8 cities in 10 days

Spring Break was definitely the best and most chill ten days I’ve had since I’ve been here in Europe. It was so great to relax and have time off from school. I’m so exhausted after all the traveling but it was so worth it.

Right after school got out on Friday, Justin and I had to catch a bus that would take us to the Cologne airport for our flight which left around 4:30. But I forgot my suitcase at home and had to rush back on the bus to get it. Well there isn’t a lot of rushing involved with buses here; especially to my house. Because my house is so far away on the bus, I almost made us late to the airport. But right when I got home I grabbed my bags and walked right back out the door to catch the next bus that left to Hauptbahnhof. The entire time I was on the bus to and from home, Justin was waiting at Haptbahnhof watching the clock and making sure we didn’t miss our bus. If it wasn’t for him we would have been in quite the pickle. To make matters worse, the airport workers were on strike so we weren’t sure if our flight had been cancelled or delayed.

Once I got to Hauptbahnhof, we hopped a bus to the airport and learned that our flight had in fact not been delayed. We were pretty relieved about this but the security and customs line was outrageous. We waited in line for probably close to two hours (this could be way off I can’t remember) or what felt like two hours and then got our stuff through security. We took RyanAir to Barcelona and I soon realized that once boarding for the plane begins, it’s a rush to see who gets the best seats. The reason for this is because there are no assigned seats. It was madness, that’s for sure.

We arrived safely in Barcelona and made our way to our hostel (which was awesome) to be greeted by a guy named Valle. He helped run the place and was one of Justin’s old friends. He made us feel right at home. When we walked in we also saw Paula and Carlos who were staying in the same hostel as well. So it was nice to see familiar faces.

That night, we all went on a “pub crawl” as they would call it but in Barcelona it was different. Our guide, whose name was Paulina, took us to two bars and then a nightclub called “Werk it”. Paulina was a crazy chick who got from place to place on rollerblades. She wore a sailor’s hat and a big fur jacket. It seemed like she knew everyone and both of the bars she took us to were awesome. The nightclub we went to later was Barcelona’s attempt at a German nightclub. That’s the vibe I was getting because they were play German house music and the name was very German. The music was great and the place was a blast.

The next day, we got off to a sort of late start but we hit the beach because it was such a beautiful day. On the walk around Las Ramblas, we saw so many signs for tapas but we wanted to find the best tapas place. Tapas are a Spanish dish that are served all over Spain and include a wide variety of different appetizers. We also heard the paella in this area was also amazing. On our walk we soaked up the Spanish sun and came across some markets. I got some cool stuff for some friends as well as a necklace for myself. Later, we ate at a restaurant and people watched for a couple hours and then made it to the beach. The water was so beautiful but too cold to swim in. It was a very chill day.

Later that night we went to a nightclub called Razzmatazz which Justin had told me about. I heard from quite a few people that it was the place to go in Barcelona because it had 5 different floors with all kinds of music. Justin and I showed up around 12:30, thinking we were kind of late but when we arrived the club looked closed. We were pretty confused and so we met some people that were just as confused and tried figuring out what the deal was. All of the doors were locked and more and more people showed up. After walking around the premises a couple times, four bouncers opened the door and told us to stand in line. It was already 1 am at this point. Justin and I waited in line and overheard some British girls come up behind us. They were yelling at each other but in a playful way and we couldn’t help but chime in. We met all four of them and they came from Manchester, Whales, and Ireland. All of their accents were pretty strong but that didn’t stop us from talking to them. They asked us where we came from and how we liked Barca. We continued to talk and hang out with them after we got inside. It costed 17 euros to get inside but once inside the venue was massive. It didn’t pick up until about 1:30 or 2 am but by that time it was packed with people.

The music they played varied from minimal house, to rock, and to techno music. After walking through all the rooms, Justin and I took a seat on the balcony and watched the live band that had showed up. They were pretty good. Around 5:30 am we decided it was time to go home. As we were leaving the line out the door was crazy. People in Spain go hard! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to say goodbye to our British friends but we were hopeful that we would see them again.

The next two days in Barca we spent seeing the city and going on an awesome Gondola ride that overlooked the city. Of course we hit up the beach a couple more times before we left for Madrid on Tuesday.

We arrived in Madrid and met up with my good friend Yael who is studying there. Instead of staying in a hostel, we stayed at her host family's apartment. Her host senora didn't speak any english so it was a bit difficult to communicate with her but we managed. Yael took us to the Museo del Prado, to the Madrid park, and to a really cool historical city called Toledo.
One of the nights I was almost really unlucky because this one girl almost stole my wallet but I caught her. I noticed my purse had been opened and I immediately looked up at her and said, "You took my wallet!" Which of course she disagreed to and so I made sure I looked through my purse one more time to make sure I wasn't imagining things. And I definitely wasn't but by the time I looked back up she was already taking off through the crowd. I told Justin she took my wallet and he went after her and got it back from her. Thank goodness...that could have ended up being a terrible night. Some advice when going to Madrid: don't go to the club called Kapital if you want to get mugged. Also, make sure you have a tight grip on your bag.
The next day we took off to Florence where the weather continued to be great. While in Florence we saw the Duomo and even got to sit in at a service they were having on a Sunday.
We tasted the original italian gelato, which was fabulous. Mostly we went and explored on walks and went on day trips to the beach in Viareggio. On St. Patrick's day we went to Pisa and got to see the leaning tower lit up green!

By the end of spring break we were super worn out and were in need of a few recovery days. Overall, it was a great 10 days that I got to spent with great company :)