This morning I trudged from my top-bunk hostel bed to the bathroom, gathered my hair in a smelly bun and walked to breakfast. My feet were still grey and filthy, the kind of gross that happens when you’ve been dancing on top of layers of broken glass at a Barcelona night club until 4 a.m. I was clearly dehydrated and very sleep deprived.
And it was fantastic!
I must have devoured my food (instant coffee, two pieces of bread with strawberry jam, and a Spanish cake-thing) like a caveman. I couldn’t shove it in my mouth fast enough (please don’t comment on that. Yes, it is ‘what she said.’)
I left Barcelona this morning with a pretty great feeling. The only slight downside was getting lost on the trains to the airport with Noel, whom I had entrusted to get us there safely. Everyone knows I don’t do directions and trains. Turns out he’s not great at them either. I was ravenous by the time I got to the airport and started shaking until I bought chips and a sandwich. mmmm. I thought about the last week or so.
But let me start where I left off, in Vienna…
On the last day in Vienna, Merissa, Miriam and I had scheduled the Fine Arts Museum and the Imperial Palace. It cost 7.5 euro to get in the museum, another 3 euro for audio headsets and .5 euro to hang my bag up. Additionally, I spent 4 euro on lunch and 2.5 euro on a notebook from the gift shop. Determined to get our money’s worth, Miriam and I wandered through the museum for FOUR HOURS. Merissa was finished in half that time and I felt bad as she waited for us at the end. But now I can proudly tell you about ancient Egyptian artifacts as well as Roman and Greek artifacts. Also, I saw the Canadian currency mint. Uhh… great?
The Imperial Palace was awesome and beautiful. The best part of the day was when Miriam and I hiked up a steep hill to the summit, where a pool house (?) was located. I could see for miles in all directions of Austria, and I felt truly lucky to be able to travel and see what I have seen. We also climbed into a huge, elaborate, empty fountain and took pictures of us atop a horse, kissing mythological creatures and smackin’ that ass of marble kings. I thought about how the Habsburgs had looked at this very fountain so many years ago. It was a warm day with just enough of a cool breeze. Austria is gorgeous…
We left on the night train, and we were acting completely silly. I couldn’t stop laughing at everything and anything. It was good to feel like that again. The night train departed at 9:30 and arrived in Zurich at 6:30 a.m. Miriam and I didn’t sleep a wink. Ugh. I feel bad for Miriam, who had to deal with children all day. I was just a cranky camper as Merissa and I took the S6 to Meilen… except we found out the hard way it stops in Herrliberg-Feldmeilen, one stop shy of Meilen. Ugh! I hung out with Merissa all Thursday.
I left for Barcelona Friday afternoon, thinking about how all I wanted to do was go see my amazing boyfriend. Maybe meet up in New York City for a weekend. Unfortch (oh yeah, abbreves are so cool), I could not afford that for one weekend. One of the reasons I booked a flight to Barcelona was to refrain from buying a last-minute ticket to the U.S. in order to fall asleep in Kevin’s arms.
I walked into my hostel around 11 p.m. and was greeted with a mobbed reception desk and screeching sounds reverberating throughout this apparently ultra-social hostel. Well, it was located on Passeig de Gracia, an extremely central street, so what could I expect. I finished reading “The Kite Runner” in my bed (nothing like reading about guilt, male rape, cultural downfall and parental death to keep things light). I was woken up by some senoritas at about 4 a.m. Oh. My. God. Sleeping in a 12-bed hostel dorm can be really fucking annoying. The next morning I left the light on when I left. I had to switch rooms anyway (the hostel needed me to). bwahahaha.
On Saturday I took a Gaudi architecture tour with two others: Jessica is from Canada and Gil is from Israel. Our tour guide, Linda, was German! We spoke a little bit of German. Let me digress here to explain that, weirdly enough, I was extremely comforted when I heard anyone speaking German and I held some convos in German during my time in Barcelona. Strange that in the beginning of my time in Switzerland, I hated German. Now I’m really loving it. Jessica, Gil, Linda and I walked for miles around Barcelona to look at the Sagrada Familia and other famous Gaudi work. It was fabulous. We finished at a park that overlooked Barcelona. I took photos of the landscape, which held the Mediterranean Sea in the distance. Beautiful. Bonita.
Jessica and I walked around even more after that, visiting the pier and a mall. We collapsed onto chairs in a restaurant. Dinner, which seemed slightly expensive at first, turned out to include bread, salad (mussels for Jes), two glasses of wine, a huge portion of paella and chocolate mousse for dessert. All for 15 euro, which translates to about $23. I think it was definitely worth it. We even saved half the paella and ate it for dinner the next night.
I was supposed to meet up with Sarah Recio on Saturday night, but I was dead tired from nine hours of walking through Barcelona. And smelly. I called it a night after a few drinks with Jes.
Jes and I visited bcn’s museum of contemporary art on Sunday, which really didn’t impress me too much. Much of the collection wasn’t… contemporary. It was from the ’60s. On top of this, I couldn’t force my mind to stop thinking about Kevin. Ughhh. Why, brain, why. Then we walked to the Picasso museum, which was definitely worth standing in line for 40 minutes. Admission is free after 3 p.m. on Sundays! There was a lot of info – in English! – and much of Picasso’s work. It was really interesting to see how his work developed from what my untrained eye would call “normal” to his famous cubism.
Sunday night… I was supposed to go out with Sarah but she cancelled 
So I settled on being bored.
Monday was quite a relaxing day. I bought two shirts and searched in vain for the perfect sandals. I’m positive I would have found them if I had searched further. Instead I began a search for Stephanie Meyers’ new book, The Host. I just wanted some light fiction to get me through the day. Instead I purchased “The Devil Wears Prada,” knowing it wouldn’t disappoint. It didn’t. I sat in a lounge chair atop the hostel’s top-floor terrace. Sun shining, blood-red sangria with fruit floating in it, and a book. In Barcelona. It… was… fab.
I finally got the chance to go out with Sarah last night, along with several people from my dorm: Mary, Rob, Alex and Fernando. It turned out to be a truly fun night. Sarah took us to a pizza/bar she likes – a hole in the wall, the best kind – and then to a club. Admission- 10 freakin euro. Ugh. At least our wonderful boys provided the drinks the whole night.
After a few minutes in the club, I noticed I kept walking on something strange. That’s when I realized the floor was covered with broken glass. Mary casually sipped her Budweiser, poured some on the floor (it probably got on someone) and chucked the bottle at the ground, adding to the collection of dangerous flooring. I couldn’t help but laugh at this insanely dangerous thing.
I was sweaty as hell, soaked with beer from the waist down (I had been the victim of a drunk asshole’s dropped beer), smelled like smoke, and was dancing on broken glass. Best night ever.
Come to think of it, best back-to-back vacations ever.
