.  And a big market.  My mom likes to say it's like Pike Place Market (in Seattle) on steroids.  It really is, too.  It's amazing.  So many different colors with the fruit, vegetables, ice cream, candies...  I wish my camera had been working so I could take lots of pictures of it all.  But it wasn't, so I relied on Elle to take some of the pictures I wanted.  After walking the whole street, we made it to the other end where there is a statue of Christopher Columbus ("Cristóbal Colón") and the waterfront.  We hung out there for a little bit and then made our way back towards the bus stop.  On our way back, we stopped at the Güell Palace (but didn't go in), the cathedral (which was free to go in, so we did) and the old government buildings.  We covered a lot that first day!  And we were exhausted!!  We got back to the hostel about 9:30pm and I took my shower.  After that we just relaxed and then went to sleep around 12:00am.

Saturday we got up around 8:30am.  We intended to catch the bus around 10:something, but we didn't think to check the bus schedule.  Turns out, the last direct bus left around 9:15am.  We then proceeded to spend the entire morning either on buses or waiting for buses.  We finally got to Barcelona between 12:30pm and 1:00pm.  We got off the bus and immediately went running for the Metro so we could get to the Sagrada Familia.  When we got there, the line was huge, but fortunately moved fairly quickly.  We went in (for 12.50€...) and looked around.  It was beautiful!  I'd seen it from the outside, but never from inside.  It was huge and pretty and amazing!  As with any cathedral, the stained glass was outstanding!  Plus all the detail everywhere...  I could have sat there and just watched and looked around for awhile.  But that's not the way we'd planned on spending the day, so off we went from there to the Parc Güell.

The park was, hands down, my favorite part of the whole trip.  My mom calls it the "Dr. Seuss park" and she's right!  If one didn't know any better, he/she would think they'd stepped right into one of his books.  Everything is just kind of... odd.  And very green.  Lots of plant life.  And lots of street musicians.  There is a famous statue of an iguana and we both went and took pictures with it.  We could have spent the entire day just wandering around the park.  Not only is it really cool, it's also really huge.  I think we literally had to force ourselves to leave the park because we had one more thing we wanted to go see, "Casa Mila" (a.k.a. "La Pedrera").

We left the park and walked our way toward the house.  We got close, but then we couldn't find it.  We wandered around in circles trying to find it, but each time we thought we were close, we realized we'd just got in another circle.  I was happy to wander around and try to find it, but Elle was determined to just get there, so we stopped and asked multiple people until someone pointed us in the right direction.  For all the effort it took to find it, we didn't spend much time there.  We each took our pictures and then headed back to "Las Ramblas" to wander around a bit more and then catch the bus at 8:10pm.  We wound up sitting by the waterfront for a bit and then walked our way back to the bus stop.  We sat at the bus stop for about 10-15 minutes and then the bus came.  We both fell asleep on the bus because we were exhausted from all the walking we'd done.

We got back to the hostel between 10:00pm and 10:30pm.  We got off the bus and on the way back to our cabin we discussed how we should get to the airport the next morning to catch our flight back to Madrid.  We knew taking a taxi was going to expensive (55-60€), but I also knew it was going to be the fastest way to get there.  Elle agreed it'd be fastest, but didn't like how expensive it was.  We stayed up until at least 12:00am discussing it and we finally decided on finding a different way to get there (that didn't involve spending 55€).  The final result?  (Are you ready for this??  I don't think you are....):

- Taxi from hostel to local train station
- Train from Villanova (where we were staying) to a different station
- A 2nd train from that station to a 3rd station
- A bus from that station to the airport.

The taxi picked us up from the hostel at 3:45am.  Yes... THREE. FORTY. FIVE. AM.  Waaaaaaaaay too early.  And we got to the airport around 6am.  It took a little over 2 hours just to get to the airport.  But we got there early like I wanted, but I was running on something like 2 hours of sleep.  I didn't sleep any on the trains or anything, so when we finally landed back in Madrid (around 8:15am), I was exhausted.  We managed to catch a 10:30am bus from Madrid to Toledo, where my "dad" met us at the bus station and dropped Elle off at the Fundación.  She got out of the car and we headed to my "grandparents'" house (because it's Sunday, remember... "Family" Day).  I walked in and everyone immediately started asking questions.  I explained the best I could (what with being tired and all) and then went to change my clothes.  I came back down, watched TV for a bit and then my "mom" all but ordered me to take a nap until lunch time.  I knew she was right, so I decided to not argue.  I slept for a little over an hour when my "sister" came and got me for lunch.  It helped, but I was still exhausted.

Lunch was hilarious.  We ate outside (like usual), but for some reason bees were everywhere!  My "brother", "sister" and "uncle" all went running into the house.  I was shocked I didn't go with them!  But I stayed outside and watched my "mom" and "grandma" make fools of themselves trying to kill them with fly swatters.  They kept missing and so it just looked like they were swatting at thin air.  At one point they looked at me and said, "You are going to miss us aren't you?"  I just laughed and said, "Yes... yes I am."  I am going to be a pro bee/fly killer by the end of my study abroad experience!  ... Well maybe just flies.  Bees still scare me.

After lunch we all relaxed for a bit and then my "dad" dropped my "brother" off at the bus station so he could head back to school and then, when he got back, we all headed back home.  I walked in, put my stuff down, showered, ate dinner and then was told to lay in bed with my computer (I was uploading pictures) so if I fell asleep, I'd already be in bed.  My "parents" went out to buy something for my "dad" and pick up my sister, so I was alone for a little bit. I was so tired that I didn't really care.  I climbed in bed and talked with people on Facebook so I'd stay awake until they got back.  I managed and my "mom" came in and was surprised I was still awake.  She made me a glass of warm chocolate milk (see??? Maybe it's not just a grandma thing!!) and a few minutes after that, I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so I said goodnight and went to sleep around 10:00pm.  BEST.  SLEEP.  EVER.

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