Day 7 - Off to Spain!

Editor's Note: Blogger Megan Glidden has been following the Rosemount Choir on their week-long trip to Europe.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Barcelona, Spain

We had breakfast at the hotel this morning, with pancakes and cereal. I was a happy girl! We packed up all of our stuff and loaded up the bus for our trip to Barcelona! We were all excited to be going to a different country and seeing a different culture. This trip was our longest trip and bus ride was a little less than four hours, and with a rest stop it flew by!

Riding in to Barcelona was amazing. We saw the Pyrenees mountains as we were entering the city and were all surprised as to how big it was! There were so many people, we later learned Barcelona has a population of about 4.5 million! It was our bus driver, Gille’s, last day and he left us after bringing us to Barcelona.  The parents agreed, that if we hadn’t had him as our driver, a lot of things could have gone wrong. When I say this guy could drive, I mean it. There were so many times where a turned and maneuvered into places that were, at first sight, impossible. He was very nice and laughed at all of our mediocre humor. He spoke mainly French, so our tour guide had to translate a lot of what we said to him. We were so thankful that he was our driver for so much of the trip!

We arrived at our beautiful hotel and ate lunch right away. Paella is a very traditional dish in Spain. It’s a mixture of rice, saffron, and usually, a bunch of different seafood. Many of us tried it for lunch and it became an instant favorite!

After lunch, we walked down to the ports of Barcelona on the Mediterranean. We saw the boardwalk, beaches, and many beautiful statues and buildings. One of the beautiful monuments was one of Christopher Columbus. It was in the middle of a plaza and was huge! The details were amazing and it was hard to fathom that it was just there in the middle of a city. We joke about the fact that we are so used to these astounding structures, that when we get back to Minnesota, nothing will compare…which is probably true. We spent the entire afternoon down there, taking pictures, drinking sangria, and eating of course!

One thing that we had to get used to was the eating times. In Spain, lunch is usually around 2pm and dinner isn’t until after 9pm. We decided to test that theory later that night. Next to our hotel was a shopping mall, but it was a very unique one. Up until a couple years ago, this mall used to be an arena for bull fighting. Today, bull fighting is banned in Barcelona. The entire arena was converted into a shopping mall. There are elevators and escalators that take you up to the roof for a beautiful view. Up there are tons of restaurants, one of which we tried. The food was delicious and the sangria was to die for! We had a couple liters because we just couldn’t get enough.

We took it easy that night and headed back to bed right after dinner, around midnight. After all of our walking that day (about five miles), we were exhausted and ready for a good nights sleep! Tomorrow we get to tour the city with a tour guide and see the students sing in their last concert!

From Barcelona, 

Megan