Before you begin to read this I have a little side note to help you along: This trip was a girls only trip. There were three of us girls total, Mel, Myself and Katie. When reading the name Katie I am not referring to myself in third person, I am referring to my friend Katie Hillis.
Good morning, you are all more than welcome on this RyanAir flight. If you could please point your attention to the flight attentant for the safety proceedures. There are 3 main emergency exits on this Boeing 747 airplane, two at the back of the plane, left right, two at the centre of the plane, left right, and two at the front of the plane, left right. Please refer to the diagram on the back of the seat infront of you....
We are on the plane and it is 8:05am. We are excited. We are tired. We know the flight attendents safety spiel like the back of our hands, but listen attentively as we are teachers and we know what its like when students are not paying attention. I am considering a side job as a flight attendant - why not? I know the safety spiel off by heart and I really think with my teaching background that I could mix it up a little. Maybe get some volunteers to come up and demonstrate how exactly one might react in an emergency situation. I think I could be an asset to RyanAir and maybe keep the attention of the passengers a little better!
We finally land in Girona Spain and exit the plane onto the Tarmac. The view is already beautiful and Katie is excited to begin photo documentation of our trip. She takes a picture. Then she tells Mel and I to stand near the plane for another - We then hear some yelling- we look over and a man in a yellow vest is yelling "NO KODAK, NO KODAK!!" and he is shaking his finger. Apparently there are no Kodak moments allowed on the tarmac... good to know. We enter the airport where we have to fill out a long form about who we are, where we're from and where we are going. Of course we take the longest and there is a group of airport staff hanging around the counter waiting for the 3 of us to hurry the hell up! They were in good spirits though, teasing us as we finally finished our apparently very complicated forms.
Next we have to find the Barcelona Bus, we quickly find it and quickly decide it may have been smart to Google some Spanish phrases before we left. I think I asked the cashier 4 times when the last bus left and she pushed a time table at me 4 times. The reason I kept asking was because the timetable was in Spanish. I understood that she couldn't speak english, but how did she know to push the timetable at me? Either way Katie and Mel told me I was no longer allowed to communicate with the Spanish people because I was too intimidating.
We board the Barcelona Bus, ready for a 1 hour drive to Barcelona. The views were spectacular with the green palm trees, rolling hills and mountains and brightly painted houses tucked within the greenery of the hills. I instantly loved it. We soon arrived at the Barcelona Bus Depot and found a girl who gave us a map of the city and marked out how to get to our hostel. Now, not only did us truly Canadian girls have no knowledge of the Spanish language, we had no grace when trying to pronounce any of the street names. People probably shook their heads as we sounded out the names of the streets. In our own ignorance, and after laughing at our terrible attempts, we soon gave up and renamed anything we couldn't pronounce.
Examples of our new names were as follows (real names in brackets):
"Okay, we need to take the tube to Jome one" (Jaume I)
"Where do we need to transfer? Irk kwart whatever? (sometimes followed by a mumble)" (Urquinaona)
When we make it to our street we realize how hungry we are. Of course Katie spots a Pizza Hut. When I left for travelling in Europe I didn't think that I could say that I have eaten in a Pizza Hut in Scotland, England and Spain. Apparently it's a big thing here. So we had lunch at Pizza Hut... how very authentic I know! While we were in the Pizza Hut we decided we should try and find our bearings so we could get to our Hostel and drop our stuff off. As we sat at the table and turned the map every angle possible we realized we weren't really sure where exactly we were in relation to our hostel. So we asked one of the waiters. He looks at us, twinkles his fingers and says "You're in the twilight zone! oooohhh!". We laughed and then pointed our attention back to the map and said "But seriously where are we?" He kindly shows us that we are very close to our hostel and.... The Twilight zone ooooh! Very entertaining.
