The Little Ging and The Tall One in Spain

The final trip... Where was I headed? To meet Kate Arnold. What was our destination? Barcelona.
Side note: Kate is one of my friends from WOU that is studying in Oviedo, Spain this semester.

We both flew into Barcelona on Friday and had quite the adventure trying to find each other. We had plans to meet at either my gate or at baggage claim. Well I sat at my gate for a little while. There was no Kate. I went to baggage claim. No Kate. I went outside the secured area, a risky move, and looked among all the people that were meeting long lost friends and lovers. No Kate. I sat and waited there for a while thinking she would eventually find me. When I began losing hope in her I decided to walk to the other baggage claim area. In the middle of this long walk, in a big open area, I saw my little ginger friend, with a frantic and worried look on her face. I ran up to her with my arms in the air! It was a joyous moment.

After getting on a bus into town and wandering to find our hostel, we decided to go walk around a little bit. We walked all over but to be honest, I can't tell you where we went or what we saw because we were just talking and catching up after so long apart.

Saturday morning we tried to find a walking tour but failed. Instead we made our own. We wanted to see Gaudi, so Gaudi we saw! We went to Palau Guell which was some of his early work. Not that awesome but free. Then we went to the port and saw the boats and wandered around there. We decided after this that it was time for some lunch. We found some seafood paella that was pretty freaking delicious! After lunch we went to La Sagrada Familia (The Sacred Family) which is Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece. It is meant to be a cathedral but is still unfinished. I think it is supposed to be done in a year or so. I don't know. It was pretty sweet looking though. After this we went down to Casa Batllo, also a product of Gaudi. This place was freaking sweet. It is this house that Gaudi renovated and designed everything after the sea. VERY cool. I really enjoyed it. After exploring this house, Kate decided it was time for another Spanish delicacy. Churros and chocolate. Imagine a plate of churros served with a small sized coffee mug filled with melted, hot pudding. There you go. They were pretty bomb. After churros we went to rest at our hostel for later when we met up with some guys from CouchSurfing. It was very awkward meeting.

Sunday we went to the Picasso museum with some people from Kate's program in Oviedo. Since it was the first Sunday of the month, the museum was free. It was interesting but there was not alot of well known pieces. Or even pieces that you look at and think "That is Picasso." But It was still very cool. After the museum we went to Park Guell, out last Gaudi destination of the weekend. This is a big park that had pretty views of the city. It also has two houses, by Gaudi of course, that were modeled after gingerbread houses. The other amazing thing about Park Guell, and the true reason I wanted to go- ANTM was there! That is right folks- Tyra Banks and the America’s Next Top Model crew went to Barcelona one season and the final runway challenge was at Park Guell. Pretty freaking sweet. We had a little catwalk session and took some pictures. We made Tyra proud. It was just like my Sundays back in Monmouth when I would sit and watch ANTM all day, but it was in real life! It was fun. After Park Guell we headed back in towards the main part of Barcelona and decided to hit up the beach. Well whenever you take Anna for foreign waters she will, of course, have to go in them. So the second we hit the sand I started kicking off my shoes and rolled up pants and ran right into the Mediterranean Sea. I only went in knee deep, but I went in! After splashing around for a little while we decided to just sit and enjoy an evening on the beach. It was nice to just sit by the sea and listen to the waves. Later in the evening we went and got some more Spanish food. We enjoyed some delicious sangria and tapas. It was quite delicious.

Monday morning Kate and I decided we were going to spend some time popping in and out of shops near La Rambla. Later on we met up with two of Kate’s friends and decided to go to “The most beautiful man made thing ever.” This was in the words of one of Kate’s friends. It was this big and pretty beautiful fountain. And as if being told it was beautiful wasn’t enough, it was another ANTM spot. I was sold, we were going. It was pretty sweet. ANTM filmed a mock commercial there so we of course did an ANTM photo shoot. We got some pretty awesome pictures too. We sat and had some café con leche at a small outdoor café by the fountain and then made our way back to La Rambla. We had one last stroll down La Rambla and got our fill of the performers on the street. We then got our bags from the hostel and headed to Plaza Catalunya for me to catch the bus back to the airport. Kate and I said our farewells to each other and parted ways.

It was a very nice weekend. I really enjoyed Spain and the Spanish culture. I think I would enjoy spending more time there someday.