Day 36

El Mansou Campground Barcelona Spain 10:29am 7-26-10

We got up in the morning and packed up camp. We checked out of Rocca Mare and bught bus tickets to Ancona. We found internet right across the street from the strain station and got caught up. Then we bought our train tickets to Pisa. The cheapest tickets were in a hour and a half and we had to transfer twice. We finally got to Oisa and were looking for the leaning tower. We were both tired and cranky. We got to the tower and took some pictures of it (it really is leaning!) It was getting late in the afternoon and we wanted to find our campground so we headed out. We followed the signs just outside the city and found it. We were tired so we showered and got ready for bed (Traveling sure does take it out of you!).

We woke up the next morning at 6am to get to the airport at 8am to check in for our flight from Pisa to Barcelona. Turns out we didn´t have to check in until 11am since our flight was at 1, so we sat around reading and trying to drink all of our water so our packs would be lighter. We finally checked in, got our bags down to the maximum weight allowed and headed through the security to our terminal. We ate lunch at a pizza place in the airport and waited some more since our flight was delayed. We finally got on the plane and were bombarded with advertisements and sales pitches which must be how Ryanair keeps their prices so cheap. The flight was short and we headed to the info booth in the Reus airport to find out about camping. The lady had very little info on Barcelona and we didn´t know why until we discoverd that Reus airport is very far from Barcelona (About an hour and a half bus ride away!). We waited for the bus for almost tow hours and ended up talking to a couple of girls from Minnesota studying in Germany. We got to >Barcelona and went into the main station. Jenny and Liam had told us about Camping Barcelona in Mataro just outside the city, so we were headed there. We caughta train to Mataro and it was around 10pm when we got there. Matara was a beach town and it was Saturday night, with bands playing all along the beach. Troy and I walked up the beach for a while and asked several people about Camping Barcelona, but they seemed unsure. Then Troy found a hippy couple and asked them. The girl said it was 20km farther up the road, then she said it was only 5km farther. We thanked her and started walking hoping it was only 5 km. The road turned out to be a highway with no sidewalks. It was getting late, we had no idea how far we had to go, and we were walking on the side of a busy road. We saw a sign for camping and finally got there. It was 11:30 pm, but the campground was jumping. Kids and teens all over the place. We checked in, planning to stay two nights and set up our tent. We showered and got ready for bed, but there was a group of people talking and it was hard to sleep. Then at 3am a girl started screaming (a bug must have gotten on her), and at 6am some people next to us started packing up loudly. We decided not to stay and pay another 45 euro so we checked out and took the shuttle back to Mataro station, or close to it. Troy had seen a camping sign at Mansou, so we headed back there, found the campground checked in and set up. It was much cheaper and closer to Barcelona. We laid around the camp for a bit, did some laundry and headed to the beach. Troy and I played in the water, he body surfed and I laid out topless (What a scandel)! There were tons of women without tops, even (especially) old women. There was a topless mother with her two kids, but I still felt like I got a few wierd looks becuase of my horrendous tan lines. After that we got ready to go into Barcelona. We figured it wouldn´t be very crowded on a Sunday night. We got off the train at the Arc Triomf, a smaller brick version of the Arc in Paris. Then we went in search of the Casa Batllo by Gaudi and saw some other amazing architecture along the way. What intrests me most is not the uniqueness and imagination that was put into these buildings, but that more cities, people and countries, aren´t more unique and imaginative. We then went to the "Temple de la Segrada Familia" and Troy was creeped out, but I was amazed. The design and ideas are so different from anything else we had seen in new and old cities. The church had these bizare angular sculptures of religious figures and a cross coming out fromt he front horizontally with Christ hanging from it vertically. His head was down and you could not see his face. After that Troy and I continued to walk around the city. We found a cheap interenet cafe and blogged. Then we made our way back to the train station by the Arc. It was around 11 pm when we got back to camp and we tried to go to bed, but there were so many people out and about, I guess that´s just Spain. Troy conked out, but I was up until 2am.

I got up at 9 and showered and we got ready for the day. We went to the camp restaraunt and sat down at the table to write, but ended up talking. Finally we left camp and headed into Barcelona. We ate lunch at this crappy little bar restaraunt. Troy had a kabob and I had a burger and then I felt sick. We went to a candy store, but now I feel even worse. We are blogging again and then we are going to do some shopping!