First off: we would like to thank everyone for the huge response we have had to our blog! What a treat to be able to share our experiences with you all. It is so fun knowing we can write it down and you will witness our time in Europe with us first hand.
Also, we commented to any comments that needed commenting (I'm pretty sure it was just the one to you, Mrs. Mendheim). It is always a good time reading what anyone has to say.
We arrived in Barcelona at roughly 8 AM on Sunday. We instantly reconnected to a two hour train ride to Figueras, Spain. As soon as we arrived, we dropped our bags off at some lockers. Our first goal upon arriving anywhere is to locate the tourist office, and we were able to do it that time without much trouble at all. We procurred some good information about the places we wanted to see, and some cheap hotels to stay at (the version of hostel in that area were called pensions, and not too much cheaper than a two star hotel). We then proceeded to wander around for hours, consulting maps, turning them this way and that, retracing our steps, rounding block after block, craning our necks, and eventually finding the hotel we were looking for and moving on. We were blessed to stay at a cozy little place, cheap and with wi-fi, run by a pleasant older gentleman who had been a chef for hotels in London, Germany, and Ireland. He was hoping to retire and pass his family hotel on to his son. He spoke very good English, and this was a real treat.
Our original intentions were to see the Salvador Dali museum and move out of Figueras. But, as these things go, the museum is closed on Mondays. So to fill up the rest of our afternoon (after getting our room), we headed to the Cassell Sant Ferran, which is actually an old military fort from the 16-1700s. It is the largest of its kind in Europe. It was cheap, and even included a tape-recorder that narrated to us in certain spots. We were the only two there, and it was like stepping into another time/world completely. Not only was the feeling huge, it was almost eerie. The structure covered over 300,000 meters, was surrounded by a moat, and could house up to 12,000 foot soldiers (not to mention the 800 horses, and all the other higher ranking officials and even non-military personnel). The genius it took to design the building, right down to its water system, was mind-blowing. We hope the pictures and videos can do it some justice.
We passed some buildings where the Olympics were some time ago, on our way to recollect our baggage. We ate for the first time that day (Michael had tuna pizza, and Rebecca had rabbit and fried potatoes- which are actually french fries in these parts). We have very much been enjoying American Idol on-line during our evenings. It is hard to explain the relief of just vegging out after walking for an entire day, every day. Does anyone else notice that Simon seems to be a lot more approving this time around?
We both awoke feeling a little beat-up. We had been eating very little (it's the only way to save money!), and enduring the intensity of meeting the demands of living as nomads. Only one week officially out of country, and we were feeling it. Rebecca was near-migraine, as she tends to get, and searching for an ATM and place to eat was a tiresome chore. Michael saved the day, keeping his promise that he would find an ATM within three minutes for his fading wife, and picking out the perfect place for lunch. We had the menu of the day at BF Sundays, which consisted of chicken soup, grilled chicken (the very best grilled chicken we have ever had), all you can eat bread, and the most luxurious of flan (which they call flam) all for a price much less than we were used to. Some coffee and tea left us much more energized, and the world was a better place.
The Salvador Dali museum was everything we could have hoped for. While neither of us are into the surrealist genre, it is definitely wild to jump into it for a short time. Dali tends to get a little graphic, but he designed the entire museum himself, and his touch was on everything, and in every little crevice and crack. It seemed that he had kitchen sinks hanging from everywhere, some of our favorites were chains shaped into stick figures doing acrobatics, and the largest sculpture consisted of a vintage vehicle, with a large woman on the hood, holding up a sail boat from on top of a tower of tires, and if you fed it a coin and watched through the broken window water would squirt on the ivy covering the seats and the mannequin behind the wheel. Once again, hoping the pictures will give you some of the joy we got from seeing it all first hand.
Right from the museum we went to the train station, which took us the two hours back to Barcelona. We weren't going to visit Barcelona, but Gaudi's Temple Sagrada Familia is there (a temple that has taken over 100 years to build, by an architect very into art deco, which focuses on natural-looking techniques). Rebecca learned about much of the art we were experiencing in her previous art class at WMU, and never would have dreamed to see it first hand.
It was our first time arriving somewhere in the dark. True to our ways, we located the tourist office in the train station, were recommended where to stay, and even got them marked on our new map. Also true to our ways, we spent the next two hours wandering the streets, crossing lane after lane, dragging our wheels behind us (we found some for Michael in Figueras, and they are a life-saver, let me tell you!). We agreed from that moment that whenever we want to start a journey, we will decide which way we want to head, and then go in the opposite.
The hostel we finally stopped at was run by a well-spoken Asian man, who made it easy for us to ask for a deal if we were staying two nights. The option of a microwave opened whole new doors for us, and a quick trip to the market supplied us with some bagel bites and fruit. We spent the rest of our evening talking on skype, and finishing up the American Idol auditions. How in the world is Hollywood week gonna go? No one knows...
