Barcelona, SPAIN (Stop 1: EuroTrip 2008)

The beginning... May 25, 2008

This is it!! Graduation has come and gone, and what better celebration could we have planned than an amazing trip through Europe?! I can’t believe it is finally here! I’ve been looking forward to a backpacking adventure since I was a kid, but I never actually thought it would actually happen- especially at such a perfect time, with such wonderful people.

When we started planning this trip, we considered going the carefree route. Get dropped off in one country and wander around with no place to go, exploring the world as it guided us in whichever direction it wanted. Sounds magical and chaotic and wonderful, doesn’t it? Sadly, we are on a budget, and that lifestyle just does not fit in. Not to mention we have so many wonderful places we want to see, it felt like too much of a gamble to leave it up to chance. So here we are, on the plane headed to our first destination: Barcelona!

We got a great deal on tickets roundtrip from Iberia to and from Barcelona. That pretty much meant we had to plan our itinerary to circle around Europe and get us back to Barcelona to fly out, so this is what we came up with.

Stop #1: Barcelona. Four days in the land of tapas, sangria and Gauddi. We’ve booked our first three hostels ahead of time through Hostels.com. They have a great selection and you can search by area, price, and get customer reviews which is always helpful. There are other ways to crash while backpacking- particular through Couch Surfers (people put you up) or even in convents. Weird right? We’ll see if any of those turn up in our sleeping futures. Then we pack our bags (huge backpacking packs! So legit!) and take out first Eurail train to our next destination, France!

Stop #2: Paris! Three magical days with the Eiffel tower, Champs Elysee and baguettes with Nutela! So exciting! I wonder if I’m going to remember (or have the courage) to use any of my high school French. After Paris we head off to meet my parents in England.

Stop #3: London. Time to meet the Queen and say hello to Big Ben. I’ve been to London before, but I was 10, and remember very little of the trip. I’m excited to get to explore the city of the Brits now that I’m older. My parents happen to be there at the same time for a work meeting, so we’ll get to at the very least meet them for dinner one night.

Stop #4 is Amsterdam. Land of the Dutch. I’m so excited to Amsterdam! The architecture, the red light district and those amazing brownies of course! I doubt if Libby, Biss and Arin will join me, but I’m down for whatever I can get my hands on.

Stop #5: Munich. Time to see what the Germans are all about and get a sense of the land of my ancestors. To tell you the truth, I’m not very excited about Germany- for some reason I can’t get past the German-Jewishness of it all, and it holds no appeal to me. But I’m sure some beers can change that. Too bad we won’t be there at the same time of Octoberfest.

Stop #6: Interlaken, Switzerland. I had never heard of Interlaken before planning this trip. Normally you hear of Geneva or Luzerne, but everyone we’ve spoken of, suggests we go to Interlaken. It’s supposed to be a small town between two beautiful lakes in the mountains and they’re known to have some pretty awesome outdoor activities and sports and things. Not to mention delicious chocolate!

Stop #7: We then move back down to Italy where we’re exploring the most cities. Rome, Venice, Florence and Cinque Terra, which sounds exactly like paradise. Little colorful towns on the side of the ocean. I can’t wait for Italia! Food! Culture! Beauty! What more could you want!?

Stop #8: Nice, France. Because who doesn’t want to end the trip with a couple days at the beach?

With that, we head back to Barcelona for our last night in Europe, and to fly back home. Something tells me that this will be followed by a long week of napping.

How amazing does this trip sound? Even sitting on this lane it still doesn’t seem real. It’s going to be one fantastic adventure, and I couldn’t ask for a better group to do it with. Libby and I get along flawlessly- there is no one in the world I would rather share this experience with. The boys are fantastic- super enthusiastic and willing to try whatever heads their way, and Lindsay will meet us halfway through the trip to round out the wonderful. I’d trust her with my life.

I will say that with all of that in tow, there are a couple things that are keeping me on my toes. Budget for one. It’s scary to go abroad for a month without knowing the actual costs of everything that is soon to show up. Packing was also a bit difficult. We had to pack everything we could into our backpacks, so the list includes of very minimal items: 3 dresses, 2 pairs of shorts, 4 shirts, pajamas, flip flops and 1 pair of sneakers (2 socks). The things that take up the most room are actually our toiletries, but when you are literally living out of your suitcase, those are major necessities. Let’s hope we made smart decisions!!


