Hey y'all I know its been awhile since I have written, but now I am going to embark on a three part blog series on my first travel week. Whilst abroad on my travel week I have journeyed to three of the most tourist and sought out cities in the world: Barcelona, Paris, and Rome.
Therefore for the first part of my journey I will be reminiscing on my very brief 36 hr visit to spain so here goes part I.
Concerning Spain,
What can I say? Where to begin? Ah yes? Every journey has a beginning, this being Regensburg. My fellow travelers set out with me, Phil and Kristen. Seven days, three countries, no real plan, sounds like every young adult European trip ever ventured. We started our Saturday by waking up early and going to the train station and catching a train to Munich. We chatted excitedly of what our adventures would bring us, not knowing how much transportation was really involved and while on the train we realized that we didn't even know what Barcelona had to offer, except a church and possibly a beach. However this did not daunt us like it would many a traveler we were ready to face what the future beheld.
We had about a half hour transition in the Munich station and then went on several small trains, the last taking us to the Memmigan airport. Now I have to back up and explain something about Ryan Air. First off Ryan Air is an inexpensive airline that gets you to one place and back by the barest means as possible. That means no boarding order, plastic seats, and airports an hour and a half from major cities. This means that if you are flying out of Munich you really have to go an hour out of the way to Memmigan airport which is similar to someone saying you are flying out of Portland but in reality you are flying out of Salem...for those who live in Oregon I hope that holds some significance to what we were up against.
To resume the journey, we were on our last train when we noticed four American students who were complaining loudly that they were late to the airport already, and one of the guys made the comment: "Maybe they will be delayed because the wing fell off." These Americans turned out to be studying abroad in London and they attended Biola in California. We made friends with one of the girls and she happened to know a girl that Phil knows from camp...so small world. Anyway we only had a half hour before their flight left and like 2 hours for ours, we noticed that at one of the stops a boy tried to get off of the train and couldn't figure out how to open it. Therefore when he finally wrenched the doors open the train was already starting to move away from the station, and he took a leap and landed on his feet to promptly faceplant. When realising this boy stood up and acted as if he didn't fall straight on his face, and that he was of the chunky persausion, it was a hilarity to the upmost. To sum it up:
Chunky kid stuck on the train-he figures out how to open the door-he therefore jumps out of the train-face plants-tries to walk away as if it is no big deal-roars of laughter from the train compartments. The train however stopped for about five minutes to figure out if someone died, which luckily he wasn't hurt. This prompted one of our new American acquaintances to retort once again: "We were already late and that was before the kid jumped out of the train." If I had more time this kid and I would have been the best of friends, for his hilarity made a great highlight for my trip.
In short I will save you details, they were late for their flight but it got delayed by an hour so they made it. Ryan air airport, 2 hour late, I got frisked for having change in my pocket by security, we also almost boarded a plane to Reus, but when entering they turned us around because there was no sign and no one stopped us at the gate to double check, but made it through to the right flight, went on an uncomfortable journey with plastic seats, and landed with a great thump. Imagine flipping a pancake, the splat at the end could be likened to that of our landing. Yet with a trumpeted sound, yes they play a trumpet recording when you land if they land on time, and everyone applauded more from the gratitude to being alive then for smooth landing, but when you spend 14.99 euro to fly, you will get a pancake like effect of a flight.
We took a bus to Girona which was acutally were our hotel was. The cutest little Spanish city. Full of side alleys that reminded one of what you would think Italy is all about but really belongs to Spain. (pictures will follow on facebook in a few days if you are curious.) Our first meal I am ashamed to admit was dominoes for nothing else presented itself and being fed braut and schnitzel the past three weeks pizza was a welcomed treat. Our hotel room had the best bed ever, and it was nice to sleep in peace, although this did not last for we woke up at seven to catch a train to Barcelona. Which we did and it was great except that when we reached the train station, we realized we didn't know where anything was and purchased a map. A trip to a youth hostel information desk prompted us to take a bus which we did and found ourselves at the water front.
This is where I am ashamed to admit I don't know anything even after journeying to Barcelona about anything I saw so therefore Wikipedia the names I went to, but we went to this fountain thing, which I couldn't find the name of which was cool, then we walked along the harbor and went to the beach, we didn't stay long but the 35 minutes of glorious beach was amazing, I even let my feet soak in the Mediterranean, which was great because I have seen the other side of this sea, in Alexandria, but as I was extremely sick that time my desire to tough the sea was less. So for a brief time I felt like I was on the Santa Monica beach, and not in Spain which is poor because Spain is so much better. However we had to continue on and walk around the city, when I mean walk, I mean walk...the first day I got blisters, which proved to be a theme for the whole trip. We walked and looked, and walked and looked, got lost several times, and then we found a church to go into then another church, then we walked by a famous artistic house with glorious windows....i still don't know any of the names, we kinda just winged the whole thing! However if you go to this website you can find out briefly what we might have saw: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona#Historical_buildings_and_monuments ....lame I know but what do you do? I just thought Barcelona was a beach town but never the less it proved to be a city.
We finished our time at the church of: Sagrada FamÃlia which is a famous roman catholic church. We didn't go in however because it was twelve euros to go in, and I have a problem paying to go inside a functioning church, it doesn't seem right. Therefore we popped onto a metro and back on a train and went back to Girona.
If you want my suggestion go to Girona instead of Barcelona, it is quaint and I would say the nicest city we stayed in the entire trip. It was great to walk around and see the many little bridges lining the river, and all the late night dining facilities. We dined on pasta and enjoyed the night air and topped it off with some Gelato. If I haven't mentioned before Gelato is my favorite thing over here, it is nice to eat it alot, espcially since you can get in for a euro usually instead of 3.68 in the USA. I would rather go to Coldstone, then pay for meager gelato it is not right.
Anyway we had a great night walking around and then I forgot my debit card, and wanted some money out of my atm and spotted a Deutche bank and walked back to my hotel for the card and returned only to find out my card wasn't working, then I called my bank and they said it was fine, but then I cut out and could never reconnect, so I figured all was well.
Four am came too early but check out went smooth and we arrived at the airport with time to spare and boarder our flight to continue onto the land of the French. I will speak more of it later, but all in all, I would have liked more time in spain and some research on what I was saying therefore if I am vague on the details it is because I was unaware of what I was really seeing. Regardless I would return to Girona and even barecelona with more emphasis on the beach! So this ends part I part II will be even more epic I promise, for it all starts with the plane ride.
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