Walking Tour of Barcelona

Yesterday was a statewide holiday. It was a holiday to celebrate the Independence of Catalunya (my state) from Spain. The strange thing is that Catalunya never gained independence from Spain. It is a holiday that gets people riled up because they are still fighting for independence, but it will probably never happen. The politicians are divided on the issue and so they make a big show of the holiday. Anyway, what yesterday was to me was a day that I didn't have to work and an opportunity to explore the city. I did just that. I met up with my friend Jazmin and we set off to see as much as possible of the city. My pictures are posted on facebook so I won't bore you with the play by play. The important thing is that we walked... a lot! I left my apartment at 2:30 in the afternoon and didn't return home for dinner until a little after 9. During that whole time we were intently navigating the city, trying to discover as much as possible on our day off. We ended the day by climbing to the top of Parc Guell, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and famous Gaudi creation. From there we were able to see how huge this city actually is. Then we had an agonizing mile and a half walk downhill to the nearest metro station. Once at the metro station, my journey wasn't over. I got off the green train at a hub that I thought was supposed to have a stop for a purple train that would take me the rest of the way home, but when I looked for directions to the purple line, none existed. There were only directions for 4 other lines that would only take me farther away from where I needed to go... or so I thought. After a small panic, I figured out that there was a blue line stop in this hub. Conveniently, there is a blue station about the same distance from my apartment as the purple station.

Today I learned something very interesting at work. Under necessity, I discovered that I can read French. I'd like to note that I've never had a French lesson in my life. With the work I was doing I had to dig through many French blogs; which I was very amazed to discover that I could navigate quite easily.

With a little more exploring today, I'm sad to say that I know where there is a McDonald's, Subway, Burger King, KFC, and Dominoes Pizza within less than a 15 minute walk from where I live. My goal is to not eat at them for as long as possible...