Travel Series: Barcelona

Yes, I realize that I technically have one more night here in Barcelona before my flight tomorrow morning, but at this point, the plan is to chill, have a nice late dinner and an early bed time for the next day of travel. So nothing particularly exciting is going to happen in the next 2 hours that is worth mentioning. I could be wrong, but I highly doubt it!

My journey to Barcelona started with a sad fair well to my travelling companion Sara. Her bus left earlier than mine and I needed to stay at the flat to check out with Dior (our host for Paris). As I sat in the flat waiting for the check out time alone, I was struck with sudden fear and anxiety. I was going to have to figure out where to go and travel alone. I mean, for the most part, I have done a large bulk of the navigating (more because of my own hubris than Sara's lack of navigational skills). So I shouldn't have doubted those skills, but at the same time, I knew that I was the only mind to come up with ideas and many a time I have benefited from being able to bounce off ideas and validate my ideas through Sara. Dior was running a few minutes late, but I had a good 2 hours and 45 minutes until my bus. I gave myself plenty of time because I wondered how easy it would be to find the particular bus station that I was leaving from. It turned out to be well labelled and easy to find and as a result, I had to do a little waiting around until I could check in and then get on the bus.

The bus journey was a wonderful (said sarcastically) 15 hour journey with a (1 hour stop for dinner and a 30 minute stop for snacks/bathroom). It started off a bit nerve racking though. The other reason I was anxious about travelling alone is because I felt at risk. As much as I hate to admit it, I feel vulnerable as a woman travelling alone. A kind Spanish gentleman began talking to me as I was putting my bags on the bus. He spoke only Spanish and we conversed in what was broken Spanish for me and fluent Spanish for him. I did my best but I felt rusty and hadn't expected to be confronted with the language so quickly. I tried to be nice, but there was a voice in the back of my head that was immediately questioning his motivations for talking to me out of the blue. It didn't help that when we got on the bus, he proceeded to take the seat next to me. I had a mini anxiety attack, and spent the first hour or so trying to put as much space in the seat between myself and him. Of course, these suspicions were unwarranted and he really did want nothing else than to be nice and I also got the sense that he wanted to protect me like a father would to his daughter.  The ride was long and my butt hurt through much of the journey, but I have to say, I'm getting pretty used to it.

We arrived in Barcelona a good hour early, which wasn't necessarily a good thing as that meant it was 4am. The directions I had to my new hosts, Isis, apartment required me to find the metro. There were  no signs in the bus station, but I figured I could at least find a map (often at individual bus stations) or the Metro itself. Turns out I have bad luck with picking streets and I ended up wandering for a good hour trying to find a Metro station. I would learn later that I wandered quiet far towards the centre of town. I did eventually find the metro and I was not too upset as I knew that I had lots of time and the kind gentleman had informed me that the metro doesn't really start up until 5:30 am. I followed the remainder of the directions and had no difficulty finding the flat. Isis kindly let me in at an early 6am and I proceeded to take a nap in the lovely room that she provided.

When I awoke a few hours later, I felt rather refreshed and ready to start my adventure in Barcelona. I knew the first thing was to get food and Isis, who was also up, kindly showed me the grocery store as she also needed to make a trip. I then had a belated breakfast, grabbed the remainder of my snacks from my travels and went out exploring. One of the major sights in Barcelona is la Sagrada Familia, which is a large church that is still in the middle of construction. It is a large building and has a modern/contemporary feel. It looks almost like a sandcastle (pic below). I then attempted to wander towards La Rambla and completely failed. I quickly learned that Barcelona was going to be one of the most difficult cities to navigate (in my lost wanderings I found my way back to the bus station that I arrived in from Barcelona). I don't mind the wandering too much and did eventually find my way to the coast. I didn't actually find the beach but instead went after the number of old buildings I could see. This included a stop by the Cathedral. Entrance to the Cathedral is free in the early morning and late afternoon (after 5:15pm). It was about 3:30 and I decided to wait, by reading and enjoying the sunshine, and then entered during the free hours. Before this I also stopped by Starbucks, which I wouldn't normally mention, but this time it was significant. With this Starbucks purchase and with Barcelona being the last of the "new" countries that I will visit in Europe, I can officially say that I have had Starbucks in every country (where it is possible to get Starbucks, looking at you Italy) that I have visited. This is sad, but I thought it worth mentioning. By the end of the Cathedral,I was struck by how exhausted I was and decided to head in early for dinner and some relaxing. Isis and I spent the evening chatting a bit and sharing dinner while watching a spelling bee type game show (in Catalonian of course).

