Our layover in Rome was lovely. It was definitely one of the best days of our trip. The weather was actually kind of hot, and there was no rain despite the fact that I carried my umbrella all day. We saw quite a lot, somehow getting to nearly all the sights on our top ten list, and ate some truly amazing gelato. I had pear and tiramisu, and they were absolutely fantastically delicious. I have no idea how we made it through the day considering we only had three hours of sleep, went through the hassle and exhaustion of air travel, and spent all day sight-seeing. It was great though, and the graffiti in Rome was really cool. Oh yeah, and so were the ancient ruins and whatever.
Next was Barcelona. It is definitely a cool city and certainly worth a visit if you get the chance. We saw a ton here as well, including a lot of works by the architect Antoni Gaudi, who is fantastic (in my opinion; Picasso hated his buildings); a few important churches; a unique and interesting cemetery and the Mediterranean Sea. I loved the beach, but I think Gaudi’s works were my favorite, particularly Casa Batlló and La Sagrada Familia.
By this last leg of the trip, I was exhausted from traveling, and frustration was building up from ten days of stress and planning. Sometimes you just need a good bed, a nice shower and a few hours (or days) of doing absolutely nothing. Not to mention the paper due two days after I returned, which because I asked for more time now loomed over my head. That’s another story. Ok, not really, that’s pretty much the whole thing. The important thing, however, is that Barcelona is great and I ate so much delicious food.
Then it was back to home sweet England, and the wonderful London transport system. Barcelona’s and Rome’s were actually pretty nice, but I am so used to London (and it’s so well designed) that it was lovely to return to it. We actually missed our stop and had to juggle trains on the way home, but the important thing is that I can at least, by now, pronounce those silly English train stations. Fun fact: Barcelona speaks Catalan, which is like a mixture of French and Spanish and whose pronunciation baffles me. Nearly everyone in Barcelona also speaks Spanish and most people speak English as well, thank goodness. I thought I’d practice my Spanish, but as it turns out, it’s better to speak English so they know to give you English menus etc. I heard so many Americans in Rome and Barcelona that I stopped feeling self conscious, which was a good thing because there’s no way I could have figured out what eggplant or crab was in Spanish.
Food summary:
Panini
Gelato
Tapas
Sushi
Binxto tapas
Trip summary: Our day in Rome was wonderful, and Barcelona was fantastic despite exhaustion, frustration and stress. Still, it was a relief to be back in London.
Blog Summary: I went to Rome for eight hours and Barcelona for four days. I didn't really talk about the things I mentioned in my title.
[[ps: As a travelling-on-a-budget tip, buy some ingredients for sandwiches and some drinks at the beginning of the trip if you have a fridge available. Make sandwiches to take with you each day for lunch and eat them when you come across a good lunch spot and time in the day. We ate lunch in two parks and on a bench outside a beautiful cathedral, and it worked out great. We spent our money on some nice dinners instead. Although we tried to eat as cheap as possible, there is no such thing as “cheap” in Barcelona. Anyway, just thought I’d let you know.]]
here's a bad photo of a graffitied train in Rome (all other pictures are on facebook, go look for em if you care to):
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