Saturday

We actually all made it out to do something today!! We met the boys at the Espanya subway stop to go up Montjuic to a castle. Coming out of the tube, we were greeted by the Palau Nacional (which houses the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya). There are escalators out front that take you up the hill to the museum. Our group missed the main escalator because there was construction between the up and the down. There are loads of fountains out front, but they were all turned off. Booo for winter tourism.

This view was off to the side of the escalator. I'm not sure what building it's on. At the top, we didn't go IN the museum, but there are nice views from the terraces and balconies in front of it of the city. There were loads of statues as well. You can see Sagrada Familia and another bigger mountain with a big castle on it.

From the views, we walked around behind the museum, thinking we were going to get into a garden. Wrong. We found a locked entrance and another escalator. From the escalator, there was a nice view of the back of the museum.

We came to a sort of crest with a road across the top of the hill. There was a fast food station that we tried to get our lunch from unsuccessfully. We all just got chips (or crisps if you're a Brit). Then we kept walking. Somehow, we landed next to the Olympic stadium. I was afraid it would prompt lots of Olymic-talk. I am not exactly a fan. Everyone seems to think they're a rare event, but you've got sme sort of Olympics every 2 years!!

There was a huge sort of space needle sticking out of the side of the hill. It looked like something out of the future or that aliens had planted to reach their home planet. There were loads more fountains with water gushing out of them. These ones were more modern. The others had looked like they'd be fairly traditional if there was water rushing through them.
The boys parked it on the grass and we continued to an open rounded structure. It had round benches inside where we stopped to eat some of our chips and chat.
The structure was on the edge of the hill and had a nice view out over the other side of Barcelona out to the sea. After a while, we went back to the guys. We practiced our cartwheels and laid around for a bit. Then we went for a long walk in a fairly non-scenic circle in search of the castle, but failed to find it. I'd like to try to get to it another day. I think we have to get off at a different stop and take a cable car up to it. Even though we didn't find what we wanted, we had fun. Steph and I had a giggle-fest the whole way.

Then we went to Sagrada Familia's neighborhood to test out another version of Fresh Choice. Everyone was pretty impressed. This one had free refills on soda. That's what I liked the most. After our LATE lunch, we broke our posse for a bit and I went home for a nap.

Later, we met back up to go to the movie theater to see Sherlock Holmes. I decided I wouldn't mind seeing it again. When we got to the box office, we were too late for anything but front row seats. Most of us were saying that we were fine with that, but whoever was in charge moved the group away from the window.

We lost Mikaela and Charlie in the mall and decided to go back to Gracia to a bar in our neighborhood to play some pool. Arvid decided he didn't want to do that and went home too. Lame, everyone! Steph and I still proceeded to the bar. We found out that Gracia is actually a hotspot for nightlife. We were a bit overwhelmed. We found our place and a cute square above it with a neat old church. 2857
Steph and I went inside and the Barca football game was playing we decided we should try to go to the game that's in 2 weeks. We got Coca-lites from the bar along with 10 balls for pool. She broke and we played a few games. Turns out I'm secretly AWESOME at pool (or I miss the ball entirely). Steph has a table in her house at home so she's pretty good.
After a while, some guys came over and asked if we were almost done on the table. We took turns with them for a few games and then ended up playing together. One of the guys was from OAKLAND. His name is Keegan and he's here for his MBA. He ALSO lived in Korea and looks a LOT like Will Farrell. We played pool with him and his Brazillian friend until about midnight. We have grammar to do in the morning, gotta go!!
On the walk home, I thought about how much I love Barcelona and what a great friend Steph is. We're just totally silly together and it's so much fun. I'm not sure I'll be ready to leave in 2 weeks!!