Sun and Sangria

I was lucky enough to spend this past weekend with Adam in Barcelona, Spain! We left Angers around noon on Friday and arrived in Barcelona around 6:30 pm. It was a beautiful sunny day and after only being slightly lost we found our way to our hostel. After some down time after the day of traveling we decided to take advantage of the remaining sunlight and went out to explore the town a bit.
We walked to the main square ‘Place de Catalyuna’ and took a couple of pictures and looked around a bit. By then it was about 9 and we decided it was dinnertime. We found a little place on a side street and got some delicious food and a generous jug of Sangria, which helped cool the night off. Perfect first night in Spain.
Day two we were out and about by 10 and decided to go see the Sagrada Familia:
the Cathedral that started being constructed in the mid 1800s and is still undergoing construction today. It was very neat and unlike any other Cathedral I had seen before with such interesting details. We took lots of pictures and headed off to walk La Rambla, the famous street in the middle of downtown Barcelona. It could best be described as the Champs Elysées of Barcelona. There were lots of stores, vendors, street performers, and other visitors like us enjoying some cold beverages at various street side cafés. We walked through a neat little market just off the side of La Rambla that had every fruit and seafood imaginable. It was so colorful!

At the end of La Rambla ran into the Port of Barcelona. Everyone was out enjoying the sunshine and all shapes and sizes of boats were docked. In the distance we could see the sails of dozens of sailboats bobbing on the clear blue Mediterranean. (Dad – the boat definitely needs to make it to the Mediterranean!)
After exploring the port we luckily stumbled upon the beach and took the opportunity to get our feet in the sand and cool them off in the water. It was so tempting to jump in but I decided dry clothes was a better option and there were also a few jellyfish floating around which was terrifying for me. They are sneaky.

Cooled off a little and ready for more we walked to the Parc de Catalyuna where we found some really neat fountains and a statue of a Mastadon. I am not entirely sure what it was doing there as the sign was in a language I do not speak, but it was neat nonetheless. Finally we made our way to the Arc de Triomph of Barcelona and it was back to the hostel for a bit of a rest.We found another good restaurant with more great Sangria and it was time for bed!
Day three we were greeted yet again with clear blue skies and sunshine. We started the morning off by going back down La Rambla and checking out the old Barcelona Cathedral. We wandered the streets for a while after that simply enjoying the weather and then decided to head up the hill and see the Olympic Village from 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona. We went up and saw the stadium and all of the main venues. The stadium is still in great condition and it is clear they still use it.
We walked back down the hill and took a long stroll back down one of the main roads in search of a house we had seen in the guidebook. After about an hour we found it, took some pictures, and then it was siesta time!

We had a big lunch that day so we decided to just grab a couple of things at the grocery and call it an early night so that we would be able to wake up for our 530 am shuttle to the airport.
This morning we woke up just fine and made it back to Angers, which greeted us with equally sunny weather! It is supposed to continue to be nice and warm here throughout the week.
This is my last week of classes and then next week is finals. I really do not understand how time passes so quickly but I am not ready for this to come to an end. It has been such an incredible experience and I would not trade it for anything.
I will be hitting the books hard this week so wish me luck!