I'm home, in case anybody didn't catch the memo. I will miss writing in my blog, but all good things must come to an end. All that is left to say is that I had a safe few flights, although a few scares that I wasn't going to make it on time. I finally arrived home, went to eat at Chick-Fil-A with my parents, and go back to the airport because I had some luggage trouble at Philadelphia, but it got straightened out and my bags were only one flight off. I've spent the last few days running around and I probably won't stop, but my sleep is getting back to normal, and that is good. So thanks for reading, until next time!

rnWell I'm back from Barcelona in case anybody is wondering. I traveled all day Saturday and Sunday I went to church and then Carmen and I went out to eat at KFC afterwards. This morning I went to the bank to cash my travelers check, and then I had to go to the main branch, and the fee was too expensive, so I went to two other banks before I found a third one. The fee was still expensive. Out of $50 I ended up with only about 17 Euro. I was pretty upset. No more travelers checks. Anyway after that I met up with Carmen and we went to Triana to look at some tile. I said goodbye to her, hoping i'll see her again someday soon, and headed back into town. I bought a few postcards and went back to the house to eat lunch. Now I'm getting ready to head back out into the city one last time. This will be my last night out in Seville, because for the next two days I am packing like a mad person to be ready to leave very early in the morning on Thursday. I've had a good time in Seville, but I am ready to go home. I will miss it though.

This morning I slept in a little bit, then got up and looked up subway lines to try and find out how to get to the fort here. Thanks to my 5 minute friends Jeff and John for the suggestion. It was totally worth it. On the way up, and they were right, it was a hike, I stopped at a little stand to get a coca-cola. Hands down, best coke i've ever had. It was cheap (the guy gave it to me for 1.80, idk if it was regularly that price or if it was a discount, but either way, it was cheap) and also, he said because I was really thirsty, he gave me one with ice still attached to the side. The inside was slushy like. It was heavenly. Sometimes it pays to be a girl. So anyway the fort affords the best view around of the city. There is also a pretty cool museum with lots of guns and knives. The fort is complete with cannons as well. On the way down I went to the Olympic Stadium. I wasn't really impressed. I did enjoy the museum attached to it though, it was interesting. I ate a bocadillo (that's a baguette style sandwich) at a little store outside the stadium for lunch, and I got an ice cream bar, of which I lost about 1/4 of it. It was still good. So on the way down I had also intended to go to some musical fountains, but they only play at 9 at night, so we'll see about those later. I ran into the national museum of catalan art, but i'm all arted out. They had some Picasso and Dali. I didn't go in, I just checked prices. I decided to go to the beach, because i'm in Barcelona. After getting off too early on the subway I went by foot to a park, where I found a statue of a mammoth, and then finally went on to the beach, where I stayed for about an hour, lying in the sun and then collecting cool rocks. Now i'm back in the hostel, but i'll go out for supper later. I'm a little pink, but comfortable in my new European clothes.

So it's been interesting so far. Yesterday I spent the whole day traveling, and after having a hard time figuring out where my hostel was (the street signs and house numbers are impossible) I checked in and crashed for the night. Except I didn't exactly crash well... I think that the loudest cars and motorcycles drive by my window, that is open, but I will see if the other girls will let me close it tonight. So there was lots of noise. I finally did get to sleep, only to wake up at 2:35 thinking it was closer to 6. After checking the clock I did manage to fall back asleep, to wake up at 7:22. I then tried to rest until 8:30, when my alarm quietly went off. I finally got out into the city, but I wasn't really feeling it. I went to La Sagrada Familia (The Sacred Family) Church building, designed by Gaudi, and paid a ridiculous sum of 9 Euro, student pass, to go inside and see arches and two stained glass windows and lots of scaffolding. The project hasn't been completed yet, despite being started in 1882. So after wasting my money, I got some pictures of the outside, which is really the most important part, that I could have taken from the street for free. After that I decided to go ahead and buy a 10 ticket subway pass, which was cheaper and I figure i'll use. I went to see the neighborhood where Gaudi designed a lot of the buildings, and that was cool, then I traveled down to the cathdral, which was also expensive and not worth it, and while sitting and looking at the map to decide where to go next, my camera got stolen. So, no more pictures for you guys, sorry. I did backtrack and take some video though. So then to cheer myself up, because I was pretty angry, I went to a Picasso museum. That didn't really help. I'm sick of seeing paintings and drawings and sculptures of naked women. COME ON guys, pick a different topic. Please. Anyway, so then I went to a chocolate museum. The people at reception were not helpful at all. People are rude in this city. Maybe i'm just having a horrible day. The ticket to get in was a chocolate bar, and its very dark, so it wasnt a total loss. I did enjoy the museum. After that I went to the city's Arc du Triumf, took a video of that, walked to Plaza Tetuan, got on the metro, went back to the Sagrada Familia and took some video. While there I met two guys names Jeff and John, and let them use my map. They were really nice. Then I got a very large Coca Cola and hopped back on the metro to Encants station, walked to my hostel, and here I am, probably for the night. So that's my story. IDK what the day will bring tomorrow.

