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| La Catedral |
| Erin's Barcelona Journals 5-28-02 Tuesday morning we arrived in Barcelona Sanc train station around 9:30am, exhausted from our long train rides. We had to ask someone just to figure out how to exit the train station, then figure out where the Metro was, then which line to take to get where we wanted to be in the city...finally we ended up at Catalunya station, which is at the top of La Rambla, a long and festive promenade down one of the nicer areas of Barcelona. Our destination was a hostel Glenn had located in our book, but when we arrived, we found it full. After checking a few more on the same street, we decided to get a phone card and call, rather than tote the heavy packs further. After 3 calls, we managed to find a place that offered a double room for 24 euros, the best rate we've gotten this whole trip! We found our way there, and were very pleased with the place. We had to share a bath, but the place was clean and the owners were nice. Plus, it had the added bonus of not shutting down during the day, so we could come and go as we pleased. It was located inside a mall entrance which closed up at 1am, but even that was not cause for a curfew: simply ring the bell, they told us, and they'd come and let us in! Very nice, especially at that price! After dropping our bags, I found that I was on my 2nd wind, and rather than taking a few hours to sleep as has been our habit after a long night, we decided to see a bit of the city until we ran out of steam. So first, we went back out on La Rambla to take in some of the local wildlife. There are a wide variety of street performers, as well as several 'districts' along the way. The first we'd passed on the way in was the bird district, where vendors had all sorts of birds and small mammals & rodents in cages for sale. They had everything from canaries, parrots and cockatiels to emus, goslings, and mallards, as well as ferrets, rabbits, chipmunk cousins, and hampsters. Local free pigeons would come hang on the birdcages to take advantage of a free meal, too! The flower district was next, and adjoined the local food market. This one was even bigger than the one in Florence, and had a mouth-watering variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, fish, etc. Careful not to repeat our mistake in Florence of getting lots that looked good and then letting it spoil, we didn't buy any fruit that day and instead found our way to a nearby restaurant for lunch. We experimented with some local cuisine and were pleasantly surprised by how much we liked it. Afterward, we went to the information booth near Catalunya station for a map and some info about the city, including local theaters showing original-language films. I had heard that other English-speaking travelers had seen the newest Star Wars movie here in English with Spanish subtitles, and I was very excited to go see it. We got a ton of information, including a recommended theater near the waterfront, and went back to the hostel to change and take a quick nap. We overslept a little, and I worried that we'd miss the movie. With our walking shoes on, we headed out to find the cinema, and found it further than we'd thought. With most of the city maps, we've found that things look further than they actually are. Not so in Barcelona - here, things look close but are actually a long ways off, so Metro whenever possible! Anyway, we arrived at the theater around 9pm, to find that one show had started at 7:30pm and the last wasn't until 10:30, which would get us back to the hostel well past 1am. We didn't want to be annoyances to the hostel owners on our first night there, so we decided to see the movie the next night instead, and grabbed a quick bite to eat before walking back. |