Day 1
My flight out of Newark to Barcelona was last night. Of course, as almost all of my flights go, this one was delayed a bit. We were supposed to take off at 7:15 but didn't end off taking off until 8:15. I had already taken my Tylenol PM at 6:45 to ensure I'd get some sleep on the flight so was ready to get in the air. I was able to watch Hot Tub Time Machine 2 and Broad City (!!!) on the flight before falling asleep on and off a bunch and we finally landed in Barcelona at 9:00 am local time (3:00 am NYC time). They are six hours ahead of New York so I had the entire day ahead of me on just like 3-4 hours of sleep. Ugh. Because of this I was definitely anticipating a lot of jet lag but had to get out there and explore Barcelona immediately. I knew I could (and would) go to bed early tonight because I had to be up super early the next day for my sunrise running tour.
Anyway, after getting off the plane there was a very long line to go through customs (but with free airport WiFi!). When I got to the customs window, the (very handsome I may say) customs agent was on his freaking phone just reading away. He took my passport, glanced up, kept reading his phone, and stamped it. It was bizarre. I def wasn't in the US anymore; that's for sure. I collected my bag fairly quickly, found my little Spanish man holding my name on his sign and promptly made my way to his car for a ride to the hotel. My room wasn't ready so I went to the bathroom to change into more "walk-around-Europe-appropriate" clothes and sat down with a map and was promptly overwhelmed. Like totally shocked. This city is fucking huge. I didn't realize how big it was AND how far apart so many of the tourist attractions I wanted to see were. I then asked the front desk for a map of the Metro and although it looked fairly easy, it looked as though I'd be having to navigate it all day. Blah. So, I did something I've never done before: I bought a ticket for a hop-on, hop-off bus (aka a tourist's wet dream). However, I am not your normal tourist in that sense because I am one who moves at a fast pace with my little checklist so I felt very ambivalent to using this method to explore on my first day, but I sucked it up. It took me off my game a little at first, but I relaxed and just let myself enjoy the fact I was in Europe!
The bus had two different routes with each one only go one way so I'd have to take them both which I totally underestimated in time. However, I did see way more things than I had expected to see and got a much better idea of how this city is organized and set-up so it will better help me tomorrow when I do plan to walk and attempt the Metro. The thing that kills me with the bus is that a new one comes every ten minutes or so, but most of the time I just want to literally hop off, take a picture, and get back on. By that time, I have to wait for another one. At some stops this was worth it, at others, I found myself waiting for like nine minutes which sucked. I did not get off at every stop because some didn't interest me based on what they were and what actually could be seen. But I sure did see a lot!! And, big plus here guys, the bus had free WiFi. I love me some free WiFi. I was able to take a bunch of Snapchats (check my story on there regularly if you can) as well as post to IG. All in a social media days work. But obviously, it was worth all I saw. Some of the important sites that I covered today were:
-Plaça Catalunya (Basically the town center. I will be back here to start my run your tomorrow morning.)
-Arc de Triomphe (I had no idea there was one here too!!)
-Passeig Colom statue
- Olympic Stadium (it was cool to see where the torch was lit. But I didn't see the rings. Boo.)
-Museo National de Arte de Catalunya (this one surprised me the most of today because of its gorgeousness with all its fountains and stairs and even columns (CaicaForum-Pavello Mies Van Der Rohe). It truly was beautiful. This is also where the Magic Fountain is which is on my list of places to go to, but at night because it's supposed to light up all different colors. Now I know where it is at least.)
- Plaça d'Espanya (Beach!! Yes!!)
- Camp Nou (this is where F.C Barcelona plays and we all know how huge soccer is in Spain,)
- La Pedrera (A Gaudi)
- Casa Batlló (Another Gaudi and super gorgeous.)
- Port Vell
- Port Olímpic (with the big gold fish)
- Platja deal Bogatell (More beach!! I walked it for a bit and was tempted to take off my shoes and wade in the water but didn't want my feet to be sandy all day. Damn, I love the beach.)
- Glóries-Torre Agbar ( it's the third largest building in Barcelona, but frankly it looks like a giant dildo.)
- Sagrada Familia (Probably one of the most famous things to see in Barcelona and was covered in scaffolding!! Aaahhh. So annoying. Am def going back to go inside later this week.)
- Park Güell (was excited to see this and didn't realize I needed a ticket. At 1:30 the next available slot was at 4:00 so I wasn't waiting around. I do plan to get a ticket and go back because it's truly a beautiful place that I want to walk around more.)
I know for a fact that I will double back and repeat some of these sites for a better view in the next couple of days, either on purpose or in passing again but I wanted to see everything once at least so I had no regrets. And like I said before, I saw a bunch of places that weren't on my list of "must-sees," so that's always good. And even though I was on a bus most of the day, I still got in plenty of steps (finally got my FitBit working again and plan to record daily steps). And also, perhaps because of exhaustion or the heat outside and the fact I am not feeling great (weird sore throat) but I barely ate. I had a handful of M&M's and a Kind bar all day. I am glad I packed those for myself along with Nuun hydration tablets (which I had two of when I got back to the hotel) and Honey Stingers.
After I got back from the hop-on, hop off, I finally got settled in my hotel room and tried to figure out my dinner plan, but not after a nice long shower! And ooooh, guess what's in my bathroom? That's right, a bidet. I still have zero idea on how to properly use one but perhaps this 20-something days is Europe will make me a pro. Or not!
My hotel, which although is suuuuper nice, is far from the city center (like four miles) so I wasn't heading back there tonight, but walked around my area to find something to eat. There are a ton of shops and restaurants by me so I wandered around there for a bit before finally settled on a little focaccieria and got a delicious tomato, zucchini, onion, and feta focaccia. Then I walked back the hotel, laid around a bit and planned tomorrow and was off to bed. Early. Today was a long day but a great start. I was surprisingly energetic during the day and unsurprisingly "oooohing and awwwwing" to myself all day at all the new sites I was seeing. It's so exciting to me!!
Overall, I saw a whole lot more of Barcelona on Day one (on very little sleep) but can't wait to see more of it on foot tomorrow, specifically my sunrise 10k running tour of the city! I sure hope I can sleep tonight and don't let me excitement get the best of me. Adios until tomorrow muchachos.
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