48hours in Barcelona.

I spent less than 48 hours in Barcelona and probably accomplished more than you would in a week. So our bus left at 10pm friday night and we arrived into Barcelona at 5:15pm, when people were still out partying from the night before. when we got to our hostel we weren't able to check in until 10 so I decided to take a power nap in the stock room. I found a nice couch covered with towels and passed out. After we were able to check-in, we set out to explore. Since night-life doesn't end until the wee hours of the morning, the streets were empty when we were ready to seize the day. at first, i was a little concerned with this city because it was lifeless. around lunchtime all of the cafes and shops started opening and people began emerging from their houses. we went to the port and did some shopping at a mall and the local market. then we had lunch at the cafe along la rambla, the main street in the city. thankfully i was famished so i was able to finish my entire plate of paella which was amazing. after lunch we set out to do the typical tourist things. first, we went to sagrada familia which is the most beautiful cathedral i've seen thus far. we decided to pay the 13euro to go inside and tour the top...it was definitely worth it! next we trekked over to see the 1992 olympic site. there is a huge fountain near the site that has an awesome light show after sunset so naturally we had to stay. around 10pm we decided to head back to the hostel to get changed and go out for dinner. yes, in america this is extremely late. keep in mind europe does not have 5pm dinner for the blue-hairs! i have learned to enjoy the late dinners over here. after dinner we walked down la rambla where you get asked to come to a different club every 15 feet. we ended up going to razzmatazz and listening to this really great indie rock band. obviously we had to adapt to the spanish style of night life and we finally went to bed around 6am (i am still recovering). so the next day we went to the beach and laid around for a few hours. afterwards we went to the picasso museum and got to see most of his paintings from his life. dinner the second night was not as glorious as the first. we were all really hungry and settles for a mid-grade cafe that turned out to be the cafe of the neighboring hostel...fail. we made it back to the bus station for our midnight bus back to aix which turned out to be about an hour late. but we made it safely back to aix at 8am this morning!