Barcelona Beach

So Thursday morning we got up at 4:30am to chatch our plane to Barcelona. Because we had gone to bed so late the night before it was really more like a nap than a real nights sleep but oh well, thats how it goes when you are taveling. So the plane ride wasn't bad and really short and then we took a bus and the metro to get to our Hostel. By this time everyone was a little not so pleasent because we hadn't slept or really ate yet so we got to our hostel and they were really nice and let us leave our stuff with them because our room wasn't ready yet and so we put on our swimsuits and headed to the beach. On the way to the beach we stopped at this little panaderia (bakery) which was on the same street as our hostel. BEST PASTRIES I HAVE EVER HAD. They were absolutely amazing, and so cheap. so so good. And the little lady who worked there was so cute and spoke only spanish so that was fun! :) it was terrible that it was on our street because we stopped there every time we pasted which was a lot. Once again I was so glad I was with girls that love that kind of stuff as much as I do.
So then we got to the beach and it was just beautiful.

What is more iconic than lying on the beach in Barcelona? nothing! so that's what we did all afternoon. We bought sunscreen but we all got sunburned anyway! :( not so fun but oh well.


So we avoided the nudist beach but even on the family beach most women went topless. As gross as it was I did find it to be an interesting cultural phenomenon. I thought that this would be a tradition that would die with older generations and that people my age wouldn't really do it but it wasn't like that at all. Women of all ages went topless and it made me realize that it really is just a cultural thing, it's not like they are trying to be extra sexual or anything it's just the way they were brought up, so I thought that was interesting.
So after lying on the beach for a while we went walking to find a place to eat. So we decided on this place that did a big 3 course meal for a decent price and we decided to treat ourselves. It was a cute place and the food was great, especially the baked artichokes. So good.

but my favorite part of the experience was one of our waiters was absolutely gorgeous!! So I'm not usually one to gush over a guy but he was really attractive to the point that if I was talking and he would walk near us I would forget what I was saying! :) the other girls were totally laughing at me because of it and I'm sure everyone who reads this will be laughing too but her was seriously like a model. So he totally knew we were staring at him and when he was leaving work Camille sneaked a picture of him for me but he totally saw her and smiled, it was great!

So that was a fun lunch! After lunch/dinner we went to the Picasso museum. The Picasso museum was great because there were no naked paintings or if they were supposed to be naked I couldn't tell because it was Picasso. In all seriousness there were a few cool things about this museum the first being that I had no idea that Picasso was alive in the 1970's I always thought he was some super super old painter but his stuff makes a lot more sense when you put them in context historically. I also thought it was cool to see his way of interpreting other famous works of art. Like the one in my Madrid post, this is his rendition.

The other thing I found interesting is that earlier in his career his painting were more..umm normal. It showed that he really had the skills to make great works of art and that it was a decision to paint the way he did.

So overall I'm not a huge Picasso fan but it was really cool to be in Spain looking at Picasso work so close that I could put my nose right up to it.
side note: speaking of noses, there were some very stinky french kids in the museum with us and when they waked into a room I would have to walk out or pass out!
After the museum we were tired so we went home, stopping for pastries of course and then took naps until it was time to go out dancing.
So Barcelona is known for its nightlife so we decided that we had to get the whole experience and we went out dancing.

Angel, one of the guys who worked at the hostel had connections with a lot of the clubs so after his shift ended at 1:30am he walked us over to a club and got us in for free which was really nice of him. So we were there at 1:30am but that apparently too early to be at a club in Barcelona so we got our hands stamped and went out to get dinner. The whole thing was just such a fun experience. After getting some dinner we went back to the club and danced our hearts out. It was so fun especially because the girls I was with! At one point some guys came over and asked us if we were American, this is how the conversation went:
"are you girls American?"
"yeah, how could you tell?"
"you were singing all the words to 'gettin jiggy with it' it's a dead give away!"
So we all had a good laugh about that. The guys we met were from America too and we had a fun time dancing with them.
So after dancing for a while we decide to leave. It was great I felt safe the whole time and it was a great way to end our first Barcelona day. getting home at 5am which in Barcelona is really a early night.