« October’s almost over?! | Main | Pink Pajamas, Penguins On the Bottom »
Loca Loca
By Lyndsay | October 27, 2011
My fall break went really well in Spain with my roommate. Our voyage to Barcelona and Madrid was a huge success and such a good time. Our first stop was Barcelona where we stayed for three nights in a really Americanized hostel. The hostel was unfortunately a little far from the airport… like a 30 euro cab ride away, but we knew it was coming ever since we booked this trip. We roomed with a few other people and met two girls from Germany. Thank goodness they spoke English, because when they spoke German it sounded more like gibberish to us.
The food, I have to admit was not that great. We had paella, which was the best out of all our meals in Spain. If you don’t know what it is, it’s rice with a bunch of seafood mixed in. Oh, and by the way, the seafood, especially the shrimp still has its head, which made it a little hard to eat. It was really delicious though. We also experienced “tapas” for the first time, which was hilarious because we had NO clue what to expect. “Tapas” are just little side dishes, and that’s all. We were expecting this amazing dish or something and it was just a few side dishes. It was even funnier when they arrived at our table and we just kind of stared at our Spanish-speaking waiter like, “huh?”
Despite the different and limited food, Cece and I visited a cathedral called La Sagrada Familia, a gothic architecture cathedral. We went inside for a tour… it was so cool… and visited the museum for the cathedral as well. The architect actually died in the making of it, a long, long time ago and it plans to be done in several years still. Even though it was still being worked on it was beautiful and so intricate! I’ll post some pictures.
Madrid was my absolute favorite. We met up with friends who so graciously let us stay with them so we didn’t have to pay for another hostel. Madrid’s amazing shopping became a little bit of a problem. Needless to say we spent a little more than we should have, not to mention how convenient it was to get to go shopping and to see many of the sights. Their metro system is the most efficient system I have ever used, with a train coming every 5 minutes, always on time, and never too crowded. After a couple lessons, we had no problems taking the metro everywhere we wanted to go. Madrid is a lot bigger than Florence, and walking would have taken much longer, so the metro really did come in handy for us. We also visited a palace in one of the main plazas, which was huge, so stunning, and intricate.
The whole experience was a lot to take in, in a very good way. The short 5 days were a lot of fun and we survived getting lost many times. The one thing that kept us alert, that I cannot say we have in Florence was Starbucks! It was fabulous that they were everywhere we turned. Ironically, right next to a Starbucks was a building that said “Griffins” and had our griffin symbol! Two things to remind us of home, and all on one sidewalk … and in Spain! I would love to go back… I have to!!
La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona,Spain
La Sagrada Familia inside
Palace in Madrid, Spain
GO GRIFFS!
Cece and I as Flamenco dancers
Topics: Lyndsay '13 | No Comments »