Barcelona... What a crazy place! By far the longest post I´ve ever done

I would first like to say, that for the first time in a long time, I´m actually updating in a timely mannor so everyone that reads this (all 5 of yall- the 5 people in my family) can be proud.

This post is going to focas on Barcelona, a trip I went on during the last weekend in Sept. and how crazy it was! Never in my life have I...
This is a statue of Columbus pointing to the New World in the end of Las Rambles

1. Flown so off the cuff
2. Gotten so lost
3. Seen so many prostitues
4. drank so much beer
5. Been in a club so big
6. Taken a Taxi to McDonalds

and most importantly had so much fun as when I did in Barcelona... the city is literally NUTS.  Its the only way I can truly describe it.  We left Santander on Thur at 1 and returned Sunday at 3 had I been there much longer I´m pretty sure I would have died.

To start out I´ll give you all the boring details- Me, Chris, Morgan (a dude with a girls name), Ryan and Chris´s girl friend Lia all decided to go in together and book a flat in Barcelona, a city like any major city is extremely expensive.  We had planned to save money by cooking at home and pre-gaming before we went out to at night.  It worked out great being not expensive and really nice BUT it was in a place most taxi drivers had never heard of. while traveling it ended up that Lia couldnt come for the first few days because her father works for an airline and flies stand by.  Needless to say Chris was upset and we MAY have gone a little crazy having no girl to keep us in check (or clean for that matter)

 This is a picture of that flat.  It really doesnt do it justice but as you can see it had nice wooden floors a nice tv and a sick couch.  We all had beds too which was a huge plus.  For the price we payed I wont complain.  The first night after we got settled in we decided to explore Las Rambles THE main straight in Barcelona.  During the day this street is filled with tourist and venders and is prime time Barcelona.  Anything you can image is there along with throngs of people from all over the world.

We bought some food and ate dinner at home after we had explored for a few hours and planned on going back out after.  As luck would have it I have a friend from Brazil named Bosquo who had recently visited Barcelona and had given me the name of a pub we had to check out off Las Rambles.  Having just beethere we figured it would be a safe bet to have a relatively quite night at a bar... SIKE

First off as anyone who has ever been to a European city there is no such thing as ¨right off¨a street.  There are alleys and alleys and short cuts and long cuts that pretend to be short cuts and end the end it took us about 2 hours to find this bar BUT we were not dissapointed.  The Ovella Negra (black sheep) is a pub like nothing I have never seen before.  Completely underground there are about 15 huge tables that each sit about 20-25 people.  What you do it buy a Torre (tower)  of beer or sangria and chill with your friends for hours drinking and hanging out (its only 20 euro for a tower and its about 15 beers worth).  But since they dont kick you out of your seats the place is packed with groups of people looking for an open table some people drinking pitchers of beer or other drinks as they wait.  They have pool tables and other things also so all in all it was a good time.  Unfortunatly I do not have pictures of the Ovella Negra but on my facebook I do have a few of me with my friends sitting at large oak tables with a tower of beer if you would like to take a look.  We ended up staying out until about 4 (still a early night in Spain) and getting McDonalds before heading home.

The next day us guys do what any guys do.  Make no plans and simple wing it.  We woke up and left the house around 12 and we ended up walking around Barcelona for about 5 hours.  I actually really enjoyed it because although we didnt see any MAJOR things I felt like I got to know the city better and really finding out what it was all about.  The Highlight of the day has got to be the Paella we ate at some local place.  It was amazing.  Una Mezcla, it had clams, crabs, crawlfish, squid, and actual fish in it along with rice vegetables and chicken. Along with bread and water it was only 9 Euro each, not a bad find at all. We also saw the Gallery of art.  Being dudes we didnt go inside but it made for good pictures!

The pan was about 3 inches deep so it was a lot of food but... we were all able to finish it.

This is the place were we ate and the picture below is what we were looking at while we ate.  I have no idea if the church was important but I just think its crazy how you can live next to something hundreds of years old in Europe.  Thats one thing you cant do in the states.

That night, we met up with some other American students who were also visiting Barcelona, all in all there were about 10 of us and the girls ended up coming over and making dinner for us (pasta with red sauce, bread, desert) and then we all pre gamed for a little before heading to THE BIGGEST CLUB I have ever seen named Razzmatazz.  It was 15 euros to get in but def. worth it.  Kanye West had just recently bought it out for a music ideo but it was 5 stories high and on each story they had 2 huge dance floors and bars each with a differnt theme.  We ended up not leaving there until about 4 30 and we ended up walking to McDonalds about a mile and a half away.  Because it was so late they were only taking drive thru orders but in a stroke of brillance we decided to get a taxi to take us before taking us home! (we already needed a taxi to take us home so hey what was another euro or 2 when it comes to getting American food!?)

The next day was saturday and because we were leaving the following day we knew we needed to hit the big sites and thats exactly what we ended up doing.  First we went to the Olympic Stadium and toured it. I really enjoyed that they still keep the park in great condition.

Then we went to the Sangrada Familia the defining work in Barcelona.  A church still being built since the late 1800s this church was designed by Gaudi and was literally one of the most moving works of art I have ever seen.  It was so intricate I felt like I could have sat ther for hours and not seen enough of it.  I loved it-end of story.

I have so much more to say but I have no time so I hope you enjoyed my story of Barcelona.  Sorry for the short ending!!