The next day, Isis had offered to take me to La Castillo, an old fort that sat on a mountain near the coast of the city and then invited me to Japanese food with some of her friends. The mountain that the Castillo was situation on meant that we had to trek up it a bit. Along the way, we saw the art museum, the Olympic stadium and a few parks. There was a small fee for the Castillo but it allowed us to get a spectacular view of the whole city as well as the coast. Unfortunately, it began to lightly rain and the cloud cover made the view a little foggy. We didn't have a lot of time and went to meet up with her friends at the Japanese restaurant. Her friends were really nice and all greeted me with the traditional Latin tradition of kissing both my cheeks. Unfortunately, while I know Spanish decently well, I know very little Catalonian, and that is all Isis and her friends spoke through the meal. I made many attempts to follow the conversations and occasionally picked out enough cognates that I could get some idea of what they were talking about. But between the speed and the foreign language it quickly became difficult to pull out individual words and my mind often had difficulty separating the voice from the surrounding background noise. I didn't mind too much as it was fascinating to see how a group of people speaking a completely foreign language communicate. You could pick up a lot from body language and gestures. Also, I was once again struck by the normalcy of it all. I could imagine a similar situation in which I was with a group of my friends talking amicably and excitedly with them, full of jokes and laughter. It made me even more home sick (home includes both Oxford, Indianapolis, and Kansas City). I also couldn't help but contemplate how hard it must be for foreign students not very proficient in English to be out with people who are fluent in English and quickly jabbering away. The food was very good and reasonably priced for the amount of food. It was quite a late lunch, however, and Isis and I were quite worn out by the end. We turned into the flat and after a quick skype call with my parents, Isis did my nails and we watched a Japanese drama that her and her friends had talked about earlier. Isis and I both have a love of Japanese culture. After a very late dinner, I turned in, ready to hit much of the remainder of Barcelona the next day.

The next day, I woke up early and had a quick breakfast and then set out for a destination that I was really looking forward to, Park Guell. The park is famous for being designed and constructed by Gaudi and is the beautiful vibrancy that I expected from Barcelona but hadn't experienced yet. The park is free except for the region specifically built by Gaudi, which only allows 400 visitors per half hour. I went ahead and begrudgingly paid for it and I honestly felt like it was worth it. His architecture is so beautiful and after and hour in the restricted section and another hour wandering the remainder of the park which also happens to be on a hill overlooking the city, I was quite pleased.

I returned to the flat for a quick lunch and then finally went to La Rambla. Rambla is a main street about a mile or so long that has plenty of shops and general touristy things. After picking up the remainder of the souvenirs I needed to get for family and admiring the street, I moved on to see the beach. On the way, I passed a lot of what I saw the first day, but there was an added twist of a flea market which had hand crafted goods and number of food stalls. I avoided them in favour of the beach, at least at first. The beach was beautiful and I took the time to dip my toes into the Mediterranean (so I can say that I have been there). I read a little and sunbathed for a little as the weather was warm, but the clouds began to roll in for the evening making it a little less nice. On my way back I succumbed to the smell of warm food and the realization that after today, I would be in the US and no longer legal to drink, I grabbed a nutella crepe (because I can't seem to get enough) and a authentic Catelonian beer and sat near the marina to consume them. All in all, it was a great day. I came back to the flat, did some work out routines including archery reversals and now I am writing this blog.

Barcelona is probably the most modern city that I have visited. Most countries in Europe are trying to maintain the historical buildings they have, but Barcelona seems to want to create new history with new and contemporary art. I really admire its beauty and climate and its unique feel when compared to the rest of Europe. It was also really fun to see random bits of art in places you wouldn't expect (See below). Another thing that struck me was how political the people were. Isis and I never talked about it directly, but with her friends and the city in general, the independent vibe is very strong. I don't mind this so much, and merely find it intriguing to see another country/city that is so entrenched in its politics. I imagine Quebec must have a similar vein. Overall the trip was a good one and I had many moments of fleeting beauty, in which the moment was twinged with awe and sadness. Awe, because the beauty of the moment, and sadness, at the knowledge that the feeling would not remain. I am so grateful to Isis for hosting me. This couch surfing experience has been another good one and the housing situation is much nicer that even places that I have paid for. I am looking forward to going home and seeing my family, but this is also twinged with a little sadness. With how well this trip has gone so far, I feel a bit like a wimp for wanting to head home. Or maybe these feelings are just the beginnings of all the homesickness that have threatened to leak from my eyes over the last 6 months. Either way, the next adventure is my home. I may post in a week if I feel a particular culture shock, but otherwise, I'll post at the end to summarize my trip. I hope it will be a great trip of seeing family and friends and getting a taste of the parts of America that I love and miss from my time abroad. Until next time.

Adventures Await!

KH

Travel Series: Paris

As I sit here waiting to check out from our flat in Paris, Sara gone and feeling a little bit of fear for the first time on this trip, I thought it best to look back and blog.

