Rome & Barcelona

This past cruise I think I’ve gotten the least amount of sleep. People stay up very late here. And when I go on tours or want to spend the entire day in Rome, I have to get up pretty early in the morning. But I’ve gotten used to it, and I can usually nap in the afternoons before a show or something. When in Rome, right?

Speaking of, one day recently I went to Rome by myself. I took the train in from our port and walked around by myself. I went to the Vatican, Castel Saint Angelo, Piazza Navona, the Jewish Quarter, and then Piazza Venezia where I saw views of the Forum, the Colosseum, and some other ruins I never figured out the names for. It was nice to do things on my own and go at my own pace. Rome was beautiful, and I had the most amazing pizza and gelato. Their pizza has a thick crust but you can still walk and eat it. I saw this one place that was packed, lots of locals, and the freshest looking cheese and toppings. It was a great choice! I also chose this great gelato place. I was told to look at all the gelato and if the colors are very bright and colorful, then it’s probably a brand that produces the gelato with preservatives. But if the colors are bland, which they were, then they make it in the shop, all homemade gelato with no preservatives. And this place was like that. The chocolate flavor was super rich and the coffee flavor was very strong.

Then we had three days in Barcelona. The first day I went out to Parc Ciutadella at sundown and saw the Arc de Triumph, a huge fountain with a gold chariot at the top, and a massive elephant statue. That night I also went to this huge club called Opium. It was a massive place right on the beach. For a Sunday night, the place was packed! It would be like a Thursday night at the Walrus times 6, and every person from a different part of the world. I heard many different languages being spoken around me. I met a lot of Germans and Russians actually. At one point this guy was playing saxophone to this house music and the crowd was loving it. He was really good though and it sounded amazing! We were with a big crowd from the boat so it felt like I knew a lot of people there. It was a blast! We left at 4:30am and there was no sign of the club stopping anytime soon. We got back to the ship and went into the bakery where they make the sweets for the ship. OH MAN! The bakery guys were super nice and gave us muffins and pastries to eat. Que magnifico!

The second day in Barcelona I finally got to this sandwich place called Bo de B that all my friends who studied in Barcelona told me about. It was incredible! A huge sandwich with tons of chicken and veggies and these amazing sauces! Then patates braves, like fried potato wedges with the sauces were unbelievable! Probably the best potatoes I’ve ever eaten. So thank you Gabe, Colton, Mindy, and cousin Mike for all separately suggesting this one place off the beaten path. That night I went to the club yet again until 5am. Then I woke up bright and early at 8am to see some touristy places in town with friends. We went to Sagrada Familia, which is really REALLY cool, and Parc Guell.

Barcelona has some amazing art and it’s a very unique place. It kinda reminds me of NYC because there’s so many different areas and there’s lots of different sights to see all over town. I would definitely love to go visit Barcelona on my own again because there was still so many things I didn’t get to see that I wanted to.

Adios!