Good News Everyone... I found a Dunkin Donuts!

Anyway, we took the ferry overnight from Genoa to Barcelona. What an interesting experience. We knew we only were only getting a seat, but as us and two other English speaking people sat in our assigned seats, craziness happened. People were coming in with bedding, and pillows, and coolers and running to get the corners and open spaces around the room, to set up there "camp." We were very confused, but seeing how other people wanted the corners, I threw my stuff in one to claim until we figured out what was going on. I was sitting on high real estate. People kept eyeing my corner with disappointment. Well, we learned quickly that assigned seats were completely ignored and you had to claim a place to sleep quickly before other people took it. I kept that corner and held my ground. Finally I realized that sleeping across four cushy seats was probably gonna be more comfortable then the hard floor so I gave my area up to a family that really needed the space for their children to sleep. Especially since one seemed to not feel good. I did my good deed of the day. Matt and I and the other English speaking people (a girl from Canada and her boyfriend from Scotland) stuck together and made our own camp. We ended up having fun and the experience wasn't that bad.

Barcelona is beautiful. I love it. So much better than Italy. It's so clean and the food is so much better. We are staying at a great hostel right in the middle of the city. Downtown Paraiso. We did have a really drunk rude roommate, but eventually he passed out and we didn't see him the rest of the time. When we got their we ate lunch and then had to go the train station to reserve our trains for the rest of the trip. That took two hours because the computer system went down. By the time we were done we walked down the beach and then realized it was already 9 o'clock. Time flys. On the way home we stopped at a really good vegetarian restaurant (Matt's vegetarian).

The next day we did a free walking tour. I swear if you ever go to Europe do a free walking tour if it's offered. It's the best tour because they work for only for tips. They have to be good to get tips. Next I went down to the water and laid out and Matt went to see this Cathedral he wanted to look at. They have been building it since the 1800's and it's still not done. I decided to go to a cooking class. It was amazing. We started going to the outside market to buy the seafood, meat and spices. Then we went to the restaurant where we had tapas. He taught us the correct way to prepare the meat and cheeses on the bread. Plus they gave us pitchers of Sangria. Next he taught us how to make a seafood paella. While that was cooking, the bartender taught us how to make Sangria. Then we sat down to eat the paella and drink the sangria, which they did not skimp on. All that for only 19 euros. Amazing. Probably one of my top things on the trip.

Now we are in Madrid. It's so funny. We were checking into the Hostel and I heard someone yell, "Susan." It's a guy we met on the walking tour in Barcelona and I did the cooking class with. Such a small world.
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Pub crawl last night... enough said. Walking tour today.
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Cooked dinner last night and tonight. Nice to have a homecooked meal. Went to Toledo today. Not very exciting. Tomorrow is a long day of travel.