the world and more

Barcelona

After hearing so much about this city it was hard for it to live up to the expectations we had for it, but we had an awesome time absorbing its colour, vibrancy, and checking out the wide range of bars, street performers and strange and unusual people on offer. What really made Barcelona great for us though, was catching up with old friends. We had a week of catch up drinks and fun times with mates from across the globe. We spent the first few nights with our friend and old London housemate Ben Cullen and our mutual friend Brooke. Then a newer friend Rachael Will joined us, which was followed by my good mate Alex Ouwens all the way from Sunny Adelaide. Then finally we were joined by Em's best mate Rachael Bannon. Wow! Now that's alot of friends to play with. Wicked! Most of our time was spent either swimming at the beach, which had water filled with gold glitter, walking through the winding alley's or having a few bevvies at our apartment in the city centre or at one of the many local bars. We visited the main Gaudi cathedral which, known for its ugliness, was beautiful in a strange way. We took an elevator to the top of one of the spirals, then walked across a small walkway to the next adjoining spiral and then down the spiral staircase to the bottom. From the walkway between the two spirals you can see the whole of Barcelona - great view and enough height to get the old vertigo going. Well worth the adrenalin rush. For a bit more adrenalin the walk down the spiral staircase, all of some 400 stairs, is a rush in itself. The centre has no railing so if you lost your footing and slipped you could in fact fall down the middle to a very painful death!

Overall our week in Barcelona was a great time to spend with old friends. It really makes travelling so much more fun when you have mates to share the experiences!