Barc-alone-a

Smoking smells terrible. It seriously baffles me that so many people smoke here. This morning around 5:30 a big group of French kids came into my room after clubbing with one of my roommates, and they were all smoking. I was already awake and about to leave, so I went outside and read some Shakespeare. When I came back an hour and a half later, my bed was dusted with cigarette ash. They even managed to get it on my towel. WTF. How do you say "bastards" in French?

After reading I ate here at the hostel. They don't have too stellar of a breakfast buffet, but it filled my stomach for free which is good enough for me. So I ate two packages of these "toasts" with jam, three bowls of cereal (one was special K and two of chocolate rice crispies), an apple, two glasses of orange juice, and one glass of water. It was really the first thing I ate since my flight in, so I took advantage.

But OMG my lunch was fantastic. There's this chic little restaurant across the street from my hostel called "Tapas Tapas" where they sell, surprise!, tapas. I got these fries covered in garlic mayo, three slices of fresh toasted artisan bread with crushed tomatoes and olive oil, and some AMAZING paella, flavored rice with an assortment of the freshest sea food you can imagine. Shrimp, mussels, oysters, scallops. This restaurant has a glass facade that looks onto the most beautiful street, with high rising traditional Spanish architecture all along the road. The buildings are so stately, , and they almost all have either geometrically arranged windows or balconies along the smooth stone front. It's absolutely gorgeous.

I live one block below "La Manzana de la Discordia" which is a series of modernista buildings including Gaudi's "Casa Batllo." After lunch and a walk down to the park, I decided to see what's above the Manzana de la Discordia. After about five minutes of walking I unwittingly stumbled upon Gauid's "La Pedrera" AKA Casa Mila. It's a strange looking building with the wavy facade. Breathtaking. I sat on a park bench up the street and read more of "The Merry Wives of Windsor" by Shakespeare for about an hour, then I decided to continue to stroll up Passeig de Gracia, the street all of this has been on. I strolled until dark, when the shops started to pull down the cages and lock their doors. Then the street lights turned on and the city looked stunning. The white lights shining up on rows of endless buildings that reach toward the night sky. It's magical.

Eventually I turned around and got back near my hostel, but I decided to wait about half an hour before going in so that most of my roommates would probably be gone and I could have some nice privacy in my room. So I went to a cafe just a little ways up from my hostel and got churros (spelled "xurros") and chocolate ("xocolala"). Possibly the best dessert I have ever had. The churros were short, thin, and curvy, and covered in sugar, and the hot chocolate was seriously thicker than if you were to melt a Hershey's bar on the stove. I dipped every single bite of churro into the semi sweet chocolate. Un. Real. I paid and walked into my hostel, turned on my computer, and now I'm here, ready for sleep and reading.