After our stay in our hotel, our next place was in one of Barcelona's gay districts - L'Exaimple (eh-sham-pleh). We stayed on a street called Carrer de la Dipatució. I was so happy that we didn't have to lug our luggage anymore once we were there.
Along the way, Miguel was actively speaking Spanish with people. He was even matching their Castillian accents! It amazes me how well he is able to adapt to the Romance languages. Meanwhile, Josiah is just attempting to listen to individual words to the Español he can hear. (It's sometimes confusing to distinguish Spanish and Catalan.) The people here in Barcelona, which is international, are fascinating to watch when they speak Spanish. Imagine seeing an African man, a golden Asian woman, a latino, a pale European woman, or an Indian speaking Spanish. The language just whirs around you! I now know how immigrants who do not know English feel when they are in the US.
Our room was in an older building on the third floor. There were no lights as we ascended the marble stairs to our long room in a cozy apartment. The room was able to fit a full mattress, a sofa, a tv stand, and a small dresser. It had one mirror adjascent to our bed. We had a terrace, though! I was excited to see that classic European view of a street with tons of resident terraces hanging above. Our large wooden doors creaked to reveal the sight I wanted to see. Perfect.
We were still bushed from the other night and we just wanted to rest.
Since this is the gay district, you know there had to be some clubs. We couldn't help ourselves. We needed to go.
The discotecas were small, dark and had small congregations smoking outside the doors. (Europeans love to smoke!) There were two clubs that had tons of people partying their heads off!
La Cangreja (the crab) was so packed with people dancing and singing loudly to Spanish pop music. We squeezed in briefly, but it was too much. We left for the next club.
El Metro was not only packed, but this club was LARGE. It didn't seem like it from the outside. You had to walk downstairs to see the maze. There were three bars, 4 dancefloors, a few pool tables, and a few naked men dancing with only scarves. Most of the people stayed on one dancefloor beside the DJ and the one disco ball above. Since this was a club in the gay population, I wasn't surprised to see a dark room beside the bathroom, which Miguel and I traversed through for fun and ended up with our noses bumping into several walls.
We enjoyed a few drinks that came with our discounted tickets, which a nice fellow from one of the smaller bars gave us. Miguel had a screwdriver and I had the lemon version. I had asked for something creative, but I was so used to Los Angeles (the creative city) that I was a little disappointed. It was a drink, though! I found it refreshing.
We rushed to the dancefloor where the European electronica caused people to sway from one foot to the other. I felt that we were the best dancers on the floor, course I wasn't looking at anyone else!
Beside the club was a store run by an Indian man, who I noticed was a Sikh. We wanted to have some kind of snack there. We browsed what the local snacks were. We can still get Oreos here! We wanted something different. We settled on a chocolate treat that looked like a chocolate-filled pancake sandwich called Dokyo. What was really good was the treats they made themselves. We had a few somosas and a delicious little treat he offered for free, after I had kept pointing it out to Miguel since I had no idea what it was. The best I can describe it was that it looked like a circular pile of shredded wheat with chocolate on top and a nut on top of that. BUT it was so tasty! It had a milky crunch and the chocolate melted on one's tongue delightfully. I'd get it again! Miguel and I thought it was comparable to the Middle East's and Greek's baklava treats. Yummy! The Sikh was very generous giving that away. We found out he was Punjhabi Indian, like one of my good friends, and he had family back in California. We might go back to see him!
Another moment that night was when we met another gay American couple. They were latino and from Texas, but they married in New York back in 2010. It was nice to see some Americans after the onslaught of European culture.
We didn't go back to our room until 5 in the morning. Then we slept 12 hours. Wow! What a night!
The next moment on our agenda was to meet Barcelona Bob's friend Claudia. She was going to pick us up from our room that Monday. We were looking forward to seeing a friend.
Along the way, Miguel was actively speaking Spanish with people. He was even matching their Castillian accents! It amazes me how well he is able to adapt to the Romance languages. Meanwhile, Josiah is just attempting to listen to individual words to the Español he can hear. (It's sometimes confusing to distinguish Spanish and Catalan.) The people here in Barcelona, which is international, are fascinating to watch when they speak Spanish. Imagine seeing an African man, a golden Asian woman, a latino, a pale European woman, or an Indian speaking Spanish. The language just whirs around you! I now know how immigrants who do not know English feel when they are in the US.
Our room was in an older building on the third floor. There were no lights as we ascended the marble stairs to our long room in a cozy apartment. The room was able to fit a full mattress, a sofa, a tv stand, and a small dresser. It had one mirror adjascent to our bed. We had a terrace, though! I was excited to see that classic European view of a street with tons of resident terraces hanging above. Our large wooden doors creaked to reveal the sight I wanted to see. Perfect.
We were still bushed from the other night and we just wanted to rest.
Since this is the gay district, you know there had to be some clubs. We couldn't help ourselves. We needed to go.
The discotecas were small, dark and had small congregations smoking outside the doors. (Europeans love to smoke!) There were two clubs that had tons of people partying their heads off!
La Cangreja (the crab) was so packed with people dancing and singing loudly to Spanish pop music. We squeezed in briefly, but it was too much. We left for the next club.
El Metro was not only packed, but this club was LARGE. It didn't seem like it from the outside. You had to walk downstairs to see the maze. There were three bars, 4 dancefloors, a few pool tables, and a few naked men dancing with only scarves. Most of the people stayed on one dancefloor beside the DJ and the one disco ball above. Since this was a club in the gay population, I wasn't surprised to see a dark room beside the bathroom, which Miguel and I traversed through for fun and ended up with our noses bumping into several walls.
We enjoyed a few drinks that came with our discounted tickets, which a nice fellow from one of the smaller bars gave us. Miguel had a screwdriver and I had the lemon version. I had asked for something creative, but I was so used to Los Angeles (the creative city) that I was a little disappointed. It was a drink, though! I found it refreshing.
We rushed to the dancefloor where the European electronica caused people to sway from one foot to the other. I felt that we were the best dancers on the floor, course I wasn't looking at anyone else!
Beside the club was a store run by an Indian man, who I noticed was a Sikh. We wanted to have some kind of snack there. We browsed what the local snacks were. We can still get Oreos here! We wanted something different. We settled on a chocolate treat that looked like a chocolate-filled pancake sandwich called Dokyo. What was really good was the treats they made themselves. We had a few somosas and a delicious little treat he offered for free, after I had kept pointing it out to Miguel since I had no idea what it was. The best I can describe it was that it looked like a circular pile of shredded wheat with chocolate on top and a nut on top of that. BUT it was so tasty! It had a milky crunch and the chocolate melted on one's tongue delightfully. I'd get it again! Miguel and I thought it was comparable to the Middle East's and Greek's baklava treats. Yummy! The Sikh was very generous giving that away. We found out he was Punjhabi Indian, like one of my good friends, and he had family back in California. We might go back to see him!
Another moment that night was when we met another gay American couple. They were latino and from Texas, but they married in New York back in 2010. It was nice to see some Americans after the onslaught of European culture.
We didn't go back to our room until 5 in the morning. Then we slept 12 hours. Wow! What a night!
The next moment on our agenda was to meet Barcelona Bob's friend Claudia. She was going to pick us up from our room that Monday. We were looking forward to seeing a friend.