Finally in Spain! I love it here already, Barcelona is a great city right on the coast, the people are nice, the food is great and I get to test out my attempt to learn Spanish.

We arrived to Barcelona mod afternoon off the busabout bus. I hadn't booked in the recommended hostel so I grabbed a map and headed for the train station. Turns out going for the cheaper option left me thirty minutes out of town! The hostel is in the suburbs which is cool cause it means I get to see a bit of what Spain is actually like. That night at my hostel, they had a paella night, paella is the famous Spanish dish which is just like risotto really. I had lots of paella and lots of sangria and headed to bed for an early night.

Next day I woke up and jumped back on the train headed for my friends hostel which was close to the beach. We hung out for hours in the 35 degree heat, surrounded by naked boobies. The girls were horrified, after living in Rimini for two months I don't even notice any more. Maybe I'm turning European!!! In the afternoon we went into the city centre and walked the main street called La Rambla. It's crowded, full of markets and shops and pickpocketers! Luckily I've not come across any of that... Crossing my fingers!

I went home early evening to be safe, didn't like the idea of walking alone on the streets after dark. Dad will be proud! When I got there I met up with a girl from chilli whom I'd met in Prague! Pretty cool that you can keep in contact with new friends! We went out for a pretty dodgy meal at a local Spanish diner. It was a Barcelona salad pretty much just lettuce a slice of cheese and some slices of salami! When we got back to the hostel there was a bunch of French boys playing drinking games, they asked us if we would like to join and a few hours later I was making tipsy phone calls to my family in Australia. I've turned nocturnal, 1am doesn't feel that late any more.

The next day I moved hostels, i found an even cheaper option right on the main street! Its only fourteen euro a night and while i have stayed in nicer places i hardly have the budget to complain! So i woke up over ate at the free breakfast and Alex (my girl friend from Prague), a girl I'd met on busabout and i went in to town,we had a look round, waisted some time on the beach and then went to a famous park. A barcelonian architect named Gaudi, designed it. He was apparently on acid a lot of the time and created some pretty unusual buildings, furniture and parks. This one in particular feels like your walking into a Dr. Zeus novel, the buildings have curved twisted rooftops which are tiled in a bright, vibrant mosaic design. The walls are your normal browns, whites and bricks but then there will be a cluster of balls at the top or a swerved design of colorful tiles. The park was made as a community which Gaudi wanted people to live in but no one liked the look of it so it stayed empty for many years except for his residency which is a pink house which looks straight from a fairy tale. That night I had arranged to meet up with some friends, I got ready started having some drinks and then heard the guys had missed the bus and couldn't get in. So this ended in another tipsy Skype call to friends in Australia.

Today I had to myself, I went to the markets, which I love doing in any city. I could browse the fruit and fresh produce all day. I bought a fruit salad for breakfast and then walked the backstreets trying to get lost, I succeeded and found some awsome cafes and book stores. After a while I went to a bike rentals and got a bike for the afternoon I rode along the coast line and then headed for suburbia! I got so incredibly lost in there and found cool places where all the locals hang out. When I finally got back on the tourist trail I came across the infamous Gaudi church, it has been under construction for the past 150 years and still is no where complete. It's just as triply as the park! Each side looks a little different, the front is so immaculately designed with really detailed carvings, some areas look to be melting and oozing off, his incorporated the colorful mosaic designs and has clusters off tilled balls at the top of some pillars. I really like it! I rode my bike weaving through the ridiculous crowd and then got out of there. I stumbled across a little local park and I sat down to have something to eat. At about 2pm the neighboring worksite stopped work, all the employees came over to the park and laid under trees for a nap, I LOVE siesta and I LOVE Europe. After a while I jumped back on my bike and after riding 20 seconds came across a much more impressive park.... The one I had originally been looking for and bought I had found. It was huge with lushes green trees and grass, it had a ginormous fountain slash waterfall in the middle which was covered in vines and statues and greenery it was so pretty. Further down there was a small lake surrounded by palm trees and jungle like plants, people were lazing around in the shade and a few were rowing little boats around the pond. I laid down, wrote in my journal and had my own siesta. On the ride home I stopped at the beach (when i finally found it!) and cooled down after returning the bike. I got home early evening made myself a cheap salad for dinner and then headed out to explore Barcelona at night! Good few days in barcelona! Can't wait for the rest.