Hola España!

I went to SPAIN!

WOW.

I was in Barcelona for 4 days, and it was amazing. We got to go because there was a little mini break where we didn't have school on Thursday or Friday, and only a half day Wednesday. So I was packing my bags for Spain last weekend, and by Wednesday morning I was on the plane! It was just so incredible. I travled with my host mom, Lena, and my host mom's friend, along with her daughter. Sorry if I just confused you. To make it simple, there were 5 of us. 2 adults and 3 kids. GIRLS TRIP!

On Wednesday when we first arrived around mid-afternoon, we ate and hopped on a city-sightseeing bus to get ourselves oriented with the city. We went to a sushi restaurant for dinner (uhmm, yeah.. haha I got octopus) and ice cream afterwards :D

                                                                                                               BEHOLD! La Catedral :D
Thursday was a BIG day :) We went to La Rambla, the most famous street in all of Barcelona where you can find anything from fresh flowers, to "fresh" art! The Mediterranean food market is located on La Rambla so we did a little browsing in there, and bought a picnic lunch. Consisting of spanish cheeses, hams, olives, nuts, and bread. We actually managed to do a lotttt of shopping! ;) Not that much buying (a least for me) but there were so many cute little street boutiques to spend hours in! The La Catedral is another really famous church in Barcelona and we were lucky enough to be able to spend some time in a cute Spanish cafe right outside of it, and enjoy the SUN! I realized how much I had missed the sun when I was in Spain. The whole time we were there, it was a sunny 60-70 degrees; HEAVEN coming from the 10 degree German weather with snow! Right in front of the La Catedral there was an adorable vintage market where I managed to snag a little something! There is always that baby feeling of pride for me when I find something super cool at a place like that. :)) We toured the church, then went to dinner. A fancy place where they only had about 5 meal options.. Alrighty then! I hope you like meat ;) I got the lamb ribs.. and they were pretty tasty :) A truly perfect day in an amazing city!


FOOD!  So many choices..                                                                                     La Rambla :))

                                                                                                    THE La Sagrada Familia!! 

The third day in Barcelona was of course another big one ;) Friday. We went to the La Sagrada Familia.. One of the biggest symbols of Barcelona. It is a church which began construction in 1882, and still is not finished today! Barcelona is truly Gaudi's city, and this was his last and final masterpiece before his death. He knew that he would not live to see it's completion (estimated date 2026, the centennial of Gaudi's death) and when he died, the church was only less than 1/4 completed. It is the most amazing church I have ever seen. And believe me. In Europe, you see A LOT of super cool churches ;) The La Sagrada Familia was absolutely breath taking with it's amazing amount of detail and creativity. After a good 2 hours in the church, we had to find our way to our Flamenco dancing lessons!! :D Given to us by a professional  we learned footwork, how to hold and move your arms/hands, and even a little mini dance! Flamenco is SO fun, although I'm sure I look ridiculous doing it :D After our hardcore dance lesson (lol) we were recommend to an authentic Spanish restaurant by our teacher, and MAN was it delicious!  We all ordered Tapas, traditional Spanish food made for sharing. Pretty much just like appetizers :p It was all super good! Afterward we had a piano and saxophone concert at 6 in a museum of modern art. It was really great, and the musicians had such cute accents when they sang their songs in English! :D And yet, even after that we weren't finished! We were told that there was a live Flamenco performance that night also! Since we were all still feeling in the big Spanish spirit, we decided to check it out :) And MAN was it cool!! It's crazy how fast they move their feet, and it is all improvisation :o Even the live guitar , singers, and other instrumentals! Lena and I were super impressed. :)) 

           Enjoying a little music and art :)                                                         Gettin our Flamenco on!!

                                                                   
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 Saturday! Our last full day in the amazing city <3 Today was museums and Parque Güell, one of my favorite things in Barcelona :) First, we went to the Miro museum. He is a very famous artist in Spain, and very well known in Barcelona. Most of his work is abstract or something.. And I must say it was definitely not my favorite :p But I am glad I got to see some of his work. Sadly, no pictures were allowed D: haha. Mid-day we headed to Parque Güell! It took about a 40 mintue SUPER packed bus ride to get there, but it was so worth it :)

It was so gorgeous! You can see all of Barcelona from there, and also experience Gaudi's work! I was such a happy girl. I was dancing, singing, and Lena and I must have taken at least 150 jumping pictures :D I LOVEDD ITTTTTTT 

We headed back into the main city again, ate lunch, then went to the Picasso museum! I was super excited about going, but it turned out to be a pretty big bummer! Over half of the museum was closed due to re-painting or something dumb like that :( Who knows what famous art I missed out on?! Anyways, it was still really cool, and I got to see an "alright" amount of his work. A little more shopping was done afterwards, then we went back to the hotel to rest before our concert! Tonight it was supposed to be Spanish guitar. Buuuuut we were in for a suprise :p Turns out, the guitar playing was schedualed for Sunday night. And that would NOT work because we would already be in back Germany by then! The website that we bought the tickets from had the wrong dates!! Luckily, there was actually ANOTHER concert going on that night! Not guitar, but choir and harp. We decided "wht not?!" And it was even free due to the inconvenience! It was very enjoyable, and the harp playing was amazing. It was a great way to end yet another perfect day in Spain :))

Sunday, THE LAST DAY! :( Today I had to say goodbye to Barcelona. But I got to spend my last hours there at my favorite place in the world... The BEACH <3 The weather was wonderful, about 65 degrees or so and sunny.. I just HAD to get my toes in the sand! 

I still can't believe I got to go to SPAIN!! I had the most amazing time. I already miss it!! 

Around 5:30 when we arrived back in Germany, it was wintery-mix outside and freezinggg... Welcome back! ;)