Spain - Day 6

On our last day in Barcelona, we were sure to make the most of it!  We started off with breakfast at our favorite little cafe, the same place we ate breakfast our first day in Barcelona.  The lady that worked here was the sweetest and kindest person ever.  Such good vibes.

After breakfast, we headed back to our hotel to pack up our suitcases.  Later in the day, we'd be taking the high speed train to spend New Years Eve in Madrid!  We checked out of the hotel and threw our suitcases in a luggage locker while we explored Barcelona one last time before leaving.

We figured, what better way to see the most of Barcelona on our last day, than by bike!  So we rented a couple cruisers (from a seriously hilarious bike guy) and zoomed around town, checking out the sights.  We made our way through the narrow streets, down to the beach (where I accidentally engulfed my Toms in the sea), and around Parc de la Ciutadella.

Our two hour bike rental went way too fast and before we knew it, we were heading back.  Which wasn't so bad, since we were starving and it was the perfect time for lunch.  We wandered over to the Born District again for some pizza!  Not really Spain's specialty... but it was pretty tasty!  And paired with a Spanish beer, you can't go wrong.

After lunch, we had just enough time to roam around a little bit longer before we had to pick up our luggage and head to the train station.

We took the high speed train from Barcelona to Madrid and it only took about 2 hours!  It was such a relaxing ride and the views out the window were gorgeous.  The Spanish country side is just beautiful, especially as the sun is setting.

Once we arrived in Madrid, we went straight to our hotel room.  It was New Years Eve!  We stayed at Room Mate Mario and were happy with our choice.  Once unpacked and refreshed, we headed out to find a place for dinner.  Unfortunately, being New Years Eve, we couldn't find anything that didn't require reservations.  We figured this might happen.... and it didn't help that it was pouring down rain and we didn't have an umbrella.  We ended up grabbing some pizza, a couple beers, and some chips and heading back to the hotel to munch.  After we ate, I freshened up and dried off, while Brett went out to find us some champagne.  It was New Years Eve after all!  He came back with 2 bottles of champagne, an umbrella (!!), and 12 grapes for each of us to ring in the new year with.  Spain has a tradition of eating 12 grapes as the clock strikes 12 times before midnight and if you can eat them all, you'll have good luck throughout the year.

With all of our New Years Eve supplies, we headed back out in the rain and over to Puerta del Sol (the Spain equivalent to Times Square).  There were so many people and everyone had grapes and champagne!  You are allowed to walk around with alcohol there, but the police made you pour it into these huge plastic cups.  It was hilarious.  We had such a good time surrounded by all the Spaniards, singing and cheering in Spanish as the clock counted down.  It was pouring down rain but nobody cared at all.  Everyone was having an awesome time.  I never thought I would be spending New Years Eve in Madrid with Brett completely surrounded by cheering Spaniards.  It was such a fun experience that I will remember for as long as I live. 

After the clock struck midnight and the crowd died down, we eventually made our way back towards our hotel.  We somehow managed to stop for more pizza but the only reason I know this is because of the below picture.  I don't actually really recall going here... but my drunkenness most likely pointed us in this direction before we made our way back to our hotel.  :)

Happy New Year!!*

Spain - Day 5

On our second full day in Barcelona, we woke up with the sun shining through the window.  Every single day in Barcelona, we were welcomed by the most beautiful sunny weather.  We had some great plans for the day.  We started things off with breakfast near our first destination of the day, Casa Batllo.  We found this great looking cafe right across the street from Casa Batllo.  We sat in the corner at the window, staring at the commotion outside as we sipped our cafe con leche and fresh squeezed orange juice, and munched on some fresh baguettes.

Once breakfast was done, we headed across the street to Casa Batllo.  This house was also designed by Antoni Gaudi (the Sagrada Familia) and was incredible.  We took a tour of the house, which included guided headsets that we could listen to as we wandered through all of the rooms.  Each room was so unique and detailed and the roof was just awesome.  During our time in Barcelona, I really grew to truly love Gaudi's work and his philosophy behind how he comes up with his designs.  His inspiration comes solely from the outdoors and things he loved in nature.  And I just love that. 

We were so inspired when we left Casa Batllo and decided that we are going to have to do a little redesigning of our home at some point to reflect some of his work.  So cool.  Casa Batllo wasn't the only Gaudi architecture we were going to be seeing that day.  Our afternoon plans had us heading to Parc Guell.  But first, lunch!  We were hungry when we left Casa Batllo, but figured we'd head up to the area of Parc Guell and hopefully find something to eat along the way.  We came across the cutest little cafe (I swear, I use this description for every cafe that we ate at, but they were all so cute!) right outside of Parc Guell.  We ordered a couple baguette sandwiches (I know, so many!) and grabbed a couple oranges from a little shop and were on our way.

We must have entered Parc Guell at a back entrance at the top of the mountain or something because we climbed a pretty steep hill before we went in.  We ate our little lunch sitting on a ledge on the side of a path in the park, looking down at the main entrance where the (gingerbread looking) houses were.  We wandered the paths and ended up staring out at some pretty incredible views of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea.  I will never forget that moment when we climbed a little higher on a dirt path and literally felt like we were on top of the world.  It was amazing.  We spent a while on top of that mountain just taking in the beautiful view and that 'omg' moment that 'We're in Spain!'  We eventually winded down the paths to the lower part of the park and marveled at Gaudi's unique architecture of the two houses that lined the entrance.  They looked like they belonged in a make-believe world.  So cool.  We continued through the park, making sure to check out all the awesome sights, from the huge pillars to the diagonal rock formations to the tiled balcony that overlooks everything (and we even saw a few wild parrots!).  Everything was so different compared to the parks we've been to in the States.  It was such an awesome experience.

After spending most of the afternoon roaming around Parc Guell, we were starting to get a bit tired.  But there was another park nearby that we really wanted to check out: Parc de la Creueta del Coll.  We made our way out the back of Parc Guell and through some true Spanish neighborhoods and found ourselves at the park.  This park was much smaller than Parc Guell, but still had some really cool structures.  The view from the top wasn't half bad either!

The sun was starting to set, so we decided to head back towards the area of our hotel.  Instead of going straight back to our hotel, we took the metro to Port Olimpic, a marina located right on the Mediterranean Sea.  This little area was completely recreated when the Olympics came to town in 1992.  There were tons of cool structures and features that remained from the Olympic games.  We just wandered around, looking at everything, and even took a little stroll on the beach, even though it was pretty dark out.

On our way back to our hotel, we wanted to grab a fresh baguette to munch on before we went out to dinner later that night.  But somehow instead of a baguette, we ended up finding a super old-time churro shop and just couldn't pass up that smell.  We got a bag full of churros covered in sugar and ate them as we strolled back to our hotel.  These churros were probably the best treat I've ever eaten in my entire life.  :)

We made it back to our hotel room, rested our feet for a bit, then were ready to head back out for dinner!  We decided to stay in the area of our hotel (Gothic Quarter) for dinner and ended up at Sensi Tapas.  We loved this place!  The atmosphere was so warm and the owner was so sweet.  And to top it off, the food was incredible.  Perfect place for our last night in Barcelona.

After dinner, we walked home a little slower than usual, just taking everything in and chitchatting about our delicious meal.  We made it back to our hotel room and passed right out.  Such a happy exhausted.

We had to rest up well that night because the next day, we'd be traveling on to our next adventure: New Years Eve in Madrid!