So, today. I went to one of the museums that I hadn't intended to go to in  the first place, but apparently it's one of the best with paintings from all kinds of famous artists. Well, it was closed. Monday. So I was really disappointed, but I didn't give up hope completely for my day. I went to the Reina Sofia museum, hoping that it wasn't closed on Monday too. Fortunately, it was open. Also fortunately, it was free! Works included Salvador Dali, Juan Gris, Velasquez, and most importantly, Pablo Picasso. I saw Guernica today. I also saw all of the "studies" or practice sketches leading up to Guernica; it was really nice to see the transformation. I saw a lot of surrealist art today, and i've decided that they were crazy. I have also decided, that absolutely anything can be art. And I mean anything. Your toilet seat. Your comb. The corner of a magazine that you spilt coffee on this morning. Your fifth grade text book. A string of your hair, or your mother's hair, or any hair from anything really. Every single flag of the world. I seriously saw some stuff today that made me go "really???". There was one large frame, and inside was a white square of paper, with a black line of paint about an inch long. And that was it. That was art. Craziness. So anyway, after I spent a good 5 hours there, I went to the botanical gardens. I took 372 pictures, mostly for my mom. Yay for flowers! They were beautiful. I also went to El Retiro, Madrid's large park. After all of that I came back to the hostel and then went and ate supper. Now i'm exhausted and full, and i'll be glad to get some rest and fly out of here tomorrow! See you in Barcelona! (On a side note, I know where the Juan Ripolles display went that was in Plaza del Trifuno in Sevilla...it showed up in El Retiro today.)

So I think Belgium and Spain are sisters. Both have a statue of Don Quixote and Pancho, and both have an atomic structure. Weird. Anyway, I found that and took a picture, then I went to a roman temple to Debod, which was kinda cool, and then I went to the Prado Museum. I don't think that I was really in the mood for it, I was kinda tired, and all the art made me kinda dizzy. They had works by Velazquez, Goya, Rembrandt, and Rafael to name a few. Tomorrow I am off to more adventures, hopefully i'll see some Picasso. On another note, I've found a really good little italian restaurant that I like. Last night I had pizza, tonight I had spaghetti and cheesecake for desert. It hasn't disappointed. 

So I just got back from El Rastro market which is only open on Sundays. Take the largest flea market you've ever been to, and put in on Steroids. Now double it. You might now have El Rastro. I don't know exactly how big it is, but it takes up at least 3 full streets. I tried to get some pictures, but it really won't show the extent of this thing. Plus, I didn't want to get my camera out too much, because of pickpocketers. The streets were packed, and I had to concentrate on keeping my stuff close to me at all times. The enery it took to walk that place made me tired, but it was really fun! Nanny, my grandmother, would have gone nuts over it. She would have been trying to bargain in Spanish. She is a lot better at it than I am. We would have lost her, and left her there all day. She might have even set up her own shop. They have everythhg you can think of at El Rastro from electrical plugs to CDs to candles to towels in the style of Euros. It was crazy! I did buy something, I would have felt bad to spend 3 hours there and leave empty handed. I promise I will put up some pictures tonight. Now off to go museum hunting!