give my heart back, spain.

"Life is a road I want to keep going
Love is a river I want to keep flowing
Life is a road, now and forever,
wonderful journey..."
-Anastasia

Second time in Barcelona, first time in Valencia, second time in Sevilla, and third time in Madrid. Spain -- take three. Let's go!

The first afternoon in Barcelona, it was a rainy, cold mess. Kaitlin and I made up for this by spending the evening on my top bunk of the hostel pigging out on all sorts of junk food. Yes, we really did spent the entire night eating. And the guy in the mini-mart thought we were hilarious. I'd show you the picture of all the food we devoured, but then you would just laugh at us. (And I wouldn't blame you.)













The next morning, it was off to Gaudi's infamous Sagrada Familia. Only Gaudi has the guts to start building something in 1882 that won't be finished until around 2026. At least he's got style. I actually went inside this time, and it was interesting to see the construction in progress. It must be strange to be one of the workers and have tourists constantly walking around while you're trying to work, but I suppose it's necessary, as all funds go towards finishing the project. Maybe I'll get back there someday when it's completed?













We made it a Gaudi filled day by walking uphill (plus a million stairs) to Park Guell. This park is the reason I insist that Gaudi was insane. I don't even know how to describe it, so I'll just post pictures. (Okay, so I'm really just getting lazy. Guilty as charged.)
























Then it was time for a stroll down Las Ramblas. Only would Barcelona have a street worthy of being an attraction in itself. The living statues there are by far the best I've seen in Europe, there are people with annoying whistles everywhere (but no goo balls!), a giant produce market, and every person in Barcelona. It's a great place to people watch, especially at night when the crazies are out. Kaitlin and I walked down to the water and walked across to the mall on one of the ports (taming a lion or two in the process). After getting some gelato, I believe we wandered the city for a while. This ended with a photo shoot in a plaza with the cathedral and a marketplace. Sadly, the pictures of Kaitlin are on her camera, but there are a few good ones of her failing to get on top of the sun. And don't bother asking why, because I really don't know. =)













And last, but not least, we headed to another park to see a monumental fountain. I can't remember who it was for, though. Oops. It was cute though. Then it was time to pretend we were Spanish and have paella and sangria for dinner, yum!



We took a bus to Valencia, which is one of my new favorite cities in the world. (And no, not just because it's in Spain.) The sun was shining brightly when we arrived, so Kaitlin and I dropped our stuff off and went right to the beach, which is only a short bus ride away from the centre of the city. We just relaxed in the sand (which I still despise), and I listened to In the Heights and rocked out with some Spanish music.

The next day I took a bus tour around the city, and then walked across most of it again. Valencia manages to balance classic plazas and modern architecture, and it's a fun place to wander. I didn't do much besides walk around, so again, I'll just post some pictures. (Lazy cop out number two.) The weird looking body is a playground, apparently kids play on giant corpses in this city? And the cool looking modernistic pictures are from the City of Arts & Sciences.




































Time for an eight hour train ride to Sevilla! That was fun. The movie choices were Get Smart or Meet Dave, neither of which I would have wanted to watch even if it were in English. I did get a chapter done of chemistry though, so at least I was productive! Getting to our hostel was an adventure. The directions from the hostel website were incorrect; they implied that the street was off of a particular plaza. After finally finding the plaza (which involved a bus route stopping early and us trekking through Semana Santa processions), we discovered that the street was nowhere to be found. We finally asked directions (twice?) and eventually made it there, but were too exhausted to do anything but find dinner (with sangria!) and cotton candy! Yum.

On Easter morning we headed down to the cathedral and found the final Semana Santa procession. I think we only caught the end of it, but there were different brotherhoods in cloaks, floats with hundreds of candles, and marching bands! Then we went to the service, and I was surprised at how much of it I actually understood. Cheers to Spanish class.


And then came my favorite event of the entire trip. A football game in Spain! So much fun! We saw Sevilla v. Getafe, and it confirmed my belief that the United States needs to forget "American football" and get into the real football craze that the rest of the world has caught onto. It is such a fun sport, and I thoroughly enjoyed the game, even though Sevilla lost 0-1. But I made sure to buy a Sevilla scarf, and will proudly support them in the future (unless they play Real Madrid).


And here is where the pictures will end. I managed to drop my camera onto the floor of the hostel and break the piece with the power and zoom button. Nice going, Carolyn. It worked for another day or two (with difficulty), but died before long, so these are the last pictures I have from break. At some point I'll have to steal a few from Kaitlin. Anyway, we spent our last day in Sevilla walking over to the Plaza de Espana and across some of the city centre. And got some helado.

One last train ride to Madrid, and we were in first class! The food was nice, but they stuck us with another showing of Meet Dave. Truthfully, without any pictures, I can hardly remember what I did in the city for three days. One morning I visited the Prado, which I actually liked much more than the Louvre (and much more than I had the first time I was there). My favorite section was Goya's Black Paintings, but I'm not sure if I should be questioning his sanity for painting them or mine for liking them. I made yet another trip to Retiro Park, and it again did not disappoint. The only new thing I did this time around was visit the Egyptian temple. Who knew there were hieroglyphics in Madrid? And our last night in the city, Kaitlin and I went to the same churros place I was at three years ago...pure deliciousness. I think this may have been my favorite visit to Madrid, because I felt no need to do the majority of the tourist attractions. It felt more like I was a person living there instead of a tourist, and I loved every second of it. So after three visits, Madrid still remains number one on my list of places I would like to live.

And then it was back to Kingston. It's never easy leaving Spain, especially Madrid, but it was nice to be done with living out of a suitcase in hostels. (Especially because my suitcase zipper broke, too.) All in all, it was an amazing tour of the Mediterranean. Of course, now a week of spring break will forever seem too short. Thanks for spoiling me, Kingston. But I'm not complaining! =)