Hola from Barcelona!

We are enjoying every minute of our time in Barcelona, it is wonderful here!  We flew out of Heathrow on Friday evening and even hopped on an earlier flight and got here an hour earlier than expected.  We went straight to our hostel (which is actually more like a hotel), dropped off our suitcases, then set out for some tapas and sangria!  Our hostel is really nice, but it's in a seedy area of town unfortunately.  It is several blocks off of La Ramblas (which is the main street through town) and it's just on this street that we have to walk down that it gets a little dodgy.  We then read in our guidebook about the neighborhoods, and our specific street is highlighted as being unsafe for girls to walk down alone.  Go figure!  We've been okay and have taken alternate routes when needed.  

Today we walked down La Ramblas toward the Mediterranean Sea and saw the port with all the boats and such.  The sea is so blue it's gorgeous!  We then hopped on a bus tour and went around the city and got to hop on and off as we pleased to see the sights.  We went into the Sagrada Familia that was started by Antoni Gaudi, who was an absolute amazing architect.  Everywhere we turn there is something built or inspired by him, it's truly unique.  The next stop we took was the Park Guell that Gaudi did some work on, again it was absolutely fabulous and the most unique park I've ever seen!  We then saw the rest of the city by bus and headed back to our hostel where we are now before we head out for some delicious paella!  Apparently lunch is served from 2-4 and dinner is served at 10pm!  So we are having a mid-afternoon siesta so we are ready to go out for a bite to eat.  Don't know if we will make it all the way to 10pm, but we'll try.

I am loving Barcelona - it's a little bit warmer than London, and very sunny - I think my freckles are out a bit more than usual out here!  The streets are tree-lined and there are lots of palm trees - it's almost a bit like I would expect in L.A. or San Diego.  I even had to buy a cheap pair of sunglasses since I left mine in London - I started to forget that the sun actually existed so I forgot to pack them.  We head back tomorrow (Sunday) evening, I will write about the rest of our Barcelona Holiday when I return!

Adios!

Jenna

(Yes, I had to ask Melissa how to say "bye" in spanish, brain fart!)