Day 4: Tues. June 30
We slept in very late today so that by the time we left we could go straight to a restaurant for a really big lunch...Which was delicious. Below is an image of all of our first courses which was then followed for me by chicken leg, small salad, and French fries.
After that we took the Metro over to the Monjuic park where we rode the Teleferic up all the way to the top of the park's hill where the Monjuic Castle is. This actually was for many years a fortress which protected and at times served to attack the city from its high vantage point
We spent quite a bit of time taking in the fresh sea air and the glorious views.
After the Castle we began winding our way slowly down the hill. We went by the 1992 Olympic stadium and all around it...For about 5 minutes I had Alice convinced that this structure bellow is an alien communication device and that Spain has been in communication with extraterrestrial life forms for almost two decades now.
(the stadium)
From here we went down to the National Art Museum of Catalunya before deciding to return back up to the Olympic and Sports Museum which was full of interesting information, videos, equipment used etc. It even had an interactive part where you could attempt to keep pace with an Olympic sprinter or see how long you could jump compared to a professional long jumper....If we had had more time we would have done so much more.
(us just inside the Olympic stadium, we couldn't go any further)
Then we returned to the Art Museum which looks down upon Plaza de Espana the place of the 1929 International Exhibition. It was beautiful!
(ran into to one of our roommates we had gotten to know a little...there were three we really spoke to...two were from Argentina...Sophia and Fernando...but traveling separately and the other one was an older guy named Julian from Connecticut.)
This is the Magic Fountain which is supposed to have incredible light and water shows...unfortunately not on Mon. or Tues.
once we learned this disappointing fact (not posted on any website) we went down and out of Plaza de Espana to find food and sangria.
We went to a place which claimed to have the best burgers in town...they did have very good burgers. Amanda and I split one with caramelized onions and tartar and I will say we enjoyed it tremendously.
When we made it home we went ahead and did a bit of laundry and organized our things to make packing easier in the morning.
DAY 5: Wed, July 1
We got up pretty early, got ready, packed up all our things and then went down to check out and pay for them to keep our luggage safe during the day.
After that we took the Metro up to Park Guell, another very famous Gaudi site (modernist architect who began the Sagrada Familia.)
We spent most all of our day here...I found it quite peaceful especially when you walked through the open gardens where fewer people went...We only really explored the monuments portion of the park which was really fascinating..
(Gatekeepers house)
When we had walked back to the Metro we had to pick up our things from the hostel and then make our way back through the Metro to the big AVE (speed train station). We caved and got McDonalds as it was the fastest and cheapest option we could find and then we boarded the train. After eating fairly quickly and chatting briefly we all went to sleep for most of the ride back even though it was fairly early in the evening.
We arrived back in Madrid at about 7:30 and headed home...It was actually really comforting to be back in the city we have come to know so well.
The rest of the evening we didn't do much especially as we needed to be ready to start back to school tomorrow morning at 8:30.
**El Fin**
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