Barcelona

For the sake of brevity, I will neglect to talk about the trips there and back; neither of which were entertaining or eventful. I boarded, slept and got off the plane.

Barcelona was amazing. It is a beautiful city, I visited it once before in grade 9, we were there two days and did a lot of the major sites. Saturday was not too busy. Went to our hostel, checked in, then went for a walk with Chris' sister. Chris and Jenna stayed behind to nap. With only a couple days I couldn't waste valuable time sleeping!

We walked along the boardwalk and along the beach. What a beautiful city. We then went out for dinner and I was not overly impressed. Overall the food wasn't amazing, Sunday lunch was good but it was a meat plate. Pork, beef, glorified hot dog, an egg, and fries. It was good but too much protein.

Sunday we did an open air bus tour of the city. You could get on and off whenever you wanted. We basically did the entire route and saw all the major venues in Barcelona. Walking down La Rambla was amazing. It is one of the most lively streets I have ever been on. So many street vendors, entertainers, artists etc.

After lunch Sunday we were walking back to the bus and I decided I was going to buy some cheap sun glasses. I am kinda picky with shades, I am not an aviator guy, I don't like really sporty somewhere in the middle. I found a pair at the last guy on the row. These guys have a blanket with the glasses on them and pick up and move if business isn't good. I was bartering with him, he wanted 20 euros, I said 10. Things were going in my favor when he started to pack up real quick and so I threw the glasses down. He then said 10 is great so I picked them up and he started to walk the other way. I tried to follow him for a 20 seconds when I realized why he was "running". The police where coming, and I can only imagine they get into a lot of trouble if they are caught selling things on the street. By this time, I had followed this guy for a while trying to get money to pay him but at that point he was 5 steps ahead of me and the police officer on his motorcycle was right beside me. The officer realized what was going on, said something?? and waved in the opposite direction. I still had the glasses in my hand and he was "telling" me to go.

So I did, I got the sun glasses that I wanted and I paid the right price, NONE!
This was a great laugh for Chris, Jenna and Kelsy (Chris' sister). They thought it was hilarious I followed the guy and try to pay him. Not to mention it was questionable the fact that I was "caught" by the cops and he told me to go the other way.

Sunday night we stayed at the hostel again. It was much more lively this time around and there was a group of people going to a Karaoke bar, it was a blast. The hostel is a chain in Barcelona and so all of the chains go to this place so there was a lot of english speakers there. We elected not to go to the club around 2 am because I had to get a bus back to the airport around 930 and I didn't want to be late. I would have loved to stay out until the sun rises as this is a very common occurrence but I haven't had the time or dedication.

Met some awesome people at the hostel: some brothers from Washington DC, guy from Toronto and an Irish guy. The Irish guy is also in London this weekend so we may meet up and have a beer.

I was told today that Etienne is going on a "trip" for a week starting Saturday so it will be just Antoine and I. My job couldn't get any easier!

Off to London Saturday morning via train. Staying in a notorious party hostel next to Tower Bridge.

Au Revoir for now. Pictures will come soon.

"The Manny"