Day 4: Police on Rollerblades

Didn't get a chance to blog yesterday because we were frantically travelling.
Let me tell you how we travel because I don't think I wrote about that yet.
Micky is very chic and efficient so she was able to cram everything into her longchamp bag.
On the other hand, while I was packing, I was thinking about all the outfits I needed and face creams and make up and shoes (i brought 3 pairs of shoes on this trip, no judgement)....so i have a big ass backpackers bag. (Uncle Seok bum gave this to me...thankssss uncleeee!!)

yeah, you can't see my head from behind my bag, so?

We went to the Musee d'Orsay yesterday because the Louvre was closed.  It wasn't nearly as big as the Louvre but the exhibits (we heard) were far superior.

Yesterday wasn't actually that interesting, we went last minute souvenir shopping (I got presents for ppl ;]!! ) And just tried not to move around that much.  I understand why turtles move so slow now...it's hard carrying your home on your back!

Funny story- All weekend we had seen people on rollerblades all over France...and we were all what?!  

However, we didn't realize how serious this rollerblade epidemic was until yesterday when we were standing outside the Louvre and we saw POLICEMEN ON ROLLERBLADES...rollerblading in the street like they thought they were cars of something...idk

We took a bus to the airport (I finished the first volume of the Tenant of Wildfell Hall) and we waited for the plane in an Illy coffee shop.  Here comes the travail:  We found out our plane was delayed 35 minutes--so our plane would arrive at 12:15 instead of 11:40...which usually wouldn't be a problem but Micky looked up bus times from Girona to Barcelona earlier and she found that there was a bus that went to Barcelona that left at 11:45.

So, if everything went wrong, we'd be stuck in Girona which was 1.5 hours away, probably crying and probably in danger.

Micky was very worried.  I was not because I'm stupid and I figured that something would happen that would save us.  (I should do something about this blind optimism).

Thankfully, we got to Girona, there was a bus, and we made it to our hotel unscathed! yayyyyy

That was our boring day yesterday.

But here's a story that I thought about when we were in the museum.

Interjection inspired by Delacroix

Delacroixxxx!!!!

So Micky and I were  looking at an exhibit featuring Delacroix.  I was very happy because I am obsessed with Orientalism in 19^th century art!

In one of the pieces, there was a man smoking a hookah in a harem and this made me remember my trip to Edinburgh LOL. Since this trip to Edinburgh was technically a Travel and this story recounts a Travail, I’m going to include it.

A lot of the Glasgow Darties had met up with the Edinburgh Darties the night before and this night we wanted to go on a pub crawl, which is essentially like a frat circuit but for pubs.  I was not feeling it and was adamant about finding a hookah bar.

Everyone else was ambivalent so I was like, “If I find out where it is, we are going!!!” and because no one thought I’d actually be able to find one, they agreed.

This is how I enacted my plan: 

I went to the bartender and said, “So are there any hookah bars around here?”

He started laughing and said, “Sure there are three right in a triangle on the end of Blah Rd.”

Delighted, I replied, “Omg!  How do you get there!”

He started to laugh again and said, “Let me print you a map.”

I sat at the bar happily sipping on my gin and tonic thinking about how jolly and friendly the Edinburgh bartenders are.  Also I was feeling victorious because no one thought I was actually going to make this work.

He comes back, circles the bars and gives me the Yahoo map print out.

I come back to my Glasgow group triumphant and push all of them out of their chairs and we start to walk.

And walk.

….and walk.

The neighborhood is getting shadier and shadier, and it’s nighttime—I am glad I forced the boys to come too.

Finally, we get to a corner with red lights all around and we stop to look at the map.  This is where we are supposed to be.

We look around and see fluorescent signs that say things like “Lap dance!” “Legs!”

I say, “OMG, hahahaha wouldn’t it be funny if he thought I said ‘hooker’ instead of hookah!?”

We look around and see three hooker bars right in the places where the bars on the maps are circled….

Then I realized why the bartender was laughing at me so hard.

Fuck.

That’s how I learned that in the UK you ask for SHEESHA bars NOT hookah bars.

Anyway, we're in Barcelona and we're gonna meet up with Jon, Henry, Joie, Nora and Katie hopefully!!!!  i miss my FSPpl 

I like Barcelona MUCH better than Paris...we had a few mishaps (i think mick's going to talk about them) but the vibe here is just so much raw-er (?) and more authentic.  Plus I can speak Spanish reasonably well which makes my life x12983019283012983 easier