January 21st, 2009 - Barcelona, Spain

Well I'm on a bus headed towards the airport now. Barcelona was great, but way too short... Our friend Nikki is heading back to Paris with us. We met in the hostel and kicked it at an Indian restaurant. She's from Sydney, Australia, and is pretty cool. She's been traveling for a while and just living life to the fullest after graduating from school and before starting her new job. We saw the entire city of Barcelona yesterday from the top of Parc Guell, which was a steep climb, but well worth the view. We saw the Gaudi church that has been in construction for over a hundred years. He was apparently run over by a Trolley Car during it's initial construction! Ever since, it has been quite a controversial topic in the city and art world. To finish the church or not... A religious sect has been furiously working to finish it. It really is a fantastic piece of work, but I wish someone had warned me not to pay 13 euros to see the inside. It's empty! Biggest waste of money on my trip so far... The Spanish coffee was pretty good, but nothing compares to Parisian coffee. Not even Italy. Barcelona had some ok food, but after eating in Paris, I'm pretty sure I'll never be satisfied again. The layout of the city is wonderful. I walked everywhere with ease (except for the steep climb to the park.) The people are attractive and very nice. It really seems like a great place to live life... I'm happy to return to Paris for one more day to do things I wasn't able to do last week. Things I want to experience before leaving Paris: try a street cart waffle, go to the Musee d'Orsay, have drinks outside the Louvre on a clear night, watch one more episode of Spongebob Squarepants in French (the most hilarious thing ever.) This leaves the rest of my day (and a half) to buy everyone gifts with the little money I have left! Jackie and I booked our private hostel room again. Ah... Luxury. These Ryanair flights scare the hell out of me. Wish me luck.

I've included a picture that Jackie took of me after our last French adventure... I was seriously exhausted.