Experiencias de Barcelona

¡Hola amigos! I am so tempted to write in Spanish with all of the practice I have been getting, but I´ll refrain myself. After ridiculous, tedious train, bus and plane trips we arrive din Barcelona on July 7th. We have spent the last couple of days getting to know the city, and what an amazing city! We arrived at 130 am on a Friday and I have never seen so many people out and about at that time of night! Unbelievable! We spent our first day seeing ´La Sagrada Familia´(church designed but unfinished by Gaudi) and el ¨Parc Guell´, that displays other Gaudi creations. They call it the ´city of Gaudi´ with good reason, his work is everywhere! We must have taken hundreds of picturs on the first day alone because the sights were so amazing. I won´t go into too much detail describing them because pictures will show so much more. What is so amazing is that in the middle of a modernized city, you can walk up the stairs of the metro and turn to discover such an old ´edificio´ (building). After dedicating so much time to these sights, we went for lunch, which is late here, and then had a siests. Actually, we (or I should say I) slept from 6-830pm!! I know, it seems like late, but it´s not here in Barcelona! Adjusting to daylight savings is one thing but there is a whole other schedule to adjust to here in Spain. Typica day - desayuno (breakfast) b/w 8-10am, lunch b/w 1 -4pm, siesta, and dinner at 10pm or later... The clubs get going when clubs normally close in Vancouver - at 2am!! So, I´m not really sure where sleep fits in but we are having a blast! Went to a club close to Él Forum´´yesterday night and it was a bunch of tents on the beach with hundreds of people partying and dancing! It was so much fun! I got to practice my Spanish talking to some people from around Barcelona. One guy (Rico, I know what you´re thinking- what an odd name for a spanish guy! Not at all stereotypical! Ha ha) actually thought I was Catalan (from the region that Barcelona is a part of). He was shocked when I told him I was ´Canadiense´. We had a great time dancing the night away, got home just after 6 am, slept until 9 and got up to go book our train to San Sebastian and see the remaining sights. The train was a bit of a nightmare - long story short we´re staying an extra night in Barcelona (hence the free internet and this posting!). Tomorrow we will take a break from seeing the sights and go shopping and hit the beaches of Barcelona! Then it´s off to San Sebastian and Pamplona for running of the bulls! OH! Almost forgot - we went to a Flamenco show last night and it was unbelievable! They are SO talented! I took vids, to get the full effect. Amazing!! We are soaking up the culture and loving it here! Anyway, it´s about 130am so I am going to either go to bed, or hit up a club for some dancing! Love to you all, o ´besos´ Lauren´