¡Barcelona!

We survived the flight! Overall it really wasn't too bad, but I think we were all quite glad to be off the plane and back on the ground again. All of our luggage made it, so we collected our bags and got a cab to the hotel. We were actually able to go to our room right away, which was really nice as we could leave everything there before we went sightseeing.

Tired though we were, we went for a stroll through the streets somewhat near our hotel. Our map was totally not helpful and we usually had no idea where we were going, but we saw some really cool buildings and lots of pigeons and trees. I think my favorite place we stopped was the huge Gothic cathedral- there was a mass going on, but we still got to come in and take pictures. What surprised me the most was the amount of Catalan in the city! I knew it was spoken in Barcelona, but I assumed it was sort of a side dialect with Spanish still being the primary language. So imagine my surprise when most of the signs were written in Catalan! It's fun to figure out what the signs say (it looks similar to Spanish), but I wish I spoke some.

We knew today was going to be tough to get through, so we eventually just decided to go back to the hotel and take a power nap. When we awoke (still tired), we went off in search of dinner, which is harder than it sounds on a Sunday evening. We found a really good place with friendly service where I got to practice my Spanish. The food was delicious, and in spite of none of us really being that hungry, we managed to enjoy it anyway.

We're back at the hotel now, so we'll probably wind down and watch a movie or something. Tomorrow we have a few hours left here, and then it's a train ride to Paris!

The view from our hotel room.

A proud rooster on a pedestal. (One of Heather's and my favorite sights!)

La Catedral de Barcelona.