Barça, Barça Baaaaarça!!!!

Ben & his Angels

What a blast Barcelona was!!! I got in there on Tuesday evening and was joined by Ben and Di at eleven pm....Early start to the night in Spain. And seeing as we had a lot to catch up on....

The next day after finding our apartment in the latin quarter the three of us headed out, while waiting for Pam to get there from the UK. As it was for a while there we knew Pam was in town, close to the apartment, but nowhere to be found!!! Di and I even went down to search cafes and bars, calling out for her!!! Even sent out a 'Where are you?' email!!
Finding Pam caused for celebrations - We jumped in a cab and were driven to the closest nightclub - The Golden Eye!

The following day all of us trooped over to La Sagrada Familia, the huge cathedral which, after over 100 years is still in the process of being built - It is estimated construction will not end until the year 2027. It has a mix of architectural styles: The entrance is modern with angular sculptures, whereas the other side is gothic and looks like the building is melting. Very strange, magically ugly, fantastically beautiful; A feat in construction.

That night was supposed to be a quiet one after the raucous Golden Eye - And some of us were good....Others were bad! Arsenal and Barcelona were playing each other in the grand final. Ben and I decided to follow the noise and so wandering through the little streets close to our apartment we found ourselves on Las Ramblas, a street the size of Oxford Street back in Sydney. Well had we known we would be joining one of the biggest street parties either of us had ever been to, I think we would've run there on the double, just to be able to soak in the atmosphere for that little bit longer!!!

We literally hit a wall of people dancing, singing, drinking, waving the Barcelona colours, basically partying like you wouldn't believe. For those of you who know Mardis Gras in Syd, imagine that times 10!!! So of course Ben and I got into the spirit, dancing and trying to sing Barcelona anthems we didn't know any of the words to, running away from the fire crackers only to go and dance in and amongst them when they were going off. People climbed onto street lights, took down street signs, even made off with a set of traffic lights - Huge!!!

Our quiet night ended at 5am.....

The next day was 'Museum Day' which meant that most museum entries were free. Off we trouped to see Picasso. It was just amazing, the man was an artistic genius. Can't give you more than that, other than you have to see it for yourselves!

We then headed to Parc Guell, which was designed by Gaudi and never finished. The walkways made of mosaics, the part where you sit to overlook the city.... Again an amazing artistic mind!

That night really was a quiet one!

Friday we decided was our shopping day with all of us having seen something in our travels we wanted... And Saturday we headed an hour and a half out of Barcelona to Girona... So pretty. It just so happened that it was the flower festival and in the streets, parks, and almost all entrances to houses there was some form of artwork with the theme being flowers...Wow!! Really enjoyed our afternoon there, especially seeing as we stayed for dinner - Gotta love sangria and paella.

Sunday, Pam and I organised our train tickets into France (an ordeal which had us waiting at the station for over an hour and a half). Then all of us went to the bull ring to see the Fighting of the Bulls!!! Ben, Pam and I got into it cheering the guys on...Di was definitley not convinced. Each to his own, at least we can all say we've been.

Monday we all had to say our goodbyes and part ways. Pam and I went to Avignon, small town known for the bridge from which comes the song ' Sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse'

The following day onto Nice.

On Thursday we caught the bus into Monaco and seeing as the Grand Prix was on, it was jam packed with people and drivers....Pam and I had real trouble running from the Paparazzi photographers!! Seriously though, we see Rubens Barichello give an interview, and some other driver, whose name we didn't know - Really into cars we are!!!

Now with some friends in Grasse, the capital of perfume.

Will be filling you all in on my next steps from here.