Tapas

We left L'isle sur la Sorgue with very few issues (apart from Amelia getting stuck in the train doors) and headed off for Barcelona in sunny Spain! This was a big day of traveling for us, catching three trains and taking 9 hours to get there. However eventually we arrived in Port Bou Spain. Here we had a bit of a wait until our next train and so we stopped to eat our yogurts that we had purchased in France. Because of my experience with Spanish I was nominated to go ask for some spoons. Unfortunately I couldn't remember the word for spoon and even more unfortunately the lady serving didn't speak English. After me acting out eating with a spoon several times the lady thought to ask someone else to help. This Spanish woman heard what I asked and nodded confidently, promptly getting me a knife and fork. As I was too embarrassed to ask again, we then proceeded to eat our yogurt with a fork. My Spanish was about as effective as Amelia's French. Nonetheless by some miracle we caught the right train into Barcelona and made our way to our street. One of the consistently frustrating things about our stays over here is that the hosts often leave out very important information such as what apartment number they live in. So there we were, standing in front of a locked door with Italian men walking by giving seedy looks. We tried asking shops keepers, we asked to borrow a phone but nothing worked. We however did not have to sleep in the street as an angel of a Spanish woman who lived in the building came to our rescue. She buzzed up, and even unlocked the door for us! We then met our host; Josè. He was lovely helping us with our bags upstairs and giving us a tour around the apartment. 

 View from our accomodation

We made ourselves comfortable and headed out for a night on the town. We ate at a real Spanish restraunt where we had a small sample of tapas one of which was a devine Porchetta with honey mustard source. So good. We also continued our tradition of wooing European men by receiving free bread and olives. Amelia accomplished this when we were offered some bread (she had already ordered olives). She turned and asked if we had to pay for the bread to which the Italian waiter winked and patted her arm. "Don't worry," were his words and we both celebrated inwardly at more free stuff! We also recieved another arm rub and a wink from the bartender. After dinner we ventured through the narrow streets of Barcelona to a Jazz club where we bought some overpriced soft drink and sat down to listen to some live Cuban Jazz. They were wonderful and it was so much fun to watch the Spanish people dance the night away with incredible rhythm. Amelia and I did attempt it but I feel that our awkward shuffling was not quite up to the same standard. Nonetheless it was great fun and we ended up leaving at 1am. 

 

Jazz club shenanigans

The next morning was church and this week we headed to the International Church of Barcelona. Here we were welcomed most warmly, worshiped with a dozen other nationalities and heard a wonderful sermon base in Acts. It was such a good experience of fellowship with other believers. 

That afternoon we went on another Sandeman's tour. This one wasn't as good as the guide only had two weeks of experience and he insisted on basing us in the sun rather than the shade. This aside we did buy tickets to the Sandeman's tapas tour for the following night. That night was the World Cup final and we found a bar that was showing the game  and got some seats. We arrived an hour early which was fortunate as the bar became packed as the game started. We watched the game between continuely asking people not to stand directly in front of us and I began to see red when the guy who was standing in front of me blocking half the screen when he started to make out with his girlfriend. However I wouldn't have changed the night for the world. We ended up being in a corner with 5 other Australians and were surrounded by passionate Germans and passionate people who were going for Argentina. Our chosen team lost after an amazing game but the cheering and excitement were more then enough to satisfy us! 

The next day we decided to head to the beach, excited about swimming and getting some sun into us. The worst thing about being Australian is that when you grow up with some of the best beaches in the world, everything else is disappointing. Barcelona has an 8km long artificial beach that was made for the Olympics. The sand was Egyptian sand and they have to pour more sand onto the beach every single night. There are no waves to speak of and the water isn't anything to sing about. So disappointing. Yet we swam, wondered about how someone could lose their swimmers in the very calm ocean, and went and ate calamari and chips. Because food actually makes everything better, even Egyptian beaches in Barcelona.

The beach.

That night was our tapas tour and it was so great! We went to three different tapas bars and drank from pitchers in true Catalan style! We met some interesting people including a dozen Australians! Seemed to be the place to be if you were Aussie. A walk along the beach and a desert of lemon sorbet served in a lemon finished our night with class. 

 Drinking water from a wine pitcher

 Barcelona streets

Our stay in Barcelona was finished with a very confusing airport experience where we waited in lines only to be told that we were in the wrong line and sent to stand in another very long line. However there was a small victory celebration when we weighed my bag and it was exactly 15kg! Hurray! Next stop, Rome! 

Adios! 

P.S I apologize for the poor picture placement in previous posts. That's what happens when you upload it from your phone apparently. 

P.P.S More pictures! 

 Barcelona port

 Parc de la Ciutadella

Bubbles... giant bubbles

 The cathedral in Barcelona