4th of July Festivities from Barca

(Pictures will be added later... the internet connection here is way to slow! Better luck in Rome on the 10th!)

Okay, where to begin with our whirlwind of a trip in Barcelona. Kim and I are currently sitting on a skuzzy train w.no A/C for an hour trip from Naples to Sorrento. (More on that later).

Kim & I were ready to shop, and of course (luck of the blonde) we happened to be in Barcelona for the Rebajas Weekend. For one weekend only, every store has a sale. Prior to the stores we traveled to La Starbucks, which was quite another experience (for Kim at least since I never drink coffee.)

After having very little success, and being very tired from our short night of sleep, we lounged by the pool, I siesta –ed in the room. And we were ready for our bus tour.

First stop: the Segrada Familia. HOLY HUGE, MASSIVE, BEAUTIFUL, DETAILED, unfinished, Church. So amazing.

Next stop: Park Guell. (insert same comments noted above here). We drank Sangria in Park Guell before Kim & I were cut off for the lack of sleep/ Sangria combination.

Now it was game time.. Espana vs Paraguay. Unforanately, we were in no real rush to catch the start of the game. So after wandering for a bit I decided we just need to eat anywhere, and end up at CJ’s sports bar. I can’t even explain this diner/sports bar, but whatever, the game was on… & Espana won! Suprisingly, the city was not going crazy celebrating or anything. I was mildly disappointed, but apparently they were expecting to win.

After dinner, we headed to Port Olympica (by the beach) via train for our big night out of drinks & dancing on a Saturday night.. The L trains & stations are SOOOO hot! Thank God for the count down for each train or we wouldn’t have survived down there. As we walked down towards the waterfront, we were showered with club promoters tryingto get us to pick their bar. We were debating between Catwalk and Shoko, but since we didn’t get out til 1am -ish we chose Shoko to skip the $15 cover. The interesting thing at the bar is, you really mix your own cocktails. They don’t have fountain drinks or tap water at the bars so when I order my vodka, agua, three limas (which was very confusing for the Spainards), I literally got vodka, limes, and ice in a glass, and a bottle of water.

Interesting enough, the cab ride back to our hotel was only 8 euro. This was especially exciting for Kim & I because our wake up call was pushed back to 8:15 when we realized we could cab it to the port for our early boat ride for the 4^th of July!!!!

Our 4^th of July couldn’t have been more perfect considering it was overseas.

815, Kim & I start the Sangria making process by wandering around looking for knife (cuchera) and performing fruit surgery in the bathroom, the sangria was prepared. We hoped on board our private sailboat with our personal skipper, Frances (or Francesca as Kim liked to call him). Our “overcasty, only chance of rain day” turned out to be beautiful and hot after all (its like clouds and gloomy days don’t exist here… or night time for that matter either.You seriously never know what time it is because the sun shines from 8am to 10pm.

We went for a dip in the Mediterranean and Frances took us to the most clean water. You could see your entire body in the water (I only jumped in for a minute so I could see everyone else’s entire bodies underwater.) Very cool.

We picnicked in the cabin of the sailboat with a very Italian lunch, Salami, prosciutto, olives, cheese, more cheese, crackers, etc.

The boat ride was a perfect start to our 4^th of July. We then headed home for a traditional Spanish siesta. Did some more shopping for a bit, had a double date on our balcondies, and then headed to our “fireworks” at the Magic Fountain. Pictures cannot do this jusitice, or this video, but it was incredible. Why is this not happening with Buckingham Fountain, Chicago?!

We wandered through “Gothic” town. Our choice of restaurant was closing in 30 minutes, so they recommended a restaurant open and serving food until 3am. That should have been our first tip that this was not a super classy food joint. Instead.. we got you would get at 3am in Chicago… Denny’s. =) Okay the food wasn’t terrible, I was just sick so I am over exaggerating and Jim and Giorgio ordered so much fried grossness it just added to the Denny’s feeling. Kim’s super large order of Spinach made our table overflow and the waiter actually had to add a table to ours so we had enough room. Let’s just say none of us were thinking right, and we hadn’t had anything to drink even. We were just that tired/exhausted. Note: Do not accept bread when someone offers, because it is not free like when you order it in the States, and they charge you per person eating the bread. Which is really dumb, considering I cant even eat it.

Then it was back to the hotel room where Kim and I got MAYBE 2 ½ hours of sleep before our 4:30a wake up call for our flight to Naples.

Adventures of Kim and Kelly in Naples & the Almafi Coast will be coming to you soon!

Ciao loves,
Xo Kel

Random Observations:

• It continues to get hot every place that we go to… 95 degrees here in Sorrento.
• Street signs do not exist in Europe, and everything is “just around the corner/ this way/ straight ahead/ 10 minutos” according to locals.
• There is no INTERNET in Sorrento, Italy!!