bar(th)elona

Sunday morning in Lisbon the alarm went off at 5:40 - fat nope from both of the Kromar gals. we stumbled around and made our way to the metro, which we had to wait to open at 6:30. we waited many Portuguese stop names before arriving at the airport. luckily we arrived sooner and made it through security faster than expected so we didn't have to run through the mall-like airport to get to our gate. the Lisbon security so kindly confiscated my bomb american toothpaste, which I plan to be salty about until I return home and secure good toothpaste again. like come on dude, I've been patient when you shuffle and rummage through my bag or when you fondle me to make sure I'm not packing heat and that's fine. but my toothpaste? seriously?

we waited on the Tarmac for a half hour, and it's times like these when I'm glad I managed to book a direct and we have nothing to rush to upon landing. the Spanish population on the plane YELLED most of the flight (because I'm convinced they all missed the indoor voice lesson both on the plane and in class at ESSCA), so sleeping wasn't really a thing. we've now been up for 5 hours, and it's only 1045. we're planning to drop our things at the hostel and venture out for a tour of barca - fingers crossed the weather behaves and we can snag a napski later.

beautiful day all day Sunday - took a while to find our hostel but we checked in, dropped our things and went out for food. we snagged a slice of pizza and then walked along the port and popped in and out of tents selling things like fans, jewelry and fake nikes. we sat on the patio of a cafe and shared a beer and some paella - when in spain, right? we walked around some more, popped into the mall on the water, and then mosied around back to the hostel. we took a little siesta and then ventured out for dinner at a local tapas place. pretty much the weirdest set up for a restaurant, ever. it was so tiny, you had to wait in a line outside and they took you in by group and sat you smushed against the bar or smushed against the wall, pick your poison. waiting in line, a really lovely British gal started to chat us up. we covered a wide array of topics in a short amount of time, including politics and sightseeing and country generalities. I asked her what her favorite place was in Europe (though basic, I really enjoy hearing where people have been and enjoy) and she said a small town in Slovenia. both Tess & my mouth dropped open. Slovenia? seriously? she saw our shock and asked if we'd been and we said no we'd love to go because we're Slovenian. she was floored by that, (and by the fact we are sisters) and just thought it was so cool and went on to recommend a restaurant and the name of the owner that we should ask for. SO COOL, seriously meeting people like Alice is one of my favorite parts of traveling. back to the restaurant -we went for the bar, and then they instructed us to get up and walk along the bar (but really behind everyone sitting at the bar) to point out what we wanted. tapas are basically picky appetizers, but they're known for them around here. we both ordered sangria too - very delish but honestly my roommates made some a few weeks back and theirs might've been even better. everything was very tasty, and we got a chuckle out of watching everyone go through the same inefficient and overall awkward process of selecting their tapas off the counter to then be warmed and served as they ate. we walked around, I picked up a few post cards, and then we stopped at a cervezeria for a beer and a chat. we sat outside so we could people watch (didn't disappoint on one of the busier Barcelona avenues) and then we picked up some gelato because why not were on vacation. I tend to go for mango & lemon together, it has yet to be a bad call. honestly how could it be bad, it's gelato.

Monday morning rolls around, and we set out to take a tour of the city. I so gracefully fell down the super old marble stairs leading up to our hostel - eurojules took a Monday morning tumble. after a jump start on some bruises, we made our way to the tour spot. our tour guide was hysterical - Leon from the UK fell in love with his girl and uprooted to Barcelona (which I called before he even said it) 15 years ago and they have twins on the way (basically the love story I'm always dying to hear.) we met some neat people on the tour, and learned some nifty facts about barcelona's history. spoiler alert: it's bloody. people are kind of the worst sometimes. we finished the tour, and stopped in at bo de b, a sandwich place recommended to Tess and I separately by pals who previously studied abroad (thanks Andrew & Danielle!) and it was very tasty. quite the happening place around lunch hour so we had a feeling it would be worth the wait.

