Barcelona, Spain

We left Portugal by night train headed back to Madrid. This time we spent a little extra and got to sleep in beds, although we had to split up (boys against girls, just like the old days!). It was kind of fun to be sleeping in this little bunk bed on a train. When I arrived in my cabin, this nice lady who was already in bed kept trying to help me figure things out. She only spoke Spanish and kept her sheet over the lower half of her face (I think she must have worn dentures and had already pulled them out), so it took me about 10 minutes to figure out that I had a bottle of water and earplugs waiting for me in a little cupboard. A funny story to tell Mike the next morning as the lady slipped off the train with teeth intact. Overall, the night train was a good experience even though I got little sleep. Of course, Mike slept like a stone, as usual.

After a couple more times of switching trains, we walked from the train station out into sunshine and warm weather in Barcelona. We wandered down the main road and saw over a dozen different street performers, from a woman dressed as a tree to one guy as Michael Jackson and another as Edward Scissor Hands. We found a little pub and caught some more rugby, one of the teams being from Biarritz, where we had been recently.

The next day was a little chillier but nice enough that we spent time strolling through the city park. Wandering down a side street we met a basset hound whose owner must have owned the shop outside of which he was tied. He was very sweet and playful. He started play fighting with me and somehow ended up grabbing my bag (which was on its last leg anyway) and we began playing a game of tug of war. After a few minutes, Mike reminded me that I didn't currently have another bag to hold my things, so I ought to stop before it was a goner. The basset hound had other ideas and even after some serious tugging on my part (and uncontrollable laughter), it took some prying open of the jaws of a dog I didn't even know to get my bag back. He just looked sad that we weren't going to play anymore. That night, we made dinner at the hostel, drank cheap Spanish wine, and watched a movie on the hostel couch. Small things that aren't always an option for us, but are so enjoyable sometimes!

The next morning, we went to a museum of Roman ruins. It was underground in the city center and showed rooms where they made wine, washed clothes, and made a specialty fish sauce from fish guts and rotting fish pieces. When this area was unearthed, scientists found traces of grapes and plants used to dye cloth, which is how they knew what the different rooms were used for. They also found traces of human urine that was used to wash clothes, because of the ammonia. The Romans had tanks outside of the laundry where passersby could urinate to facilitate the clothes washing. Makes me thankful for detergent, but Mike thinks that we should open a laundry using this practice, and place our tanks in the Barmuda triangle, Bozeman, for a near-limitless supply of ammonia! After this, we took the funicular (description, basically a subway that climbs up inclines) up the hill to the palace, which afforded us some great views of the city and the Mediterranean Sea. On the walk back down, we found large "musical instrument" type things in the park. They consisted of giant whistles and things that one could jump on and off of like a see-saw and they produced musical notes (probably for children, in retrospect). We also found a zip-line swing that kept us occupied for a few minutes (okay, an hour or so!). It was very fun, running up the hill and then turning round and swinging onto the seat and swinging down. It was equally fun for the other to attempt to get some crazy pics of the one riding. Awww...we are so easily entertained.

Another sunny day in Barcelona and we checked out Antoni Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, which was truly amazing. It is a beautiful cathredal with huge spires and awesome architecture. Tourists are all over the place and all the while, work is still being done on the building and will be continued for the next 12 years, even though construction begain in 1882! We also checked out some more of Gaudi's buildings scattered around the city. Very interesting curves and swoopy lines.

Photos, HERE.