Thursday was Beautiful

Another Thursday, another trip to another part of Spain. This one was a long one though. We drove all 7 ½ hours to Zaragoza and then to Barcelona!!!

Ask me if I was excited.

I take your lack of response as consent to my request.

I was SO excited my eyes are almost disappearing! Barcelona is the place I have heard about my whole life, dreamt of since I was 3, and wanted to go to since before I can remember.

Sadly, Zaragoza seemed to lack my full attention, though I’ll start there, for story’s purposes.

We were high rolling on the luxury bus, as usual (really impressed with BYU’s accommodations). We pulled up to a city street that kind of reminded me of Burgos, hopped out and had 2 hours to ourselves. As we made our way around into the plaza, we find a basilica, which means here in Spain that the pope came and blessed the church for pilgrims. There were crazy ladies in tiny cars talking through microphones and selling lottery tickets. I have to admit that we giggled, and were quickly chastised (yet again) by a tiny old lady who told us to have a little respect because people earn money the best way they can. Yes, we deserved that one.

Inside the Cathedral... I suppose Bla Bla Bla translates as people gabbing in every language.

In front of the Cathedral

Amazing, No?

Doing cartwheels in the plaza in front of the Cathedral

A little bit better of a shot :) Don't ask me how I got into the position of the last one haha.

We entered the basilica, and it was beautiful! There actually was a service being held as we walked through. This was different from other churches we have been to, because it seemed more modern. The paintings on the ceiling were smoother, there was no gothic or Roman styles within the arches or domes. However, we did see that the arches supporting the building were crooked… hm. We saw the priests who sat in their little rooms and people came to confess their sins, and the candles you can light, and the flags hanging up from many different countries. I felt a sense of pride to see that the flag of the United States of America had it’s own wall, and the only one to have that spot. We do have a good influence in this world as a country.

The chantings followed us in the background as we roamed. It was very interesting.

We spent time in the plaza, and we stepped back and saw the colors on the roof and the pretty fountain. We danced around and did cartwheels in the square, and then found a Mercado and shoved grapes the size of cherries in our mouths as we walked our way around in the overcast beauty of a refreshing early afternoon in Zaragoza.

Laurs and I made our way into the men’s bathroom of the local Burger King because the ladies’ was full… and had a nice time doing it.

Shoving Grapes in our mouth... Yeah, she's a model even when she does that.

Men's bathroom in Burger King. The fast food restaurants here are super classy, with like 3 floors!

Cutie little kids clothing store! I love the European styles for kiddies ;)

We meandered our way back to the bus, got followed by Spanish boys who were very flattering and asked if we wanted a picture taken (no. Haha we didn’t trust them with our cameras) and enjoyed their funny English as they tried to tell us we were the prettiest girls in the US. We got rid of them after a block or so, took pictures by the river, and made our way back to the bus, on our way to Barcelona.

The bus ride was uneventful, but then, we pulled in. My tummy jumped! There we were, in the middle of traffic, in Barcelona, and as we go around a corner, the Mediterranean Sea came into our view. Oh, hey there. That’s fine.

We hopped out into the Barcelona rain, dragged our bags to our rooms, and separated into groups to go out for the night. But before we went out to dinner, some of us went on a run.

In Barcelona.

Unfortunately, the other girls were running 7 miles, I was planning on 5, but I’m still enjoying this sickness that has been plaguing me for a month, and so I turned around after a mile and a half and took it at my own pace on the way back, enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells (well some of them, at least) of the coast of the Mediterranean.

I liked it :)

After showering, and almost doing my hair, I went out with several girls in the group and we found a pizza place with a nice man who we made friends with us. He let us be loud Estado Unidenses and enjoy our Pizza and salad while we laughed and joked and enjoyed the handsome eye dessert at the table next door. Our waiter directed us to a famous ice cream place and told us to be done by 11:30 because he wanted us to be safe (nice) and we were on our way.

First glimpse of the city :)

Night out in Barcelona :) Nonalcoholic Mango Puree Smoothie from our nice waiters. So fun!

So, after this novel of a post, I think you’ll agree that Thursday really was beautiful :)