After we watched the Woody Allen version of our lives, Rebecca and I were convinced that Barcelona would be exactly like that. Okay, maybe not exactly, we didn't want to mess with Maria Elena. But if somebody came up to us during dinner and asked us to go to Oviedo, we would have been on board. And obvi Juan Antonio would be Jon Kortajarena - though technically he is with us, because of all the Metro ads:
We planned to start our day at 9 am. Rebecca's blackberry alarm goes off and I mumble something like "No, cannot, too tired." She's nice and actually rationalized this and said that if were tired and exploring that would be no fun. So Rebecca and I wake up at 1:30 pm...yep. Housekeeping knocked on our door at 9 am, but this time, I decided not to get up and "greet" them. We're super pleased with our hotel this time around, and Rebecca opens our window/door to the balcony (yes!) and it's beautifully sunny out. Warmth! We love it.
First, we needed some food. So we walk down a block from our hotel and find a cute little brasserie. This is going to be easy, because we know spanish, we think. So we ask the welcoming lady if we could have a menu. The conversation goes a little something like this:
Spanish Lady: Menu??? Quires ordenar todo el menu?
Me: No...no
SL: Lo siento, no entiendo ingles.
Rebecca:
[ insert lots of trying to figure out why she won't let us JUST order the pollo or the huevos... ]
Finally we get that the chalk-scribbled menu on the wall meant to say: 10.50 for a 3 course meal, appetizer, entree and a dessert. We manage to successfully order: I order the Catalan soup, a pollo dish and flan. Rebecca gets the same, but she chose huevos instead. The Catalan soup was delicious, and tasted really similar to the Waterzooi we had at Ghent, in Belgium! Points for being so cultured, we can cross-reference national dishes.
My first time trying flan! I think my taste buds had a heartattack from the sugar rush, haha!
Right after we finished the soup, the same Spanish lady gave us a thumbs up and asked, "Bueno?" Us: "SIIIIIIII, my bueno!"
[Interjection by Reb: So while we were eating, Micky looks out the window and goes WTF....I look and we both witness a trail of children connected by A LEASH....I DONT GET IT!!!
LOL
remind you of something?
The rest of the meal was amazing, and we also successfully managed to pay for our meals separately. We were doing pretty well. But then...we walked down some shady streets full of men who kept saying "Ni Hao" to us. Like literally one right after another. Butt-grabbing is a serious no-no, but the Spanish apparently failed to get that memo...poor Rebecca!! Sadface.
Here comes the highlight of our day: both of us were craving some fruits and hit up a mercado that we ran across while we were wandering about. I grabbed a nectarine and Rebecca had a handful of fruits. So we walk up to the young, Spanish lad:
Us: Hola!
Him: Entienden espanol?
Us: Si!
Him: Regalo, tuyos, guapas*
(*This is Rebecca's version of it, I thought he said "llegalo (take it), porque ellas guapas" Either way though, we were happy campers! FREE FRUIT! Should have stocked up my entire bag full, haha! Maybe being cute isn't always a curse....yay!
We hopped the metro to Sagrada Familia, which is incredible yes, but a little anti-climactic because of all the construction surrounding it. Hilarious, because my friend Daniel says it's perpetually under construction (he visited last year)! The queue was out the wazoo, I think we noticed the queue first, the actual Sagrada second. Oh queues.
Then we got lost for a wee bit (ew, Scottishism!!) trying to find the famous Diagonal Avenue. We asked people left and right, nobody seemed to know...what we were even trying to look for. But when we finally found it - it was like hitting the high fashion jackpot! Chanel, Hermes (no swanky art exhibit like it had in Brussels though), Hugo Boss, Burberry (which was GIGANTIC), Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo...we should have known - the best looking Spaniards work in these stores. And are not the Ni Hao-ers.
Later, we wanted to go home but got a little more lost...and there were a bunch more "Ni Haos." Why are Spanish men so forward??? More metro-navigating...we almost got on the RER by accident. Barcelona's metro is far cleaner and modernized than Paris' which was kind of surprising! I am obsessed with trains so I took a picture, hehe. Other things I took photos of: the building that looks like it was a mermaid mansion on Passeig de Gracia, the Sangria corner in every souvenir shop, this cool art sculpture on Avinguda Diagonal, los calles just because the palm trees make me real happy, and more!
But long story short: we missed our blog too much and decided to come home and "siesta" aka write to you guys!
So, Recap:
- Barcelona is far warmer (literally) and friendlier (NI HAO!), but probably equally as scarie as Parie at night...
- We love Spanish cuisine, just so long as they don't make us buy the entire menu...
- Free fruits for being guapa, win!
More adventures to come - tomorrow: Pablo Picasso Museum, Park Guell for some Gaudi, and hitting up the beach! The rest of the FSP is also in Barcelona too - Dartmouth takes Spain by storm, whattup.
[Where are our nun outfits when we need them]
[Where are our nun outfits when we need them]
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