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I'm now in Barcelona. I arrived at around 9 in the morning and my first order of business was to book my next ticket. After standing in line for an hour I got a ticket to Nice for the 23rd at 5pm. Let me just tell you all, this whole Icelandic Volcano thing... rather annoying. I mean, it's great for starting a conversation with random strangers but when you have to wait in line for an hour or more just to book your next ticket... for busing somewhere... that's sad. I mean I can expect that for taking a plane, or even a train, but a bus? No... the only thing that is supposed to take a long time for busing is the actual busing time... everything else, checking in, getting the ticket etc... super quick. Ya.. not happening.
Moving on though. So after that I headed to my hostel, checked in and then headed out to the beach and the store. I have to say having a bike... as annoying as it is getting it on metro and buses... is really really handy around town. So I zipped down to the ocean, scooted along about a mile or so of it, and parked it. I then proceeded to walk along the water barefoot for about a half mile. Oh it was nice. The water was pretty warm, probably in the mid 50's to 60's. Beautiful blue color, a lot of fish, a few sailboats cruising and clean air. Oh the beach was great. . . oh and I saw the first topless European bathers. Haha. I knew at some point I'd run into it. Some beach somewhere some time. Apparently in Spain it's not illegal and some beaches it's more acceptable than others. My hostel which is about 8 miles out of the main city and means the closest beach is also farther out, and thus... it's more accepted. So ya nude people, Europe... yippee!

So, after heading back to the hostel I took the metro back to the city for a free walking tour at 3pm... well I arrived late, but it was canceled anyway so I'll catch the one tomorrow morning at 11:30. Being a walking tour I did not bring my bike....bad choice. Or more-so....it was a bad choice what I choose to do after realizing the walking tour was canceled. I figured, "Hey..I'm in Barcelona... I'll walk along the beach all the way back to my hostel!" Well as I stated before... that's probably about 8 miles... but it sure felt like more. Maybe that's due to the fact I was wearing flip flops...or the fact that... see.. in Barcelona it's not just one straight coastline. They have so many different ports and docks etc.. you can't go in a straight line. So I think I walked a lot father. Still it was very enjoyable. Very interesting. When I started it was brilliantly sunny and perfect, but by the time I arrived back at my hostel (about 3 hours later) it was foggy and quite...serene? Kinda creepy but very cool. Starting out all the beaches were packed. Little food huts here and there, people lounging everywhere, paths up above were people skated, biked, and ran, and not a nudist in site. Well once you get past the main beaches it becomes more industrial, then run down industrial, then empty graffitied industrial, then back to apartments and urban city but... not really pretty city, more poor. That's when I realized.... Barcelona is a lot bigger than I thought. Once again I imagined something a lot smaller than it was, just like London. Apparently Barcelona and the surrounding vicinities has over 4 million people in it. But yes, it was quite enjoyable. Oh and whoever out there left the flip flops. Thanks! Serious! I mean... it wasn't the best idea to walk many many miles in them, but it was fantastic to let my feet breath.

So ya. With that I guess I could explain how I got the flip flops, and then about my hostel. Arriving at the hostel it doesn't seem to different. You have to get buzzed in as usual but once inside it's pretty cool. Big areas for lounging, a ping-pong table outside, a Nintendo Wii in a game room upstairs, art work done by people who've stayed here in the past on the walls. It's pretty cool. As for the flip flops, well they have a clothing exchange here. Basically if you have some clothes you don't need you just leave them, or if you need some, you take some. Its pretty cool. And. They happened to have one pair of flip flops... just slightly to big for me, but I grabbed them anyway. They probably will stick with me through Nice, and Italy before getting left behind for some other wonderful traveler. Oh how I love the Hosteling system.

Anyway! It's getting late, or at least it feels like it. . . so I think I shall head to bed soon. It would be nice to get a full nights rest unlike on the bus. Once again thanks for keeping up with me and commenting. It really is amazing to me that you all are reading this. Also thanks for the donations! I have received some rather unexpected ones and it's FANTASTIC! So ya. Until next time, ADIOS!

From Barcelona

From Barcelona

From Barcelona

From Barcelona

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