But back to Barcelona where I spent much of my time on the Beach, worshiping the sun after 6 months in shitty old England.
One night I met up with Renee, former London housemate and her BF Col. We went out for some tapas, and I decided to order snails much to the disgust of the old english couple sitting next to us. They werent too bad, kind of like seafood i guess. However towards the end, just as i was about to dig one little guy out of his shell, i noticed his mouth was open and it looked like he was looking up at me, so that was the end of the snails im sad to say.
afterwards we headed to a bar that renee had read about, which was all done up lile a magical forest with fairies. (the magical kind, not the camp type). We found it down a little ally at the wax museum, and it was really cool. there were trees, waterfalls, and the toilet signs were oberon and titania. After some lovely sangria we decided to find the next bar on her list, which proved a bit more difficult to find. first we ended up down some dodgy street, then at a strip club called bagdad, then at the police station, past the hookers and into “you want smokie?” square. luckily the lady in the sandwhich shop knew were it was - back on the other side of smokie square. It was the oldest bar in barcelona, famous for its absinthe and one of hemmingway’s favourites. but lets face it, where isnt!
we ordered absinthe, but were a bit confused when we were presented with a large glass of it, a fork, sugar cube and a bottle of water. eventually we figured out you place the fork over the glass with the sugar on top and squirt the water over the sugar to make the drink go cloudy. it just tasted like really strong sambucca. by the end of it, things were a little bit blury, but there was a lack of any green fairies im sad to say. they must have all been back at the other bar.
I went to Parc Guell, which was built by Gaudi. It had been described as Dr Suess like, which is totally true. It was amazingly different from any park i had ever been to, but sadly it was full of people selling crappy trinkets and people buying them..
Arriving in Rome was a bit of a shock. I couldnt believe how dirty, run down and poor it felt, starting with the airport and train to the city. It seemed like they ran out of money back in the 70s and havent spent a single penny since. It reminds me a lot like Ulaanbattar in Mongolia. Crazy traffic, unkept parks, rubbish everywhere. I read on SMH a while back about Italy’s massive falls in the number of tourists coming here, and I can totally understand why. It doesnt exactly lend itself to repeat tourism.
Ive done all the main sights. Saw the Vatican which was smaller than I was expecting. But it made me realise how self indulgent the catholic church is. I dont understand why the city needs so many churches? in one Piazza I counted 5 and i could see at least half a dozen nearby. Its rediculous.
I was going to go up into the dome, but I wasnt about to give the catholic church of all people any of my hard earned cash just to get a different view of their building.
Today went to the old ancient things like the Coloseum and Roman Forum. They were pretty impessive, but rather unkempt. But it was a bit too hot to care to much really. So I ended up back at my favourite gelati place instead.
I ended up in the audience of the Miss Italia regional finals in Piazza del Popolo, but I got sick of waiting for them to get organised and start the show, so I left after waiting ages. They couldnt organise a fart in a bottle! Too busy on trying to look good than care about anything else I guess.
Im heading to Florence tomorrow, and then on the Milan where I fly to Prauge. Im looking forward to getting back into more eastern eurpoe.
