September 24th - Barcelona, Spain

September 24, 2006
Barcelona, Spain

This morning we got up around 9:00 and went down to the free breakfast at Kabul. It was by far the best free breakfast we have had yet. We were treated to muffins, warm bread, cheese, ham, cereal, yogurt, and an apple! It was phenomenal.

After filling ourselves we checked out of Kabul and met Meg at the nearby McDonalds. From there we all headed to the Train Station to book the night train to Madrid. On the way we passed a cool statue of Christopher Columbus (pointing at Libya, not the Americas) and numerous street performers.

Once we got to the train station we were shocked to hear that the night train was full! Our entire plan was thrown off. Instead, we booked a train for tomorrow morning at 9:30. We then retraced our steps and checked back in to Kabul. Where the staff (most especially the girl from Canada) gave us a hard time.

Once we settled back in, we decided to check out the day’s festivities. First, we witnessed another parade of giant people. As we watched, we tried to make our way to the front of the square (where everything seemed to be taking place). Once the parade concluded the human tower building competition started.

It was one of the craziest things that I have ever seen. It seemed like something Stu would watch on TV. Three teams (composed of maybe 100 people each) competed and built different kinds of human towers. The bottom of the tower was composed of large, muscular men and the top by tiny little girls (not more than 10 years old). A few times they reached nine people high! The scariest moment of the competition occurred when the pink team had their tower collapse and several of the little girls crashed down into the crowd. Luckily, everyone was ok. After about 2 hours and incredible excitement, the competition came to a close (with the green team crowned as champions).

By the time we got out of the square we were starving and very thirsty. B and I sent Meghan to get some food. She came back with water, nutella snacks (skinny crackers with nutella dipping sauce), cheese, and really disgusting bread. Need less to say, we were still very hungry once we had eaten the food.

Our next stop was the Olympic village. It was a marathon of a walk. Once we got there we were not that impressed and quickly headed for the beach. While a little windy, it was still very nice. The beaches actually had waves (which surprised me because the city is on the Mediterranean) and I was able to do some body surfing. Even more surprising, I saw more than a few surfers riding the short, mushy waves.

As we were leaving the beach (about 17:00) we stumbled across a paper airplane contest (for kids). I have seen such a competition and thought it was really cool. We watched for a while and saw a Brazilian kid throw his plane twice as far as everyone else.

As we were walking back to the hostel we decided to stop for dinner at a Chinese restaurant on the harbor (because it was much cheaper than everything else). While eating Chinese food in Spain we listened to a Native American ban performing on the street, it was very multicultural. NOTE: Speaking of which, I have seen more Native Americans here in Europe than I have in the USA…

After filling our bellies we continued on our way. It just so happened that we ran into a giant wine tasting festival taking place next to the harbor. Tickets were very cheap and we decided to partake. There were many vendors, each with a unique specialty. We were drawn to those offering champagne. After using up our free drinks (5 of them) we purchased a few bottles (only 3-4 Euro Each!) and ended up drinking a little bit too much. We ran into two guys from Portugal who were super cool and hung out with them for most of our time there.

By the time we got back to the hostel it was just after 23:00 and an outdoor concert was just getting underway in the plaza outside the hostel. Even so, the wine tasting had taken its toll. B made a long trip to the bathroom (not actually getting into bed until 3:00am). I made a quick trip to the concert and then headed for the room. Meghan stayed out with a guy from Ireland until about 3:00.