Here we go!! Can’t wait to put those 10GB of memory cards into good use! Now off to Barcelona!

BARCELONA, SPAIN
May 26-29, 2008

DAY 1 (1)

Our flight got into the airport around 2:15pm, after a short layover in Madrid. It was insanely overwhelming to be dropped off in a city with no clue where to go or what to do upon arrival. We got lucky that our first hostel gave us directions on how to arrive, and we made that our first priority- to check in and settle in, even if only for a few minutes.

We managed to get our backpacks on, exchange some money at the airport and take a €4.50 bus ride into the Placa Catalunya. It happened to be only a few blocks walk to the Place Urquinaona, where the hostel we are staying is located. We really lucked out with our first hostel- it’s called the Gaudi Youth Hostel, and it’s in prime location (only 5 min walk from Las Ramblas, the pedestrian street of Barcelona). We’re sleeping on bunk beds, 16 people per room, but the hostel has a great bathroom with hot water, a kitchen, TV room, and free internet. It’s extremely quiet (no alcohol allowed, and lights out at 11:00pm) but everyone who works here is very helpful and friendly. The other travelers are great, too. There’s one guy here from Rome and two others from Brazil who live in London.

We took a walk as soon as we had settled in and found a delicious buffet to have lunch. Then we headed a couple street over to Las Ramblas to see what the fuss was all about. It was a beautiful stone paved street, quite long, extending all the way to the water front and the aquarium. As you walk down, the street vendors, live statues, bars and restaurants follow down the pedestrian paths calling out to tourists and entertaining for petty cash. Located on this street is also the Grade Theatre de Liceu and La Boqueria, a large indoor food market full of beautiful in season fruits, vegetables and of course delicious baked good and meats.

After mingling with the tourists for a bit and taking our mandatory drink from the Fonte de Canaletes (legend says that if you drink from the fountain on top of Las Ramblas you will return to the city), we sat down for some people watching and to share a couple of bottles of Sangria and a baguette before calling it a night and heading back to the hostel.

DAY 2 (2)

We had a lot to see today, and in a city as small as this one, we managed to do most of it by foot. We started out walk down the street in a  much needed search for a cup of coffee. After sitting in a small shop to have breakfast, we started out first day of real tourism in Europe.

We saw the Palau de la Musica Catalana (from the outside- it was closed today), an amazing melding of Gaudi style architecture and modernism. After checking out some beautiful post cards of the interior, I’m sad we missed out on the mosaics inside. We then headed to La Ribera where we went to the Picasso Museum to see the current exhibit and over 3,200 pieces of his work. The small side streets where the museum was located was so picturesque: street performers playing, balconies above with clothing drawn out to dry; so adorable. We even ran into 2 backpackers there that we had met in the Madrid airport during our layover (Matt and John from GWU) and Jackie Littman (a UMD theatre major). What are the chances? It really is a small world.

Since the weather was rainy, we decided to try some activities indoors. We headed to the chocolate museum, after a quick lunch at a small café (AMAZING sipping hot chocolate, and sandwiches). The museum was also closed, but it gave us some free time to walk around and get to know that area a little better. We spent a good part of the afternoon wandering around the Park de la Ciutadella by the zoo and Parliament, before getting a quick view of the Barce version of the Arc du Triumph. We headed back to Las Ramblas to try to see the Palau Guell, but by the time we got there, it was closed for the evening.

We ended up going further north instead to Gaudi’s biggest unfinished masterpiece, the Temple Explatori e la Sagrada Familia. From the outside, the Cathedral is breathtaking, definitely a Gaudi piece. It’s full of detail, but it looks almost like a gigantic melting sand castle. Inside, the church is practically an empty construction site. They are still trying to finish Gaudi’s original vision for the Cathedral, but moving in slo mo it seems. We climbed to the very top and honestly, it was pretty frightening to be that far off the ground (especially those narrow circular staircases- oh my god!), but it was well worth it for the spectacular views of Barcelona!

