Thursday May 26,2011

Just had  a surprisingly lovely breakfast in our hotel in Barcelona. Our travels to get to this point were a bit intense though.

We left Tampa at 11:45 am on the 24^th of May, arriving at JFK at 2:30 pm. The six-hour layover was made more enjoyable by the fact that the airport might as well be called a freaking mall. Mom and I split some soup and coffee @ Au Bon Pain,

The pronunciation of which neither of us are sure. I think it showed how tired we were that we actually spent a good deal of time arguing over it.

The plane ride into Spain was only a tad miserable. 

My headset in my seat did not work so I had to split moms headphones. Sleeping was near impossible and we only got about an hour sleep total.

We bought those doughnut pillows before leaving the U.S and were extremely optimistic about them helping us fall into a blissful sleep on the plane. We were literally crying we were laughing so hard and how in the world we were supposed to use these things!

 Found this hysterical online journal of a guy flying an international flight. Showed it to my mom and we reminisced over this exact dilemma.

We sucked it up because it was 10:30 am in Barcelona and we were forced out into the sunshine. We got on an Aerobus to the city. After missing our stop we got off at one that brought us closer to our location.

Our hotel:

-Has walls that make you think you are rooming with all of Spain.

-Wonderful bathroom, clean

-Location that is 5 min walk from Las Rables ( a.k.a the happening part of town)

-Beds that (while have clean sheets) make me contemplate sleeping on the floor because it may be softer down there.

-Mom keeps saying this is the nicest hotel we will be staying in. or at least the most expensive. I am officially nervous.

We allotted ourselves a two hour nap then ripped ourselves from the bed to eat and explore. We brought along a Rick Steve’s tour guide book ( I will refer to him as our boyfriend throughout this trip, he was our savior). We found a shabby chic little spot that had inexpensive vegetarian food. It was my first glimpse of how hard it is to be in a place where you sort of know the language and they speak faster than you can hear, let alone decipher.

 I had veggie lasagna which was more of a mushroom carrot thing with a noodle on top with cous cous. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious. But more of a treat for the taste buds than the eyes. 

Which is how I would want it for sure. ^ see how cute it was!

We then walked around the Rambles and the pier. The weather is beautiful. Sunny and cool with a breeze. Amazing

Huge monument statue thing for Columbus. So cool

The statue was in the middle of a round-about. This is one of the lions on the corner looking out

Some blissful onlookers

We wernt on a boat tour. More like forced by mama Jelnicky. It was fine but an hour and a half long. I was literally falling asleep on a table when we docked.

 One of the few pictures of the two of us

 Las Ramblas

So peaceful

We went to the Marc de Boqueria on the walk back to the hotel. This is a huge street market right off of Las Rambles. 

We missed it the first walk by. How? I have no idea. Its huge

Nom Nom Nom

There were fruit stands, nuts, beggies, meats, fish, candy, gelato. It was all flung at you from every turn. I ended up getting some cocnut gelato ( yummy) and two apples and a huge red pepper for later.

Sleep felt like forever but it was really just till 1:27 am. Then falling back to sleep was painful.

And now we have come full circle back to breakfast. Like I said it is glorious! Bread with a sort of tomato spread with tomatoes, prosciutto, cheese and meats. Fruit, eggs, bacon, cereal, espresso, yogurt (coconut flavored). AMAZING!