Saturday 20, 2011

Mom’s snoring is bordering on infuriating but I feel so bad kicking her awake when it happens, as she has insisted. She feels bad and tells me that we’ll come back early today for a nap. I do not argue with her.

We go to find where the train station is for our trip tomorrow out of Barcelona and into Florence. It takes a bit but we are both glad we know exactly what to do tomorrow when we all our luggage with us and are stressed about time.

literally everywhere
We then head back to Las Ramblas for a little bit of shopping. Throughout our trip we have been bombarded with people of all ages toting around Zara shopping bags. We have a Zara at home but it is no big deal and no one really shops there. Zara is their Forever 21 on acid. We decided to see what all the hype is about.

It was beautiful; I could have brought the whole store home with me. It was a thing of beauty. Mix F21 and Anne Taylor. Very well constructed garments in bright youthful colors. I tried on about 20 items and ended up getting a pair of hot pink/salmon chino pants. I felt very European. Mom bought an adorable white top with cutouts around the neck.

We go back for a nap before our 4:30 bike tour.

Cat nap then out to Uraguay. We meet the instructor/guide in a square and walk over to the shop to retrieve our bikes. 

We are joined by a British couple visiting for a long weekend and two cute Australian boys. Good thing I look like a homeless person. Whatever, I am comfy. The tour was lovely. The weather was perfect. Biking with a local through the city was a mix of tiding to major landmarks and riding through back streets with a history lesson and a little pit stop at a bar. (a glass of sangria was included in the trip yum)

Square that was used for firing squads. The holes in the walls are bullet holes!

The tour was three hours but I enjoyed every second of it. There were hardly any rough hills. But dodging people was quite the adventure. 

Men playing volleyball on the beach in basically thongs!

Its hard to get pictures of yourself on a bike tour lol

so happy

Our guide was fearless. Luckily she had on a neon vest or we would have lost her for sure. She was quickly maneuvering through tough crowds with the help of her meek bike bell.

After the bike tour I was famished! We walked to a place our guide suggested. Mom didn’t like the look of it so we went to Jaume ( our spot) and ended up back at the tapas place from the night before. We got significantly more this time and got two beers to celebrate the day.

We went back to Las Ramblas for some ice cream for me. Coconut obviously.

We had to find a new atm to use because the one we found was boarded up. What?!

Back at our hotel for shower. Felt amazing. Barcelona was playing in the soccer finals tonight. The town was a sea of Unicef jerseys and flags. 

While in our hotel we could hear the riot happening out on the street below. Oh man did I say riot? I meant the tiny bar below our hotel. It was craziness. Fireworks were being shot off at every goal.

We could have done something but we were so tired. We were skyp-ing dad and my brother and sister who were watching the game in Colorado in the middle of the day. Kind of weird!