Hola!
Friday was the last day for our sprint study tour classes, thank goodness! Now I don't have class on Mondays and only one class on Wednesdays and Fridays. We turned in our finals and had a shortened class allowing us (Gabby, Katie, Alyssa, and I) to leave the Chateau earlier than normal. We had to catch a train to Paris Est, then the metro to where our shuttle leaves from, to take a flight to Barcelona. Our flight flew over Paris! We got to see an aerial view of the city all lit up at night, it was gorgeous! Once our flight arrived in Barcelona, we took a night bus to Plaça Catalunya (where we got slightly lost) and caught a cab to our hostel, the 360 Hostel.
We started our day, Saturday, with Sagrada Familia, a famous cathedral. It was started in 1882 and still isn't finished. On our way there, we stopped for breakfast and I got a Spanish omelette (kind of like a frittata with potatoes and onions) on bread with tomatoes and a citrus muffin. We got our tickets and had to wait for about an hour so we walked around into some of the souvenir shops and then got some tapas and sangria for lunch (I need to apologize to my Pop because I've made fun of him for years for eating sardines/anchovies and they're actually really good! So here is my PSA, I admit that I actually like sardines/anchovies, at times!). Back to Sagrada Familia, enough time finally passed that is was our turn to go into the cathedral. Both sides of the cathedral are different, but equally beautiful! There were elements of nature included which, of course, sparked my interest. As soon as you walked into the church, you were in awe. The stained glass made the colored light seem to dance through the air falling into all of the different nooks and spaces. It was spectacular. Gaudi, the architect, created what I believe to be one of the most perfect spaces for worship. It was absolutely spectacular. Next, we went to another one of Gaudi's works, Casa Batllò, also known as the House of Bones. Conveniently enough, the bus tour that we were taking had a stop right there as well. On the tour, we saw many attractions and were allowed to hop on and off as we pleased. We saw other tourist attractions such as the Casa Milà, Casa Amettler, Barcelona Sants and the Industrial Park, Museu Nacional, Olympic Stadium and where the Olympic flame burned during the '92 Olympics, World Trade Center, and Port Vell. We got off around this area since it was close to the water. We went into the restaurant and shopping area called Mare Magnum. We looked around in some shops and also got dinner there, I had paella! After that, we took the bus tour all the way back to Plaça Catalunya because it was close to our hostel and we could walk back from there.
Friday was the last day for our sprint study tour classes, thank goodness! Now I don't have class on Mondays and only one class on Wednesdays and Fridays. We turned in our finals and had a shortened class allowing us (Gabby, Katie, Alyssa, and I) to leave the Chateau earlier than normal. We had to catch a train to Paris Est, then the metro to where our shuttle leaves from, to take a flight to Barcelona. Our flight flew over Paris! We got to see an aerial view of the city all lit up at night, it was gorgeous! Once our flight arrived in Barcelona, we took a night bus to Plaça Catalunya (where we got slightly lost) and caught a cab to our hostel, the 360 Hostel.
We started our day, Saturday, with Sagrada Familia, a famous cathedral. It was started in 1882 and still isn't finished. On our way there, we stopped for breakfast and I got a Spanish omelette (kind of like a frittata with potatoes and onions) on bread with tomatoes and a citrus muffin. We got our tickets and had to wait for about an hour so we walked around into some of the souvenir shops and then got some tapas and sangria for lunch (I need to apologize to my Pop because I've made fun of him for years for eating sardines/anchovies and they're actually really good! So here is my PSA, I admit that I actually like sardines/anchovies, at times!). Back to Sagrada Familia, enough time finally passed that is was our turn to go into the cathedral. Both sides of the cathedral are different, but equally beautiful! There were elements of nature included which, of course, sparked my interest. As soon as you walked into the church, you were in awe. The stained glass made the colored light seem to dance through the air falling into all of the different nooks and spaces. It was spectacular. Gaudi, the architect, created what I believe to be one of the most perfect spaces for worship. It was absolutely spectacular. Next, we went to another one of Gaudi's works, Casa Batllò, also known as the House of Bones. Conveniently enough, the bus tour that we were taking had a stop right there as well. On the tour, we saw many attractions and were allowed to hop on and off as we pleased. We saw other tourist attractions such as the Casa Milà, Casa Amettler, Barcelona Sants and the Industrial Park, Museu Nacional, Olympic Stadium and where the Olympic flame burned during the '92 Olympics, World Trade Center, and Port Vell. We got off around this area since it was close to the water. We went into the restaurant and shopping area called Mare Magnum. We looked around in some shops and also got dinner there, I had paella! After that, we took the bus tour all the way back to Plaça Catalunya because it was close to our hostel and we could walk back from there.