We find our hostel, named Gothic Point Hostel. We are greeted by a very friendly guy at the front desk and are directed to our room. We open the door to discover BUNK WORLD! The ceiling and floor are lined with beds! All you can see is beds divided by small partitions and ladders leading up and down to all sorts of beds! I had never seen such a thing! 14 bunks and that's all you could see! We dumped our stuff and set off to wander.
We set to the streets. No plans on where we were going. We just wanted to walk and explore. We found a very old church and walked inside. It was absolutely beautiful. The ceiling went on forever and it was all made of stone, not painted or anything. It was only candle-lit inside. I thought we were at a funeral because up ahead looked to me like caskets. I grabbed Mel's arm and asked "Oh no, are we at a funeral??" Mel put her hand on her mouth as if to say "Oh crap yes we are." She then looked closer and said "Katie those are pews. No we are not at a funeral, don't freak me out like that!". We left the church and decided to find out what this Las Ramblas strip was. It turned out to be a bunch of shops all lining a large stone street. We went in to a few of them and soon realized that we were salesperson targets. So we window shopped and took in the sights and made our way down to Port Vell.
Port Vell was filled with people and huge yachts and ships. There were boats taking a break from travelling on the Mediterranean. The port was really beautiful. It was amazing to think all that ocean lead to another place in the world. It made it all the more real that I was in another place in the world. So we walked and took goofy pictures and made fun of one another. As we were walking on the docks I had made a joke at Katie. She grabbed my arm and pretended to drag me to the edge of the dock to throw me in to the water. All the while I'm yelling "I can't swim! I can't swim!" I yank my body back and break free... only to stumble backwards and land flat on my arse.. I am now yelling "My butt! My butt!" The three of us are killing ourselves laughing and people are walking by smiling and laughing as well. I guess our escapade was more of a performance!
We continued walking and it was starting to get late. It was clearly now time to find booze to begin our night. I never thought it would be so hard to find an Off License in such a big city! We wandered forever searching! We finally caught a small store out of the corner of our eyes and quickly purchased the cheapest booze we could find. Heineken and Bacardi breezers it is! HA HA. On our way back to the hostel we spot the Picasso Museum. Mel and I want to go in. So we give Katie our booze and head into the museum.
The museum displayed the works of Picasso from childhood to the 70's. You could see how he evolved as an artist. From the time when he painted portraits and landscapes to when he got into Cubism. It was all his original works. I saw paintings I recognized from school and books. It was amazing to see it first hand. After a couple of hours in there, we made our way back to Gothic Point Hostel. Our night was to begin.
Katie was drunk by the time we got there. "What took you guys so long? I met some guys we need to meet" she says. "Oh cool, where are we going?" we ask. "I dunno, somewhere that starts with an F" Katie replies. Okay, that should be no problem to find in a city with a population of over 1 million!
Well we found it. Flahrety's Irish bar. Yep we were in Spain and ate at Pizza Hut and are now drinking in an Irish Pub. Makes a lot of sense. Katie cannot recognize any of the guys in the bar. So we sit down and get our drink on. Finally we tell Katie she either needs to find these guys or we need to move on out to another location. Katie does a nonchalant walk around. She decides that the guys in the corner MIGHT be them but she is unsure. So we move to the table next to them. They do not seem to recognize Katie. But we are unsure if they saw us. We may have walked to fast and did not give them time to check Katie out. We need a new plan. Katie and I nominate Mel: "Mel, go and ask them where a good place to go is". "What? Why do I have to? They never met me!" Mel protests. "You are the most charming out of all of us" we butter her up. "It wouldn't hurt to show a little leg either!" we joke as Mel complies and goes to the next table. She comes back. They are not from here. They are from London and are unsure as well. We came to Spain, found a Pizza Hut, and Irish Pub and guys from LONDON. What a cultured trip to Spain so far. And, we still have got no where with these guys Katie claims are the ones she met. They ask us to take a picture. With prime opportunity we ask them to take one of us. As the guy takes our pic he shows his friends. All of a sudden we hear, wait! We've met her at the hostel!! SUCCESS. In no time flat we are invited to the table and soon meet Sid, Charlie, Jimmy, Abe and John. In no time flat we are playing drinking games. Us girls get bored.
