Au revoir Nice, Hola Barcelona

A new entry is on the horizon but first I must attempt to change my flight one last time about 3 days before I am scheduled to fly home.  Please contain your excitement.  I'm pretty sure the new entry will blow your socks off as usual.

Another picture of Sonar

Nina

So Barcelona.  Barcelona. Barcelona. Barcelona.  Well, let´s see.  Firs of all, we took an overnight train.  That was quite an experience.  Usually by the time we board the trains we are so completely exhausted from our touring and late nights in the previous place that we enjoy the rest and crash immediately.  This wasn't really the case on the overnight train.  We had just been in Cinque Terre, a sleepy little town where people go to relax and have their honeymoon or hike.  We swam in the gorgeous warm sea and went to bed early there.  It was lovely.  Our dinner of fresh seafood was fantastic and Nate´s company was a pleasure.  Soooo, when we climbed aboard the overnight train we were in for a long, boring, cramped ride.  Our bags wouldn't fit in the overhead so we put them at the food of our couchettes, which proved to be a mistake.  After a glass of red wine and a Tylenol p.m. I passed out wonderfully only to wake up every hour in the fetal position.  It really wasn´t all that bad, but I think next time I´ll know what I´m in for and plan accordingly. 

At the Sonar Music Festival

We arrived at about noon in Barcelona after switching trains 2x, in Toulouse and Narbonne at 5am and 9am respectively. We had met up with a couple in Nice who were headed in the same direction for the Sonar festival going on in Barcelona this weekend.  Actually, funny story, a random kiwi boy named Christopher walked up to us having a snack outside of the Nice train station and asked if we know whether or not hitchhiking was legal in France. Haha.  Not the sharpest guy, we ended up realizing that we were going to the same place and let him know that there was an overnight train, so he wouldn´t have to worry about hitchhiking at all.  He and his Swedish girlfriend, Josie, ended up tagging along with us and we all hung out at train stops.  So once we arrived in Barcelona they tagged along with us to our hostel.  as it turns out there was a bit of a mix up and our room had been given away and the hostel had filled up.  we were none too pleased.  After what felt like non-stop travel we were ready to shower! 

Our AMAZING hotel in Barcelona!

So we grabbed our packs and started to wander towards an internet cafe that the desk clerk pointed out.  We left Josie and Christopher behind saying we´d just see them there.  This internet cafe did not exist.  We looked and looked.  Meanwhile, Megan is calling a list of hostels the same desk clerk had given us, all of which were fully book.  Well, of course it was dawn back in New Orleans, so we didn´t want to place a desperate call home to wake anyone up so Megan called and called and we wandered and wandered hoping to find an internet cafe.  Finally, after about 2-3 hours we gave up and I called my parents.  Anne and Robert to the rescue!!!  My dad booked us the nicest hotel either of us can remember staying in.  These 2 days have been fantastic.  Oh the beds.  The only way I can think to describe the beds would be what I imagine sleeping on a cloud in heaven to feel like.  I am not exaggerating.  We had a flat screen tv, in the bedroom AND bathroom.  The shower was like a waterfall.  Fluffy robes.  Slippers.  A mini fridge.  AN IRON!!!  (I was really excited about the iron, I´m not gonna lie).  Anyway,  I can´t say I don´t feel totally spoiled rotten right now.  After the long weeks of walking in unpadded shoes and carrying about 55lbs on our backs we were so appreciative of the incredible gift.  Le Meridien will always have a special place in my heart.

So onto Barcelona.  Our new hotel was situated right on La Rambla, the main street that reminds me much of a clean version of Bourbon street.  There are street performers and stands, artists, caricaturists, flower markets.  It is really fun to just walk up and down the street.  The performers act as statues, like in he quarter, only they don´t appear to be as wobbly or drunk.  They have elaborate costumes and some even interact with passerby.  Our favorite is a man who is dressed like a circus clown and follows people walking down the street imitating their most striking feature.  It is very funny...until you become one of his victims.  Megs bought a very cute, very appropriate, relatively short skirt while we were in Nice and wore it out on Saturday.  Well, she can´t help the gorgeous long limbs of hers, and as we walked past the clown he bent over and looked up her skirt, much to the amusement of onlookers.  Not so much to Megs.

After checking in to the hotel and wandering teh day away, we decided to head out to find the clubs and bars recommended by my terribleg uide book.  After a few hours at Sugar talking with the bartender and a [enter here the word for a man who sits at the same bar after work and talks with the same people every night],  found ourselves at a huge music festival.  During our pre-travel research I had stumbled upon the website for SONAR and we had talked about going, but never really made plans.  After becoming friends with the man at our Florence Hostel, Ivan (Ee-von), who is from Barcelona, we were reminded of the event.  It's biiiig.  So we up and went at the last minute.  It started at midnight.  We got there at about 1am and met Ivan.  We stayed there for the night listening to insane techno/electronic/DJ music.  It was interesting.  We were so glad to tumble into our heavenly beds for the day.  That afternoon we just wandered some more. 

So...I started this entry about a week ago and the rest of the memories are fuzzy.  Sadly, Megs left on Monday the 23rd with her family.  Well, sadly for me, exciting for Megs because she gets to visit some of the most amazing places in the world.  Although, I think her internet rates are something like 6 dollars for 10 minutes, so we probably won't be hearing from her any time soon.