Barcelona

Our plane touched down in Barcelona at 3:00pm yesterday. We discovered we had no luck communicating with even the information desk, so we proceeded to take a taxi to our hostel in the center of Barcelona (a $40 trip, when the metro would have cost no more than $10....). Our taxi driver, via sign-lanuage, warned me to "keep my eyes on my purse" while on the popular tourist street, La Rambla. We thanked him for caring about our well-being!

We checked into our hostel, the Center Ramblas. For being our first hostel experience, it seems very nice. While checking out the common area, a leader from the Entertainment Team invited us to join in an outing for the evening. After some consideration, we embarked with a group of 7 strangers to experience Barcelona nightlife: 2 fellow Canadians (from Quebec), a girl from California, 2 girls from Turkey, a fellow from Mexico, and our tour guide.

We started the night off going for Tapas and Sangria at a restaurant on La

Rambla. Then

we headed to a performance of Spanish musicians, vocalists, and dancers. It was quite the show! All of our pictures turned out blurry because the dancers were moving too fast. We then caught the metro to Shoko, one of the clubs along the beachfront. Things were pretty dead when we arrived (though it was nearly midnight). We chatted for a bit, then decided to leave the club and go explore the beach. And that is where the fun began! Most of the group took off their shoes to frolic in the tide. A few of the girls got drenched by a rather large wave.... Then our adventurous fellow Canadians decided to go for a swim! We had to wait a while for them to dry before we headed back into the club, where the dance-floor was packed. Chad & I stuck around for a little while longer, then decided to call it a night.

This morning we joined a bike-tour around Barcelona. It took us to all the major tourist spots in downtown. Barcelona is considered to be a bike-friendly city -- but most roads don't have a bike lane, and the sidewalks are too narrow for pedestrians and bikes. So we were mainly in the Bus/Taxi lane, with vehicles flying by, mopeds and scooters zooming past us, and pedestrians darting across infront of us. It was very exhilerating. Some of the sites we saw include:

- the beaches (most artificial, one nude);

- the World Trade Center;

- the Arc de Triomf ;

- the Sagrada Familia (a church that began construction in 1881, and is expected to be finished in 2026);

- a monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World;

and much, much more!

After our fantastic bike-tour, we spent the day shopping for dress clothes for our cruise. Our only thing left to find is shoes for Chad (the cheapest ones yet are $60....). Still 2 days left here before our cruise!

We'll keep you posted.

~ Ash & Chad