We're leaving. Sid and Charlie are in tow. They tell us they can show us where to go. They have no clue. Charlie and I are walking ahead and I am giving him a hard time. "You have no idea where to go do you Charlie" I joke. "Now that's not true. I may have never been here before but I know a pub when I see one" he defends. "Let's go here" he points to a restraunt/bar. "Charlie I think they're still serving dinner there, it's a restraunt" I point out the obvious. "Just follow me" and he grabs my arm. We walk into the restraunt ahead of everyone and he directs me to put my arm in his. We walk in and a very posh looking waiter comes up to us "May I help you sir"? Yes, Charlie replies in his most sober politeness "Table for two please... outside." "That is not a problem, you may choose a table outside and I will be there to serve you" the waiter says. "Right" Charlie replies. He looks at me, smirks and whispers in my ear " Now run!" So like a bunch of high school hooligans we run out the restraunt, past Mel, Katie and Sid who have followed us, through the patio out on to the street. Mission accomplished. And it was 100% pointless. We wander into some other very crowded pubs and finally us girls decide it is time to ditch Charlie and Sid. We head back to the hostel because Saturday will be a big day. We have to check out by 11am and we do not have a hostel booked because our flight leaves at 6am on sunday.... or so we thought.
Saturday soon comes and we are out of the hostel, groggily, by 11am. We hit the streets. We check out another cathedral nearby and take the tube Jome one to the bus depot to drop off our bags in a locker for the day. I really want to see this church that has been under construction for over 100 years. It relies on donations. It is HUGE. I swear it's called Gaudi. So Mel asks an information desk where the Gaudi church is. SO it turns out Gaudi MEANS church. After much confusion, because we were asking the man to show us where the church church was, we finally figured out that we wanted to go to the Gaudi Sagrada Familia. We walked there and it was amazingly huge. You can tell that there have been many different architects over the 100 years because some of the themes do not match. One side looks very gothic, another very artistic, and another... well just ugly. We took some pictures and walked around the outside, admiring the century of construction. People were everywhere. We then decided to walk to Guell Park. Apparently a must see.
We thought we were headed to an ordinary park. This place was amazing and we spend hours here! There were sculptures and trails and a small pan handler market. Views of Barcelona from all sorts of points. We bought matching bracelets in commemoration of our girls only trip. We sat and hung out in the sun. There were people who kept feeding the pigeons and in a clearing where we were standing Mel and I discovered our shared fear of birds. There Mel and I are chatting away when we both spot something out of the corner of our eye. At least 20 pigeons flocking our way. Some stupid human being started feeding a couple pigeons near us and now the rest of the scavengers wanted a piece. Mel and I ducked, screamed and ran. The people in the park stopped, stared and laughed. My heart never raced so fast. I truly dislike the amount of pigeons in Europe!
We leave the park and decide to walk to the coast. As we begin walking down a street I soon realize is probably the most sketchy street in Barcelona. I comment on this "Out of every staircase we could have chosen in Barcelona, we choose the one near an abandoned building and a big gaping hole??". We all start to laugh and proceed down the stairs.... then we start to truly look around us. We notice graffiti on the walls. We joke some more. Then we read the graffiti " Tourist Terrorists" "Tourists not welcome". Now we decide we truly DID choose the worst street in Barcelona to walk down and we turn that walk into a very fast sprint towards the main street. Of course we did not do this silently, we had to scream like little school girls as we ran. Very inconspicuous we know.
