22nd Birthday & Barcelona!

Barcelona was by far the most different city I have ever been to in my entire life. The culture, the surroundings, everything is so different. Different in a good way of course. It was my birthday weekend which made things a lot more special. Friday night we did not get into our hotel until around 11pm. We were starving so we found the mall nearby and got SUBWAY. Something I had been craving for months now. Our hotel was gorgeous, it was very technologically savvy and was really quite nice. We went to bed shortly after to wake up to it being my 22nd Birthday. It was a day of traveling all over the city to do tours and see the sights. We took the Hop on & Hop Off bus literally the entire day. 

We found many sights and cool sculptures in the city that you would never see in Italy, which was why it was so nice. 

The boardwalk area was really nice. It was wide and open and everyone was walking, jogging, bikes and roller blades everywhere. 

Buildings like this you only see in Barcelona. If you have not noticed look at the top of the building. It is not straight but rather on a tilt and yet it works.

We took a stroll on Rambla de Mar which is the number one spot for walking around and seafood restaurants. It was so beautiful. The bridge was huge and surrounded by water.

They even had statues like this in the water!

This was something that I thought was so cool. These are 'Go Cars' and you can take them all around the city for 90 euro a day. (A little expensive for me, but a great idea). They are so cute.

This was where we decided to eat lunch on Saturday. Qu Qu. We ordered Patatas Bravas (Barcelona is known for them, they are potatoes with a tomato paste sauce covered in cheese) and Guacamole and Nacho Chips. Perfect little lunch!

Back on the bus we went and saw Gaudi's famous attractions. Casa Milla.

And Casa Batillo, which we studied immensely in History of Interiors. All of which the lines were so long we would not have gotten to see anything else in the city that day.

And of course Sagrada Familia which had a queue even longer than anything I have ever seen before. This Church is not yet being built. It has taken something like 60 + years to complete. If you do not know anything about this, you should definitely look it up. It is a really interesting story.

We also went to Gaudi's Park. We were a little underwhelmed with this because there were next to know statues that they told us there would be and there were a lot of hills that were not that great to climb to find nothing at the top. Oh well, other than that it was a very warm day and we were enjoying the nice weather.

Inside the park, these were the only bits we found that had mosaic tiles. We found these at the very bottom of the park. This is a seating arrangement thats completely connected all around the park. 

In the middle of this area there are pillars and on the ceiling there are these mosaic sculptures that draw your attention up there.

And this cute little lizard guy.

Alyssa and I on top of the Hop On Bus!

The Barcelona soccer stadium. Football as they call it, is very big in Barcelona. They feel that they have the best team and their stadium is the largest stadium in all of Europe. It holds almost 100,000 people.

Could not be a day without Starbucks considering we passed a million and a half of them before I actually stopped in to get something. I ALSO FOUND A DUNKIN DONUTS. Except they call it Dunken Coffee. Weird I know, but thats okay.. I can't wait for that iced coffee at the airport :) (DONT FORGET MOM!)

This palace is absolutely gorgeous. It is no longer used as a residence but as a museum of course, just like every other large building.

Barcelona held the Olympics in 1992 and we got to visit the grounds that they took place on. This is the large statue in the middle to resemble the Olympics. What was weird was that there were no Olympic rings anywhere to be found on this piece of land.

Looking up at the statue!

This awesome building right next to our hotel. It draws so much attention. I think it is just an office building too but it is very unique to its kind.

This is looking at our hotel. Hotel Zero!

The Natural Science Museum right across the street from our Hotel. I am not sure if anyone even uses the building because it seemed pretty vacant but its a nice structure to look at!

My Dad is a little sneak and had asked me all of this information about the hotel we were staying at in Barcelona only to find that he had called them and had a bottle of Champagne delivered for my birthday. I almost sent the guy away because I did not order it. But he came back with a little card that said Happy Birthday from Mom & Dad. I love my parents, what a great way to end the night!

On La Rambla the things you may see seem a little out of the ordinary. We could not figure out how this guy was sitting in the air or the fact that he had 4 arms..

The Mexican restaurant that we ate at for my birthday lunch the following day. Rossa Negra. Amaaazing!

The beach! We laid at the beach all day Sunday. It was so relaxing and perfect. 

Tuesday night was my birthday celebration in Florence. We went to Acqua Al Due and I got a blueberry steak.

I had the best birthday weekend and many people are jealous that I got to spend it in Barcelona. I am a lucky girl. Well.. I leave Sunday to come home and I can't believe that the time has gone by so far. The next post will most likely be when I am home. But I will try and continue to blog if I do anything exciting  See you in the States!