It’s all over…
I can’t believe it. I’m back. It feels like just yesterday I left on that jet plane for Spain and now I’m already back. A lot is different, but that’s for another entry. Right now, let’s go back, back to my last week in Spain. We worked, a whole lot, after returning from Venice, to get all of our work done in time. Wednesday I worked from 8am until 10pm, I just had to finish my work.
Thankfully, I did get to enjoy my last weekend in Barcelona. Friday after work, Rachel and I accompanied Mark and Heather to the Picasso museum. I enjoyed seeing his work from his early life into the later stages. My favorite artwork was classic advertising posters, I believe it was one of his friend’s artwork. After the museum, we walked toward the beach and went to a Mexican restaurant that Heather and Mark had previously visited. I had a delicious LIT and burrito. And I was happy to have some guacamole in my life, not to mention the tortilla chips. After dinner, we caught the train back to La Garriga and met some very interesting characters in the station that wanted us to go to the Ah-Beh-Cey discotheque. We thankfully convinced them to get off at their stop and not follow us back to La Garriga.
The next morning we got an early start to head to Figuerres to see the Dalí museum. This was a very anticipated part of the trip for me as, although I’m not really an art connoisseur, Dalí and surrealism top my list. After a two hour train ride through what looked like Indiana, we arrived in Figuerres, which is where Dalí lived. We must have looked like tourists because before we could even ask a woman we encountered for directions, she told us where the Dalí museum was. The museum was incredible, I loved everything I saw and was stunned that I was allowed to take pictures within the museum.
After the museum, Rachel and I headed back to Barcelona to see Tibidabo. We were told we were not allowed to leave Barcelona without seeing it and this was our last chance. Thank god we made the effort to go up there. After correctly navigating the metro lines, we took a trolley halfway up, where we got on a funicular that took us to the top. At the top of Tibidabo, after leaving the funicular, you see a church, which was apparently a very popular site for weddings (who doesn’t want to get married almost 2000 feet in the air?). We saw at least three brides while we were up there.
Someone also decided, oh, hey, let’s put an amusement park almost 2000 feet in the air. That makes sense, right? So, church, amusement park, and then a breathtaking view that I will remember for the rest of my life. Sprawled out before me at the top of this mountain is all of Barcelona. The view was so beautiful that it almost brought me to tears, no wonder people were getting married up there.
Before we left Tibidabo, we decided to buy a cotton candy, little did we know this would literally the largest cotton candy we have ever consumed in our entire lives. However, it was delicious. After making the journey all the way back down the mountain and back through the metro lines, we made our way through La Rambla to find Stephanie and Courtney at a bar called Cheers to watch the Spain vs. Paraguay match. We did find them and it was packed to the brim, just the way I wanted to see a world cup match in Spain! I was excited for the match to begin. It was amazing! The whole bar was full of excitement and Spain won! Definitely a moment I will not forget for a long time. Plus, I was wearing my Villa jersey and everyone who noticed said something. I felt like I was part of it.
Unfortunately because we stayed in town to see the match, we had to catch the night bus back to La Garriga. The night bus was our least favorite thing, but, it did get us home when we wanted to be in town after 10pm. And, we did have delicious gyros, so that made up for it. The night bus did get us back to La Garriga where we crashed into bed because we had an early journey to the airport in the morning.
Our flight was only slightly delayed, thankfully (we have not had the best luck with flights). I noticed very quickly the German allegiance in Mallorca before I even got there. When the plane landed at the airport, from the terminal I saw the pilot’s window open and out popped a German flag. You see, Spain was playing Germany in a world cup match in a few days and the pilot obviously was for Germany. In the pilot’s defense… we were flying Air Berlin. Still, not cool.
Mallorca, despite the Germans, was and is the most gorgeous beach I have ever been to. The water was crystal clear and as blue as, something that is quite blue. The sand was soft and created a sand bed when my towel was laid upon it. The amazing Mediterranean sunset was just that, amazing. And our beach front hotel was a definite plus. All I did in Palma, Mallorca was rest. It was all I needed to do and I loved every minute of it.
On Monday, aka my 22nd birthday, we went to an Imagewest Appreciation dinner and investigated Palma de Playa’s (our beach resort) nightlife. I ate monkfish in almond sauce for dinner and it was certainly the best-tasting fish I have ever consumed. For dessert I had CHEESEcake. Much emphasis on the cheese. It was not so pleasant. After dinner, we had a bucket of vodka and límon, and I mean bucket. It was a common practice to buy a blue bucket complete with drink and massive straws, to just drink on the boardwalk. The six of us quite enjoyed our bucket. After the bucket was gone, we went to explore the discotheques. Let me just say, I will never, ever forget my 22nd birthday in Palma, Mallorca, Spain in the Balearic Islands.
The next day I avoided the sun as much as possible, because I had gotten a little crispy the previous day (even with sunscreen). The Mediterranean sun is apparently quite hot…
After we left the resort, it was travel, travel and more travel. Before I knew it we were crossing the figurative border at the Barcelona airport and walking into international limbo awaiting our plane’s departure. And just like that, a short 10 or so hours later, we were back and I was running to my boyfriend’s arms at the Nashville airport.
Now that it’s all over, I am ready to go back. At first I was happy to be home, now I miss Spain. I’m now convinced that I should have been born in Europe. I will never forget what I will now consider as my second home.
