Hello Spain!

Howdy all

Hope all is well and you are still enjoying the nice warm weather!!
Here the weather is getting better and it is starting to heat up.

So this week was all about the city of Barcelona!! And what a city it is... For anyone that likes and enjoys history, architecture, culture and a warm sea, this is the place to be!! It is one of the prettiest cities around.

So on Monday I got up at 5:30am to leave with Geert to work to catch the train to Schipol at about 7 in Deventer. Was a nice cold moring with ice everywhere, but a nice way to see the sunrise. I was at Schipol at around 8:30 (nice and long train ride yes...) and the plane took off at 10. As this was a cheap airline, they charged you for checking in luggage, so I decided to take my bag as hand luggage forgetting about the liquid rule. (you only allowed bottles of 100ml or less) This meant half my toilet bag was subsequently thrown away... The flight was not bad though, just that I barely fit into the seat space as my knees were right against the chair in front of me. I finally landed 2 hours later in a sunny Bacelona where the fun began...

I got off the plane and headed for the exit, only I couldnt really find the correct one or the one I needed to take. Needless to say I walked around the airport like a headless chicken before eventually finding a train sign lol. I then finally found the train but had no idea if it was the correct one so just got on. Turns out it was the correct one and made it to my stop and on to the hostel. This was a modern 12 story building with a terrace on the 3rd floor, which was the common area and also had a gym and indoor swimming pool across the road. I checked in and went to my dorm room where I settled in and went to take a look around the place. I then decided to go walk around and see if I could go buy some of the things that got thrown away. I found a small shopping centre and bought some things before heading to Mc Donalds for some supper. I then headed back to the hostel and just hung around for a while before finally talking to a Portuguese guy that was also there alone. We just chatted for a while and had a beer before going to bed.

The next day I got up around 8am to clear and sunny skies. I showered before going down for breakfast and then got ready and left to the centre of town to take the hop on hop off tour bus. I spent the next 9 hours or so touring and exploring the whole city of Barcelona. It stared at the Plaza de Catalunya, the centre point of the city. From there it went on two routes around the city and you are allowed to get off at any stop and change routes whenever you want. It runs from 9am till 7pm and you can do it the whole day. So I saw every important and big tourist attractions of the city, from the gothic town and cathedral to the Segrada Familia to park Guell to the castle on the top of the mountain to the Agbar Tower with its 4500 LED lights that light up at night and ofcourse the FC Barcelona stadium! It was really amazing and awesome to see. There are a lot of old buildings and old style buildings that are really nice. They are quite a few architects that they mentioned on the tour that designed all of these famous or popular buildings. Also the sculptures and art pieces around the city. I think the city is well known for this. I also took a walk down the most famous street in Barcelona, the La Ramblas. Its 1km long and has almost everyting along it, from hotels to shops to restuarants to bars... you name it, its probably there. There were loads of people as well, especially tourists... a pick pockets dream lol, as the city is known to have that problem.  For lunch I had subway :) and sat in the square for a while before setting off again. Once I was done, the weather had started to get a bit bad so I headed back to the hostel to get some food and warmer clothes. I decided to have some tapas for supper as they said it was a famous thing there. But what I got was not what I expected... instead of the stingy little portion back home, they brought small bowls full of food and when I asked for a beer I got a half litre mug!!! :P

After I stuffed myself, I went to the hostel and to my room, where an American guy had just arrived. I said hello and introduced myself, as did he. He then asked if I wanted to go watch the football in a bar with him and agreeded. So off we went to the train station to the one part of town and watched the game with a few more beers lol... it was really good. When we got back to the hostel, they were planning to go to the club and thought we would join, but nothing happend so we just took a taxi ourselves and went. It was a smallish club full of tourists, which meant nice and expensive!! We had a few beers before calling it a night and going home.

The next day the weather had not got better and seemed to want to rain. I went for breakfast and just as I started eating the rain came down, nice and hard... So I packed up and decided to hang around there for a while as I did not feel like running around in the rain. I then left for the airport and 8 hours of travelling later I was back in the town of Hardenberg, where I shall be till Monday.

So all in all I thought it was a really nice trip, even though it might have been a bit short, Im glad I didnt go longer as the rain would have made it crap.

Monday I leave to go back to Tom in Helden where I shall be till the Europe tour starts the following Tuesday! (Time is running out!) Next weekend though I am coming back here to join them for a nice fishing trip they are going on. :D

So I shall post again after I have caught the biggest fish of the day and hopefully won a prize for it!! ;)

Here are the much anticipated photos:
http://www.myalbum.com/Album=NTMAKKUC


Untill then stay safe and party hard!!
Cheers

Michael