Last I left off, we were at the fourth of July! Kelly and I were too exhausted after the train ride to make the 30 minute trek to the city, so we ate at the university restaurant that night. The next day, it was straight to the tourist office for information, and straight to a bench in the square to get organized. And THAT is when my purse got stolen!
I hate having the map out constantly like a tourist, so we try to study it hard at the very beginning. We were doing this when some guy came up to our left, next to Kelly, and asked us if we spoke Spanish, then Catalan, French (I lied), or English. We finally said yes, but he just kept asking about Spanish again, pointing at some sheet of paper, and then awkwardly left. We just thought he was an idiot, until maybe 3 minutes later when I had a sudden thought and looked around me. So, we THINK someone else came up on my right while he was distracting us. I couldn't believe it! The police station is right underneath the square, so we went and filled out a police report and cancelled all my cards. The woman from Visa actually went off her little script and was very sweet, as was Kelly who stayed with me and bought me a Kit Kat. You just don't realize how much you carry in one stupid bag until you have to write it all out and add up the cost. I had my camera, phone, mp3 player, wallet, and prescription sunglasses, not to mention my passport! (I didn't want to leave anything in our room, in case someone took it. Ha!) So, next we tried the U.S. Embassy which is only open M-F 9am-1pm, and not if it's an American OR Spanish holiday. So I had to wait until Monday, and after a "calming" and cheap lunch at McDonald's, we just kept going with the day.
I actually really enjoyed the whole feel of Barcelona except for, you know, the bastards I cursed all weekend. There are lots of shops near Place Catalunya, the plaza we were in when everything went down. Kelly insisted I get a new purse, and then I decided to replace my digital camera since we still had five cities left. After all that was settled, we walked down La Rambla, a busy street filled with street performers and vendors (there had chipmunks for sale!). At the end you reach the water and a giant pole with Christopher Columbus on top. We again dunked our feet, only this time in the ocean where we could actually see fish! We took the metro to La Sagrada Familia, a giant crazy unfinished church. It is designed by Antoni Gaudi, who has a bunch of buildings in Barcelona that are all very curvy and abnormal and nature-inspired. We tried to walk to another of his buildings, but couldn't find it. I blame the map and/or stress.
The next day was much better! We went straight to the National Museum of Catalunyan Art, and the Catalunya History Museum (both free!). The second one had tons of interactive exhibits an cool displays, and also an exhibit on women's rights. Lunch was across the street in a rather nice restaurant for paella, a classic Spanish rice dish. After we went to see the also crazily-designed Music Hall and Casa Batllo. Lastly, we sprung for a tour of Gaudi's La Pedrera, an apartment complex with no straight lines at all. The colors and curves were incredible, and the roof was absolute madness. You will all have to see the pictures later. Monday morning, we headed straight for the Embassy. I was fifth or sixth in line at 8:50 am, so I was not alone. Many people had missed their cruises and planes, so I felt much better about my situation. It was like group therapy! We all swapped stories, and there was one guy whose man-bag was stolen in the same place about 30 minutes before me. He said they had searched some dumpsters and found a whole bunch of slashed bags, it is just unbelievable. It only took about an hour to get my temporary replacement passport, and the rest of the day was spent relaxing and emailing and preparing for our flight the next day.
Tuesday our plane arrived in London around noon, and it was instantly back to the cool drizzly weather. We stayed in the "Clink Hostel" converted from a former courthouse. The first day we sifted through all the tourist info, and went to Covent Garden for dinner after watching some crazy magician guy. The next day we took a tour of Shakespeare's Globe, and the Tate Modern where we had a really artsy unsatisfying lunch. We shopped a bit, and I looked for a new notebook in two stores that turned out to be a radical communist shop and a sex shop (I stuck with the first one). Thursday we started out at Westminster Abbey, then walked over to Buckingham Palace and saw bits of the changing of the guard. From there, we walked to Trafalgar Square and had lunch at Friday's. Due to rain, we decided to go to Kensington Palace. They had exhibits on the debutantes of the fifties, the royal apartments, and some of Diana's dresses. We walked to some of the other famous squares and then ate at the hostel. Our last day, we went to the Tower of London where I relearned everything I supposedly took in the first time, before grabbing our train.
Next stop was Manchester, being as it was en route to Ireland. That's also where all Pamela and my old drinking buddies in Nancy were from, and Charlie graciously offered to let us stay in his spare bedroom, which was a nice incentive. The first night we had salad with potatoes and three English cheeses at Charlie's and just watched TV. The next day he showed us around Manchester, where there was a festival where people decided to act crazy in the streets. We also went to the Museum of Science and Industry with the exhibit Body Worlds. There is a new technique for preserving human cadavers by "plastination" so you can see all the different parts of actual bodies. Kind of strange, but really fascinating. After another dinner in, we went to two pubs and met Charlie's brother and two other friends. They had a classic rock cover band playing, and it was a really good time.
Sunday we had a very lazy morning due to aforementioned pubs, and then drove out to the Lake District. We got scones with real clotted cream for lunch, and then drove on Kirkstone Pass, a small road up a mountain. Then at Lake Windermere we climbed a trail up a big hill for a nice view of the area. It was a lot of driving, so we just had a simple dinner and watched Pulp Fiction. The next morning we were heading all the way to western Ireland, so there wasn't time for much else. Charlie drove us two and a half hours to the ferry, which was really nice but 20 minutes late, making us miss our train. We finally got to Galway at 7:30 pm, and hung around the hostel where I finished my eleventh book of the trip! We are actually on to Dublin tomorrow, but I will save all the fun from Galway for my next update. Can't believe we fly home on Monday! I'll have to write my last vacation update on the plane. See you all very soon....
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