Last day in Barcelona

We have done a lot in our time here in Barcelona! We went on a bike tour on the first day that showed us the famous parts of the city. This also gave us a nice base for understanding where things are and allowed us to not get lost too often.




People were protesting in one of the main squares in the city. There were hundreds of people camping out and sleeping in the tents! Our guide said that there is so much wrong with the political and economic state of the country that the people are basically just protesting against everything at once. The protesters destroyed the center. Matt and Taylor suggested trying to spend the night with them. Haha




During the bike tour we saw a lot of cool things, but my favorite was Sagrada Familia. This picture does not show it's true beauty, but it was fascinating. It was designed by Gaudi and started construction in the 1800s. They stopped construction because of his sudden death, but began again in the early 1980s. They have been working on it since then and have plans to keep building until 2040! It is very intricate and the outside of the church tells the story of Christ. The church now shows his birth and crucifixion. They have yet to build the scene of the resurrection. I can only imagine how beautiful they are going to make this scene look! I really want to see it if they ever finish.




We saw a lot of other cool building designed by Gaudi in the gothic district too.

Since there were no futbol, games we could attend during our stay, we decided to take a tour of the stadium. My favorite part was walking from the locker room on to the field. The same place that Lionel Messi walks every game!!





The food has been good, but expensive. Tay and I are going to try and figure out a cheaper way to eat. This is a picture of some mini cheeseburgers I got. When the Spanish say mini, they mean mini! Haha. Definitely got a good laugh out of these little guys.




There were many other funny stories, bit I'm just going to share one more. I got yelled at pretty bad when we were at park Guell, which was beautiful. There were probably about 30 people taking pictures of this lizard thing right when you walk in to the park and Matt looks at me and says, "hey, you should go sit on that so I can take a picture." Of course I did it, and once I got on top of it this guard started blowing his whistle like crazy and yelling at me in Spanish. I had no idea what he was saying so I just kind of shrugged my shoulders and said lo siento. Matt told me he said, "how would you like it if I came to your town in Italy and say on your monument?" So, at least I didn't bring shame to the U.S.! Haha

We are washing our clothes right now and then heading to the beach to relax. We are leaving for Madrid tonight in an overnight train. We weren't able to get a sleeper car :( But it'll be fun still!

Location:Carrer de l'Hospital,Barcelona,Spain

Barcelona Bound

I'm writing this on the train from Beziers, France to Barcelona. It is June 20th. Taking the train is great because it allows us to view the beautiful countryside of both France and Spain. We have been able to see the mountain range that separates Spain from France, the ocean and some cool rivers.

We all had a good time relaxing in Beziers, but we are excited for the four nights we're going to spend in Barcelona! I don't know much about Barcelona, but I do want to take a tour of the fútbol stadium. Everything else will be a new experience that I am very much looking forward to. Being able to speak Spanish instead of French will be very nice. Since we were in a small town in France, there were no English speakers anywhere. We used a lot of pointing and smiling. Needless to say, we are relieved to be able to use the little Spanish we know!

-Sangu

Location:Barcelona, Spain

New country

This is the view from our next stop, Beziers. It is a nice change from the craziness of London. We figured we were going to be going to a lot of huge cities and wanted to see a different part of France than most people experience.

It is beautiful here. There are mountains, ocean, and anyywhere there is open space there are vineyards. This place reminds me a lot of SLO because of the weather, position near the coast and the wine country.

The people we are staying with are very nice. The husband, frank is a classic New Yorker who has been involved in horse racing his whole life. He and his wife, Judy, retired about ten years ago and started a bed and breakfast. Judy is super nice and they both said it felt like they were picking up three of their sons. (They have 6 sons and 3 daughters!)

We are going on a run today and hopefully finding a way to get to the beach. We will be leaving tomorrow morning for Barcelona! We are already getting ready to guard our belongings very carefully.

Happy Father's Day!

Location:Place de la République, Puisserguier, France

Touch Down in London Town

We had a smooth 9 and a half hour flight landing us at Heathrow airport just after noon local time. It was drizzeling as we got off the plane, but as Nate said it sure makes this place green! We found our way to the tube with full packs and ended at St Pauls. As we stepped out of the underground we were greeted by the largest cathedral I have ever seen! It is the highest point in London and is a spectacular sight! We walked in the door which read "here you enter the house of God. Here you enter the gates of heaven." We heard the beautiful sound of the choir singing and explored a bit. We checked into the hostel and went out for some fish and chips. Not to bad for English food! There we ran into some travelers from Texas on a trek of their own. We ended up at Hyde park and rented some bikes and did some more exploring. We are all pretty tired but we are trying to stay up to acclimate to the time change as soon as possible. More stories of the journey to come soon.

TCR

Finally heading out

We have arrived at the airport and are pumped and ready to start the adventure! Our flight is set to leave at 6 and arrive in London at 12 their time. We are planning on checking out some local futbol stadiums when we get there. I really want to see the British library also because Kristi told me it was awesome.

-Sangu

Location:World Way,Los Angeles,United States