Spanish Lost and Found

To continue the recap of my European adventure...

After three fantasy days in Paris, it was time to return to my favorite country (after the US and Italy): Spain. However, when I made it to the station I discovered that my overnight train had already left.

I was stranded.

To make a long story short, I got shipped out to Irun, a small town on the Spanish/French border to wait for another train to Barcelona. I had 8 hours to spend in a place I'd never heard of where I could barely speak the language. I started the day off really upset and pretty scared, but the Spanish countryside was so beautiful and the people were so kind that my mood quickly shifted and, after getting some food in my stomach (I'd been so preoccupied I hadn't eaten or drank in 18 hours!), I managed to enjoy myself.

The Irun train station. My temporary home.

I love Spanish plazas!

I'm pretty sure this river marks the French and Spanish border. I could be wrong, but I think so...regardless, so quaint and picturesque!

Spanish morning glory. (Or French...not sure which side of the river it was on. We'll just say Basque morning glory then...)

More Irun countryside.

On the train to Barcelona I met two really great guys; a Canadian carrying baguettes in his guitar case, and a viticulture major from Cal Poly SLO. We had such a great time together, the six hour train ride passed quickly. I wish I had pictures - they were both so cute!

We arrived in Barcelona around 10pm and a beautiful Spaniard friend of a friend was waiting there to pick me up. Talk about a knight in shining armor... SLO boy and I hung out with him until 4am and had an amazing night!

The next day was absolutely gorgeous. I didn't take many pictures because I was so busy soaking in everything my Spanish friend had to show me. We drove all around the city, had lunch at the W on the shores of the Mediterranean (yum!), browsed through the shopping district, and checked out the fantastic architecture of the city (ex: the Sagrada Familia=architecture on crack!). He dropped me back at my hotel around 6 and I wandered around the Plaza Espanya for a bit longer and then called it a relatively early night. I had to be up at 5:00 the next morning to catch my plane to Nice!

Some amazing palace thing. Photo taken through the top of my friend's car.

Plaza Espanya right outside my hotel.

More Plaza Espanya. As you can see, it was PACKED with people even at 9pm!

Cool palace thing at night.

On a side note, another friend of mine is living in Japan for a year and just offer to pay half of the airfare for me to fly out and see him...I'm smelling more adventure to come!!!