Tess had previously visited Barcelona, so we went up to Gaudi the artist's village on the top of the hill. the walk up I was cracking up because this hill was so steep and Tess was muttering under her breath "gaudi you son of a bitch." gotta keep things light and entertaining when your calves are on fire. evidently when Tess was here about five years ago, it was a free for all. now to get into anything you have to buy tickets, and the queue for entering certain spots was like 5 hours out.. so we didn't go into anything but I got to see some of his pieces and I really liked the mosaic design. gotta say that would be the pits to execute, but power to ya. we walked to the segrada familia (the big cathedral) and it was 1. huge and 2. so odd! one side was relatively simple and in my opinion quite pretty, but the other side was dark and crammed and droopy and just weird. not to mention there's cranes and hella construction everywhere around it. the queues for that were long also and I've seen my fair share of churches thanks to the catholic presence in Europe. we made our way back to the main avenue, had a little paella and a cerveza, went back to the hostel to do a quick freshen up before the tapas tour. we purchased tickets after our morning tour for the tapas tour to take us to a few places and have us try pretty typical tapas dishes. Michael, a tennis player that goes to Michigan accompanied us (more like laughed at Tess and I being weird and enjoying ourselves) so we had a new friend to chat with. the tour was quite long, and not a whole lot of food was invoked but I had a great time with Tessie. met a handful of Australians, wow they're seriously so nice and I was cracking up speaking to a woman because 1. her name was holly and 2. she said a ton of terms and things like my holly says. I KNOW New Zealand is "better" than Australia hol but I'm just giggling at the comparison. oddly enough there were two guys from Toledo on the tour, and after talking to them we realized we knew Jake, a friend from Miami, who went to their high school and Aaron, one of the Toledo guys goes to BG (dad's alma mater.) so weird, right?

after the tour, Michael Tess and I went back to Michaels hostel for a drink. it was huge with a bar and restaurant on the ground floor - such a cool vibing place with great drink specials. I had myself a vodka cran (!!!!!) the first in Europe since every dang bar I've tried ordering a vodka cran (my go to drink) they scoff and say no cran, just orange or something else weird BLECH. so that was a small win for eurojules. Tessie & I headed back to our hostel, skyped with dad and sang the handsome guy happy birthday in three languages. can't wait to get home to give him a hug, and mom too for her birthday in a few weeks. we snuggled in the tiny bed & tried to catch a few z's before the alarm went off at 5:30 for the trek to the airport.

side note: sometimes people ask where you're from when you walk by them (they're usually trying to sell you something) and I have to say I'm pretty identifiable as an american. I do my best to blend but you can only do so much there and it is what it is. walking back from dinner one night in Barcelona a guy asked the where are you from question, kind of after we'd already passed and proceeded to throw out German and Dutch (!!!! pt. 2) I am so proud to be an american but they receive pretty little regard and respect here in Europe and I try to blend as much as possible, so another small win for eurojules. you can call me #germanjules.. HA

another thing I realized traveling with Tessie - people were shocked, and I mean visible surprise on their faces that we were sisters every time we identified that we were. I suppose a lot of people travel with pals, so it would be totally normal that we were friends (thanking the good lord every day that we are in fact friends, best friends) but we'd be talking about how I'm studying, she's visiting blah blah yeah we're sisters and instant reaction of sisters? seriously? and then they look back and forth a few times trying to get a grip. it's like we were saying we were identical twins or something with the amount of surprise they had. anyway, it was rather entertaining and a frequent go about in our #kromarsabroad travels.

Tessie, an ode to you (lolz yes) for being an incredible traveling bud. thank you for spoiling me with everything, but most especially your presence. 14 weeks was way too long going with just skype and texts, let's not do that again. selfishly I wanted to keep you all to myself for the next month but I know the house of miracles needs your superhero self. thanks for the endless giggs, food & fun. I love you more than made in sicily pizza and little cacti in mugs.

cheers, jkro