Now we are on our long trek across the city to the coast. We take the road that looks the most straight and Mel and I stop dead. Do you see that? we ask one another. Katie starts laughing. "oh god you guys". A car drives down the road. Then, and I am not exaggerating here, 50 pigeons start flying towards us on the very narrow roadway we are walking down. There is no where to run, there are buildings on either side. No shops to run into, no doorways to bunker down into. Mel and I scream bloody murder and plaster ourselves against a building wall as these birds flap past our heads. I have just enough time to put my hood up and "protect" myself. Katie is busting a gut. 2 guys that witnessed the event were joining Katie. Another car drives by. The birds that are now beside us hover into flight once again. Mel and I scream again and now run, hoping to out run the flock of birds and get around the corner away from the street these birds do not want to leave. We make it around the corner. We still need to get across the street where the birds have now relocated. Katie throws something at them to distract the birds, Mel runs past successfully. Now my turn. Of course I choose to go when another car is driving down the street. The birds take flight just as I am running infront of them. Katie screams as one almost plows right into my head. I of course and screaming the whole way across the street. To any untrained ear, one would have thought 2 Canadian girls died in those streets that afternoon. I'm pretty sure I left part of my heart there because it was pounding out of my chest. Anyone who knows me knows I truly dislike birds. They are terrifying! This day was a true representation of my fear.
We get to the coast. It's chilly but I put my feet in the water. A huge wave crashes near me and my carefully rolled jeans are soaked! Oh well. Katie wants a picture of her posing by the water. She lays on the ground and goofily poses like a model. Mel takes the picture. Then tells her to wait while she takes another.... we take our time... Katie is still posing... "Guys can you hurry up??" Katie laughs. "Yeah yeah, no problem just one more"...Katie lays for another minute.... Katie gets up and calls us jerks. Behind us there is a crowd of construction workers that decided to watch Katie's performance. We swear.... we... had... no ... clue... wink wink.
Back to the bus depot to change for our evening out. Yes I said the bus depot. Like true hobo's we changed in the women's bathroom of the bus depot. Looking as good as it was gonna get, we head back to the coast to hit up the night life there. We eat a very nice dinner at a restraunt and we spend a couple of hours there. We have nothing but time on our hands. 2 bottles of wine later and dessert, we are ready to find somewhere to go. We start at the casino and instantly anger the receptionist. Apparently we were supposed to show HER our free pass NOT the bouncer. Needless to say she did not want to refund our 4 euros that we shouldn't have paid in the first place. The girls gambled and I watched and wandered around... We grew bored and wanted to dance.
No clubs were open yet when we started our search. We were just about to give up when a guy who was walking out of SOHO for a bachelor party told us to go in and tell them we were there for Marc's bachelor party. He then decided to escort us in. This worked out perfectly as we had somewhere to hang out until the club actually opened to the public. We found a couch and chilled for a bit. The dj started and we danced and had a great time!
Next thing I know Mel is tapping me on the shoulder "Someone stole my purse". "WHAT?" I shout "My purse is gone". We frantically look around the club for Mel's purse which contained EVERYTHING in it. It's gone. Katie is interrogating everyone and gets kicked out for causing a scene. We have all been drinking way too much for this situation to occur. We decide we need to get to the airport as our flight leaves in 4 hours and maybe they can help us there.
This is where bad decisions get made. I get on a bus and leave Katie and Mel behind... I'm still unsure why this happened. All I know is the bus driver would not stop yelling at me in Spanish and I had no clue what he wanted me to do. A lady told me not to worry, grabbed my arm and sat me down next to her. I get to the airport and stand in line. Katie and Mel caught the bus behind me. Mel has to call the police. At the airport they speak English and help her call them.
Luckily Mel's parents have photocopies of her passports and Immigration grants her to leave the country. Katie and Mel catch the next flight out.
We learned a hard lesson that night. We did not sleep much and we discovered some new tips on what to do when travelling next time. One of which is not to get too comfortable in the place we are in. Mel's purse is gone... we spent all day monday at the Canadian Consolate applying for a new passport for her, with her only two pieces of ID left: her birth certificate and health card... and me- someone who can say who she is.
We had a great time in Barcelona and I would love to visit when the weather is hot hot hot!!
Yet another place ticked off my travel list.
Following the Dream....
|  | 
|
