Spain 2012

So my friends have been living in Spain for the past 4 years and are moving home at the end of this month so we had to go visit before they left! This was my first time to Europe and had no idea what to expect, I have been to Japan numerous times but Europe always seemed kind of "whatever" to me. We left LAX on a red-eye to Heathrow and had a 1.5 hour layover in Heathrow....if you've ever been to Heathrow you know that is not nearly enough time to make a connection and of course our flight was 45 minutes late....Great start to the trip right? We asked the flight attendant if we were going to make our connection and she plainly said "no way." But luckily we got fast track passes and basically by-passed security and customs and made it to our connection as they were boarding! So a little back story, we were supposed to stay with our friends but their roommates freaked out and changed their minds on us staying with them right before we left....we had no where to stay and couldn't find any cheap hotels or apartments to rent so they found us an apartment as we were flying over. We got to the apartment which was about 20 minutes outside Barcelona Center and their apartment at around 10:30pm. They said the lights were off and would be on in 2 hours so we went back into town and hung out, came back and guess what? No lights...The power was off for the first two days! No hot water, no lights and no electricity, it was bullshit but they gave us 2 days of rent for free so it worked out. It was a small two story apartment with a kitchenette and very small bathroom.... This was the main thing hung on the walls... So our friends live in an old historic apartment building with no elevators, the walk back up to their place on the top floor was BRUTAL at times after walking around all day: View from their room: First morning we were there we decided to go to the giant market in the center to get some food and check out the area: This actually reminds me a lot of the big "outdoor" market in Kyoto, Japan America needs to get on Spain's juice level, so many good combos for so cheap Spicy Jamon Pizza, so fucking good Brass Monkey anyone? Reuben thinks he's pretty cool, smoking sucks Park Guell - Antoni Gaudí So this place is rad with the exception of 10,000 other tourists. This was my main problem with Barcelona, it's a giant tourist trap and foreigners are EVERYWHERE. I personally hate tourist traps and I don't travel internationally to be around a bunch of idiot tourists, I try to immerse myself into the culture and my surroundings as much as I can but it's hard when there are so many other people around you. This sums Park Guell up perfectly: Growin' weed on your balcony is no big deal here I did my very best to disguise the fact that there were literally thousands of other people around me, I was always shooting up or waiting until there wasn't a single person in frame.... Heading up to Monserat: The path: The Salvador Dali Museum, this place was incredible and I highly recommend going if you're in Spain. It's about 2 hours outside of Barcelona Center and again is just absolutely packed with tourists but worth it! Random iPhone pics: Tapas, truffle fried egg with pork belly! The best part of Spain is the fresh baked goods! An average breakfast for us was eggs and croissants I got for like $1 each morning from the bakery up the street: Looky what I found! These are the best chips ever made, think bacon chips.... I love kebabs Now that's a donut! And that's that for Spain, I didn't take my camera with me all that much due to it's just a bitch to carry and constantly watch. Theft is a huge problem in Barcelona so be careful with anything you bring with you! All in all I really like Spain but I am in no rush at all to go back, it just doesn't feel very authentic at all, it seems very dirty and extremely touristy. My friends that live there even say they are extremely jaded on Barcelona and try and leave as often as they can to get away from the tourists, it's like no one is from Barcelona just everyone goes/lives there. Up next? SWITZERLAND!]