After the Sagrada Familia we walked 3 miles to the Casa Mila, the house in which Gaudi lived and renovated here in Barcelona. It absolutely was not worth the trip. The courtyard was beautiful, it almost looked like all the walls were covered in watercolors, but the building was pretty lame. After the Casa Mila we sat down for a paella dinner before heading back to Urquinaona and our hostel. Arin had a headache so he went to bed early, but Mike, Lib and I shared a bottle of champagne during a night walk to the Barcelonetta Beach where we relaxed overlooking the ocean and the Spanish sky. A very happy ending to our first full day abroad.

DAY 3 (3)

We spent a large part of our third day at he Parc Guell, inspired and partially built by Gaudi. We climbed up to the top of the mountain and got to see a beautiful view of the city (if only we had blue skies). We walked around the park and found the Gaudi benches (the world’s largest park bench, beautifully covered and rainbow mosaics). So so beautiful! Some of the structures in the park (also covered in mosaics) looked almost like they were made out of candy. We spent some time playing on a playground (how I love swings!) before trying to find our way out of the park after a 45 minute lost hike through the park mountains. 

     We took the metro back to our area to have lunch at a delicious little sandwich shop, followed by magical European gelato. Best one yet, Nutela! We somehow ended up at the Santa Creu Cathedral which is a beautiful old cathedral close to our hostel. It was stunning from the outside, but we were too in love with the band playing live music outside on the courtyard to have the courage to see the interior.

      We then made our way back to Barcelonetta beach where we took a quick nap on the sand before heading back to the hostel to figure out our tickets to Paris the next morning. We decided to spilt for dinner since the boys wanted pizza and Lib and I were craving baguettes and cheese from the Mercado. It was a beautiful night to sit outside and drink some wine in the park with out baguettes. 

     The boys joined us (a box of wine each, minus Arin) and we finished our wines and headed for a night out on Las Ramblas. We managed to get a couple blocks down the street before being persuaded to go into a bar where they were playing Brazilian music. Once we were in there we each got a promotional Mojito (faves!) and shot (mine doubled for sweet talking the bartender with my Brazilianess on Brazilian night). That was enough to put us over the edge with our wine. I remember trying to get to Jamboree (the club that had been highly recommended to us by some friends back home) but getting shut down from going in because we weren’t on the list (and obviously too drunk to stand). Other than that the night is a big blur. Thank God Arin is sober and could guide is back to our hostel save and sound. Apparently we were flirting with random men on the streets the entire night, falling down drunk, laying down on the dirty pier, and trying to persuade the boys to go home and let us find a place to dance on our own. Jesus, what a mistake that would have been. But either way, how appropriate that my first blackout would be in the biggest party city in the world.

Quote of the night: “They’re not trying to help you, they are trying to rape you!”- Mr. Arin Dubrov Foreman.

DAY 4 (4)

Today was our last day in Barcelona. We have seen everything we were hoping to see, so we decided to keep it light today in preparation for Paris tomorrow. We went to the train station early this morning to book our tickets out (it is so much more complicated than we originally thought. I don’t know how people hop on and off trains. Most trains need additional reservation and additional feel from our Eurail passes. (Money bummer number 1!). After we had it all settled, we chilled at the beach for about an hour, got some more delicious gelato and returned to the hostel to get our bags to leave for Paris.

The trip has been fantastic, but I don’t think it hit me that we are country hopping until we got to the train station heading to Paris. We entered the train and our “bedroom” compartment- six bunk bends in a space the size of our Knox Box bathroom. It was insanely compact, but so amazing. It really felt like we were backpacking (which I know, we are…) but still- I loved it! Mike and Arin slept on the top bunks (MAYBE 2 feet from the ceiling), and Lib and I in the middle bunks (we got lucky at window height, so we got to see some beautiful sights of Northern Spain and South of France as we drifted to sleep). So beautiful. Train rides are really the best way to travel- comfort, speed, and awesome views of the country side. And the best part? We woke up in PARIS!!

Barcelona, SPAIN (2008)