Barcelona

Today marks 23 days of 24/7 being with each other. Or as Luke so eloquently put, only being away from one another as long as a pee break. Haha he said this first thing this morning and it was a great way to start the day. Also very true. Which is kinda bizarre to think of actually being with someone non stop all the time for that many days. We are not complaining, and definitely enjoying each other's company.

It was a hodgepodge kind of day. One thing you must understand is that we are tired by the end of the day. If not our minds, which sometimes aren't and we end up talking and reading for a while, certainly our legs are tired. We end up sleeping in till about 10 sometimes later depending on how late we ended up staying up, which sometimes depends on if we had coffee after dinner. So our very full days don't often start till 11 or 12. Here that is past breakfast time, but definitely end up doing the lunch thing at the normal time they do, the tapas, or coffee later into the afternoon, and then our second meal around dinner time. Depending on how long we have been going for and how we are feeling or when that second meal, we end up having another meal within their normal dinner time schedule. I believe a few blog posts a go I laid out their normal eating schedule, well this is ours. We are constantly outside and in the sun walking so we are definitely ready for these meals by the time they hit.

We got up and started to wander. We ended up finding the Picasso Museum. We decided that we were going to go but after we got some food in us. We stopped at a market that had many eating places and found one that suited us. We ordered grilled vegetables and an assorted fish platter to share. The vegetables consisted of pepper, squash, zucchini, eggplant (which I tried), and potatoes. The assorted fish was clams, mussels, sol, and prawns. Yes the prawns still had their heads, legs and eyes, I know it's gross. They also came with poop this time. Lots and lots of poop, which is absolutely disgusting, not only cause it's poop but because of the quantity that it's in and everything. YUCK! 

Then we made our way to the Picasso museum. Quite great as we are under 25 we got a reduced fee to get in. YAHOO!We talked about it after and decided that they definitely arranged it in a great way. Each area or time frame, had a little blurb talking about why he did some things or what inspired him or where he was that made him have new ideas and interests. He did live in Barcelona and returned periodically over the course of his life. No doubt that his earlier works are great normal looking paintings. The reason he had so much pressure to do well was because his father worked at an art school and as soon as Pablo took interest his father was close behind trying to guide his ways. We got to see many of his works and also see many of his abstract work as well. He really didn't die all that long ago, which is crazy to think. 

    

 

From there we made our way through the street to Las Ramblas. I think hearing these streets being compared to Times Square really creates an unrealistic picture of what they actually are. Don't get me wrong it is a street absolutely packed with people and vendors, but not quite the Times Square we imagined. We walked up and down this street and eventually found a place to have a little food. Time seems to go by so fast here when you are wondering and exploring. This is Luke at the fountain at the top of Las Ramblas.

 

We wondered into another market, they seem to a big thing here. Although this one instead being mainly fish, and tapas, and more grocery food it was mostly fruit. Of course we walk in and the first thing we see is chocolate covered strawberries! They were absolutely delicious!! The perfect amount completely smothered with white chocolate with milk chocolate drizzle over top. The strawberries were scrumptious! The most perfect sweet red strawberries. Certainly could not have made this any better myself.

 

Another funny thing about Spain is that when you go to anywhere really and you want to order a beer. On the menu they say beer or cervesa. So you literally just sit down and order a beer and then drink what you get. One of the gluten free beers at home is called Estrella Daura. Here it is called Esstrella Damm and it is everywhere. We see it on banners pretty much everywhere you can can get it, people walking around with it, it is pretty crazy.

We learned that the reason why children are often the ones doing the pick pocketing, is because when you are under the age of 18 if you get caught you just get a slap on the wrist, but when you are older the 18 you get jail time. 

 

We even found and enjoyed  VANILLA COKE! Which is one of my absolute favourite soda ever! MMMMM!!! This was on the way to the Sagrada de Familia. A truly incredible church, We are planning on going into another day but went to see it today. 

 

They also have an Arc de Triomphe of their own, that they call Arc de Triomphe which is a little odd, but it is a pretty cool looking thing as well.

 

 

This is our guard cat at our hostel. Looks harmless right? Apparently it is but I don't get a good feeling about cats in general. It is also trying to get on my good side, as we left for dinner and it had brought a dead bird in. Some how it knew I don't like birds either.

 

We eventually made our way back to our hostel for a bit of a break before we head out and find some dinner. Right on schedule for a 10:30 supper. So far Barcelona has been good to us, we are looking forward to exploring more of the different areas and seeing more of the unique architecture. 

And so the adventure continues...