Ice Bar

Since it's pretty hot here and our apartment does not have AC, we decided to head over to the Ice Bar the other night.  It was a bar entirely made of ICE! 

Benches, walls, cups.. everything made of ice! How cool is that???

When you get there a man gives you a big puffy jacket to wear.  Thank goodness because it was freezing and we all stupidly wore sandals...

He opened a huge freezer like door and we entered.....

So much ice everywhere!

Ice sculpture of Sagrada Familia

and a frozen soccer jersey.

It felt great to get out of the heat, but we couldn't stay in for too long since our toes felt like they were going to fall off!

Sitges Round 2

We headed back to Sitges (beach town about 45 minute train ride outside of Barcelona) today. 

Since Barcelona's beach was only made around 1992 to help the city with tourism, etc, Sitges is the spot where the Spanish people have gone to the beach for lots of years!  It is a natural beach, unlike Barcelona's, and is so pretty and relaxing.

 Today we walked farther down the beach and hung out in this area with little coves and rocks.

 The highlight of the day was renting this---

A paddle boat with a slide!  Weeeee!

Beach Day

We had a fun day at the Barcelonetta beach today.  I am going to miss this beach so much!  It is always filled with tons of people, but makes for the best people watching ever.   You don't need an ipod or a book here because you can just watch crazy people all day.  

We walked farther down the beach today where the water was less crowded and there were less people trying to sell us things, etc. 

Emily and me with our friend Torrey who is visiting this weekend!

Today's spotting-- 

This crazy guy balancing/juggling this glass ball on his body.  The kicker is that after I took these pics, he started to do it completely nude....... crazy Europeans. 

Bo de B

Bo de B is our favorite lunch spot in Barcelona. 

It is a little shop on the way to the beach from class with the best fresh sandwiches and more! It is super inexpensive for a ton of food.   

There are always just two ladies working non stop.  The line can end up down the block on weekends.  The inside has a few tables to eat, so if you are lucky you can sit inside instead of waiting at the window.  Sometimes we prefer to sit inside and eat, but sometimes we just like to get it to go and eat it on the way to the beach.

There are tons of fresh veggies to chose from to put on your sandwich.  And, they cook the meat as you order.

 This is a chicken sandwich or "bocadillo de pollo." They are HUGE.  Good to share with one other person.

And here is a salad platter which is also so yummy. 

And finally, papas braves.  These are what Bo de B is well known for and are a typical Spanish thing to eat.  They are like french fries, but wedges, with lots of sauces on them.  

This place is where we "regular" here in Barcelona.  A lot of study abroad students are always at Bo de B because it is so cheap and great!

Wahooo!!

 I love stumbling upon these festive streets!!

Metro

I realized that I have not talked about how we get around this city at all...

And it is SO different from back home.  We use the metro to go everywhere and do just about everything we can.  Taxis are $$$ and we only take them when we must and the metro is closed.

Public Transportation here, and in all of Europe, of course, is just a different world.

I have already used up two metro passes of 50.. so I have used the metro over 100 times since we have been here!! crazzyyyy!

The Barcelona metro is just like any other metro is, but less complicated than the one in Paris.  And I do not remember it when I went to New York.  But, basically, the metro equivalent to a car here, except you always have to make sure you don't get pick pocketed! 

We have two stations that are about 7 minutes from my apartment.  (Sounds close, but most of our friends have it like 2 minutes away!).

So, we walk to metro station.

Swipe our metro cards.  (This is what I have apparently done over 100 times in five weeks..)

And then, wait for the metro to arrive.  Usually it is only a couple of minutes. 

And then hurry in and we stand or, preferably, sit in the metro and have a great time people watching until we get to our designated station.  (Ex: School is about 8 stops away, 15 minutes.  But from school to the beach, it's only 3 stops)

And then, we get off the station and exit, or as they call it in Catalán, "sortida." It is usually a bunch of stairs and hall ways to reach the outdoors.

So that's the metro, and that's how we get around this big city!  At first it was overwhelming but now its so easy and a part of our every day lives.

School Day...

Today was a total school day, blah! I had to work on a group project for my international business class all afternoon.  And the whole time I wished I was exploring or on the beach!!

Our project is about elBulli, a restaurant that has just closed but was known as the world's best restaurant for about five years and was in a small beach town two hours outside of Barcelona.  Only 8,000 people ate there a year, and millions would try to make reservations.  The chef was all about creativity and would make dishes like this--

It is actually a cool project.  We are talking about how the restaurant would not even make an annual profit when it charged over 250 euros per person because everything was so over the top. 

Anyways, after the presentation tomorrow I can't wait to go to the beach. 

Maybe I'll even get to spot this dude again--

 

Hehe!