After getting to London from York, Sara and I had some time to kill. So we walked around London and maybe got lost in Chelsea, but ultimately finding our way back to the bus station in plenty of time for our bus to Paris. Megabus is a wonderful thing and for only £25 and 11 hours of our life, we arrived in Paris. I slept most of the journey, now fully amazed at my ability to sleep anywhere on public transportation. We even met some fellow Americans who were studying in Vienna and travelling for Spring break. All in all it was a fairly restful journey for me.

I thought we were going to be an hour late, and had warned our host, but it turned out my fears were unfounded. We called her, from my phone, which for the first time actually worked, and then went to meet her. The directions were fairly straight forward and in less than an hour we were at the doorstep. It was pretty amazing. The woman handed over the keys and for the first time in all our European travels we had no trouble getting where we needed to go. We spent a few moments settling in and then went to get groceries. With some of the maps the owner had provided we were able to find our way to the centre of Paris. We had planned to go to the Louvre, but a quick internet search informed us that it was closed on Tuesdays, so we settled for exploring with some direction towards Notre Dame.

The first moment we stepped out of the metro was probably the most awing moment of the trip. We stepped out to see a stone lion and a number of monuments fringed in gold near a beautiful park. While it had been foggy when we arrived, the sun had come out in waves and I was actually a little hot in my coat. We walked towards the Louvre admiring its structure from afar and then passed it along the river towards Notre Dame. On the way we found the bridge with all of the locks and made note, as Sara and I had made plans in York to put one on the bridge for our undying sisterly love. We found the island where Notre Dame was and were once again confronted with its beauty and grandeur. There is sort of a soft elegance to the rich gothic architecture of Notre Dame. Sara and I also had to hold back from breaking out into "God help the Outcasts" from Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame. After taking plenty of pictures, we stopped to get some souvenirs and our first crepes. They were more than delicious and after only 2 hours of walking, Sara and I agreed that we were too exhausted to see anything else. We walked our way back to the Metro, remarking a peculiar street that only had florists and pet shops, and went back to the flat. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching that most wonderful Disney movie and eating dinner.

We were clearly exhausted, as we woke up the next morning after 10 hours of sleep. We had a nice breakfast and then made plans to visit the Paris Opera, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. The Opera was very pretty and only a quick stop for pictures. We had most of the afternoon to visit the Louvre and we knew it wasn't going to be enough time. The Louvre was as magnificent as most think, though the rooms and perhaps number of art pieces as actually small considering just how big it is. We saw all the famous ones as well as their extensive statue collections from Greece and Rome. We didn't visit it all, but saw more than we expected to. Getting tired of looking at art after about 3 hours, we left for a quick bite to eat and then made our way to the lock bridge before going to the Eiffel tower. We surprisingly found a place on the bridge to put our lock, took pictures and moved on to the biggest most famous thing in Paris. It was a fairly long walk, perhaps more deceiving than one might think (asside: We can walk to the Willis tower from here! No problem). Along the way we past some more famous landmarks and buildings, each as beautiful as anything we had seen prior.

As we approached the Eiffel tower, we were surprised by how small it seemed. It wasn't actually that small, but given the feeling you get from movies and such, it seems small. There are skyscrapers much bigger. We didn't go up into the tower, we had no interest in parting with that much of our money, but we did grab some more crepes and enjoy the surrounding parks. It was Sara's goal to stay until the dark when the lights of the Eiffel tower turn on. It was beautiful but at the same time, Sara and I both agreed that we didn't feel any awe at the sight. We felt surprisingly blasé about the whole affair. We chalked it up to the fact that for the most part, we must encounter what it must be like to live in the city from a native's perspective. There is nothing mystical or awing about that. I will admit though, when the tower lit up, I may have felt a little bit of awe which I felt had been lacking. We headed back to the flat and did the ab workout routine I had neglected for two days and some archery reversals. We planned for our travels the next day and checked on things. We made an attempt to go to bed early in order to get up earlier the next day.

Unfortunately, the alarm I set was an hour off as my iphone did not change time zones for some reason. As a result, we woke up a little late, but this was not overly problematic. Our check out time is at Noon and my bus leaves at 2:45. Sara had to leave earlier around 10am, as her Megabus back to london is at 11:30. So, here I sit in the flat waiting to start my next rather long trip to Barcelona. I will hopefully arrive at 5:45am and in doing so successfully navigate to the woman that is hosting me. To be honest, I am terrified. This will be the first time I travel alone and for four days I will need to fend for myself until my flight home on Monday, which I am looking forward to with all my heart.

Paris is a beautiful city and I may come back before my time in Oxford is done. I understand why people say it is a beautiful and romantic city. It also helps that it is well accustom to dealing with tourists, the language barrier didn't come up once. Maybe one day I can recapture my sense of awe. Be warned, the next city, all the pictures must come from me, so there will likely be fewer images and slightly lower resolution. But I will try my best to present the beauty of Barcelona.

Until Next time,

Adventures Await,

KH