Part Eight: Barcelona, Update Two!

Greetings, greetings. I write you now from Marseille, but none of that now as I must conclude my Spanish journey. When I left you last, I had finished a few nights in Barcelona and things were going along just fine. Luckily for me, not much changed. I had a fantastic time there and things were great the whole time. Barcelona was a fun city and I am really glad that I chose it as my last destination in Spain.

Shortly after signing off of my last blog post, I set out to meet up with Greg. It was so fun to see him. We went out to a few bars and got some dinner and just generally caught up and talked about life, Spain, being abroad, well, ya know, all the good stuff. We had a really fun time together and I am so glad we got the chance to meet up. Seems like his time in Spain is going really well and again I felt a little jealousy that he gets to live in that wonderful country for an extended period of time.

Once we departed, I headed back to my hostel. There I found the party in full force and joined in for just a bit. There sure were some funny characters there. I met a lot of awesome people, but there were a few of the typical party people. For instance, this one guy from America boldly, and quite drunkenly, proclaimed that the Fourth of July is "the day God said let their be light and created America." It was one of those times where Obama couldn't save me and I wanted to call myself Canadian. But alas, all I could do was laugh at the spectacle. They were playing a game that apparently involved picking nick names so for some reason this Australian guy started calling me "Fisherman." He claimed it had to do with my beard. I've gotten mountain man, outdoorsperson, but fisherman was new. I'm not sure he ever actualy learned my name because he continued to refer to me as fisherman whenever I saw him.

A few of them headed out but I'd had enough and sent myself to be. I awoke the next morning to pursue some not so exciting tasks. It was all job searching and resume writing for a little bit. Yeah, its true, as ideal and paradise-like this trip is I do still have to find myself something to do when I get home. It didn't take too long though, and soon enough I was back out into the streets.

In perfect harmony with my two weeks, the weather was absolutely amazing. Sunny and warm once again. I grabbed myself a sandwich and some fresh fruit and made a little picnic in the park while I sat and read for a bit. For me, it was the perfect way to enjoy the mid-afternoon sun and relax a bit. Plus, the sandwich was really good and I had myself a nice juicy mango to go along with it.

I only had one other plan for the day, the Picasso museum. Since I've arrived in Europe and seen a bunch of Picasso exhibits I have gotten really into him. I just really like the way he worked. I was particularly drawn to this museum because it had his early works. Basically, in my eyes, it was an expansion of all those exhibits I'd seen that showed how he created a painting. Now I would get to see the whole lifespan! I found the place and paid my fee. They should really make this stuff free.

In general, I was impressed with the museum. I really loved seeing the early work. He was quite the technical master back in the day which I never expected. But something seemed to be lacking in the place. I am not sure what. I think I just wanted a little more out of a place that dedicated itself solely to Picasso. But, don't get me wrong, it was totally worth it and I had a nice time wandering and looking at the paintings. They had this cool thing that projected Picasso's interpretations of Las Meninas over pictures of the original and that was a super fun part of the exhibit. I also really enjoyed seeing his sketchbooks which had some wild and unexpected things in them.

I wandered my way back home and stumbled upon a market in the Gothic neighborhood. It was an antiques market and was filled with weird, but very pricey items. Again, still didn't buy anything but they had some really cool old postcards and stuff that were great to look at. I have to confess something as well. After that, I went and got more Ice Cream. I just couldn't help it! It was so good. Strawberry this time. Not bad, not bad at all.

I spent the last night there with the hostelers again. As I mentioned before, they organize social stuff there and I want to reiterate how nice and helpful that was. It was really great for solo travelers but also good for getting the larger groups to interact with everyone. The hostel guys were great, a little crazy, but great and it was one of the best places I have stayed on the trip so far. For the first part of the night we just hung out and talked. I met a guy from the U.S. who is travelling alone. He was a super nice guy and we had some good talks.

After that, they took us to another club, this one right on the beach. We got the free entry and free drink again which was so good because the places on the beach are stupidly overpriced. But I spent nothing! Thanks again, hostel. It was sort of a weird club but nice to have open doors to the ocean which made me feel less chlaustrophobic than I tend to in clubs sometimes. I didn't stay too long and my fellow American, not the one who thinks America is the greatest thing ever, walked home. Turned out, we were on the same train in the morning! We decided to meet up and walk there together in the morning. It was so nice to have a walking partner to the station. I really appreciated it having had to go by myself for so long. I loved meeting him and wish him all the best on his crazy year long travel plan! A year is a lot. I was very impressed.

So wow, I guess when I just write about one day these things are short! I must say, now that I am out of Spain, it was a truly phenomenal place to visit. It was everything and more that I thought it would be. I know already that I will have to return sometime in the not to distant future and see some more of it and get to know it even better. I could spend months traveling just there.

But I won't dwell on it. I had a great day in Marseille (more on that in the next post) and have exciting plans coming up. Here is what my next week is looking like: Tomorrow, I leave for Switzerland where I will spend 2 nights in Bern and 1 in Zurich. Then it is off to Austria for 2 nights in Innsbruck and 4 in Vienna where I will have the distinct pleasure of staying with my great friends Oz and Luke. I can't wait to see them and I am craving a little bit of the mountain life. It will be really weird to go back into snow and have to break out the long underwear and hat and gloves again but I think I can handle it.

That is all for now! Much more soon. Hope all is well.