Go on, Loathe Me.

You know you want to. At least I know you probably will after reading this entry, seeing the photographs, and then the jealousy will eat away at you. That's how good Barcelona was. First though, to make it seem all the more sweeter, I should begin with the anxieties Elaine and I had before our departure.

See, we discovered that the hotel was in fact situated in Calella, and that meant it was not actually in Barcelona. About an hour from not actually in Barcelona. So we freaked out a little. Just a little. Then we realised we'd have to get from the Airport to Calella. Most likely by train. Most likely passing through pick-pocket territory. Then we realised we didn't know how to get there, or know where to even start. So we freaked out. After getting some directions from the Hotel by email on how to get from the Airport to the train stop near the hotel, we felt a little bitter. Just a little. Then we freaked out about whether dinner was actually included in the hotel cost or not.

So by now you're probably feeling pretty good about our misery. Just wait. We arrived at Barcelona to see "Cavanaugh x 2" held up by this touristy guide like lady. Turns out we had transport to and from the Airport. Sweet. We arrive at the hotel to see that it is indeed on the beach front, we have dinner included in the hotel cost, and the trains run frequently into Barcelona. Also turns out we had a room facing the beach and lighthouse. Sweet. Dripping with envy yet?

The very next day we decide to head into Barcelona. The train trip takes about an hour, at low cost so no one minds. The city turns out to be just pure amazing. Add into that the non-stop sun we were having, and the pleasant heat of around 25 degrees, and we were content. After arming ourselves with a sense of direction we headed for La Sagrada Familia.



Now, construction on this cathedral started in 1882, with Antoni Gaudi working on it for his whole life. Construction is still going, and isn't expected to finish for another 20 years. That's how massive this project is. The place is just mind-blowing. The photos don't quite do it justice. To give you an idea, the main tower which is under construction at the moment, will be 170 metres high. That's no small feat. These photos represent two opposing faces of the Cathedral: the Passion facade, and the Nativity facade. Look closely and you'll see the detail in the carvings and stone work. Actually, everything is all stonework opposed to carvings. That makes it all the more crazy and marvellous.

After soaking in the sun and the English tour of the Cathedral and it's construction site, we headed to Park Guell, another Gaudi architectural feat. This place is just amazing to see. Landscaping and stonework never worked so well together. Plus the view over Barcelona (or part of it was astounding). That was it for day one. What?! That's it? Well, it did involve literally walking from one side of Barcelona to the other and back again in the sun and heat. Did I mention I've gone brown?

Day two involved going to the Parc de la Ciudadella, the major Park in the central city. It was astounding. We then moved on through to the Gothic Quarter and saw some pretty neat, and old sites. The best part of the day though was finding the restaurant recommend by Elaine's flatmate's girlfriend. We got a pleasant surprise to find out it offered a three course lunch with wine for only €8.90 and it turned into an amazing meal at an amazing price. Needless to say we returned there the next day.

Speaking of the next day, we went to the Museu Picasso. Housed just outside the Gothic Quarter in these little sidestreets, it's quite a quaint place really. Thank god, as we had to wait 20 minutes to get in. And we arrived early morning. I feel sorry for those we saw waiting as we left. This museum is huge by the way. It took us well over three hours to get through the Permanent collection, which houses alot of Picasso's pre cubism pieces, and the Temporary collection on loan from the French Picasso museum, which contained a focus on Picasso's ceramics and pieces around the Fawn and Nymph in his later life. It was awesome.

Then that night, we were strolling on the beach and stumbled across a rather large marquee. Intrigued we ventured further, to find an Oktoberfest. In Spain. An Oktoberfest. It was a rather large affair, with numerous stalls and bands. And it turns out this is the 19th annual Oktoberferst in Calella. What the hell? Well, we didn't question it too badly, the beer was good and the atmosphere joyous. So we stayed. And returned the next night.

As for the Saturday, we headed in early again to try and get onto a guided tour of the city. We hit the jackpot. There's a bus tour for €18 that has three lines to different parts of the city. You pay for one or two day tickets and can jump on and off the bus at different stops all over the city to see the sights and sounds. We spent the entire day travelling on the buses seeing the whole city. It was probably one of the best times of the trip. The buses go everywhere and it's just amazing to see all these sights. I took well over 50 photos from the bus alone. I'll tag some on the end of this entry for your pleasure.

As for Sunday, well we decided it would be the day to stay in Calella, hit the beaches, soak up some sun and all that jazz. The weather kind of came in a bit. Don't think there was any rain, there was just some cloud, and the temperature dropped below 25. So we did some study instead. As it happens, this meant we did more study on our holiday than anyone did back here in Hamburg. Whack. Plain whack.

Monday was simply a travel day - the transport arrived at 9:45 am, which gave Elaine enough time to win a game of pool (by scratch only). And admittedly we were both looking forward to Hamburg. I mean, there's such a thing as too much sun and fun.