Day Fourty Three

We may or may not have to have a “PLEASE DON’T RAIN IN BARCELONA” fast for this weekend. Things are not looking good.

Because it’s so hot in our room at home, we generally sleep with our balcony doors open. Last night was no different, but this morning I was awoken to the downpour of rain in the streets below… just in time for traveling. Yay.

The rain and clouds have followed us all day long. Our first stop this morning was in Zaragoza, (pronounced Tharagotha) which I really don’t know hardly anything about because we just stopped for about an hour, ate our bocadillos, and went to the cathedral there. It was a really gorgeous town though- my next time in Spain it will certainly be on the “must see” list. The really pretty picture below is the Basillica,. We didn’t go inside because Mabel said it’s only cool from the outside. Fine with me! The cathedral was really cool, though… maybe I liked it so much because there was no guided tour, and we just wandered ourselves. Oh, and we found this Narnia wardrobe, too. Mabel said it’s another set of doors into the cathedral. We think it’s a place to store a plethora of fur coats.

We got back on the bus after our time in Zaragoza and drove a couple more hours in the most beautiful landscapes ever- seriously I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were so many trees and hills and cute little towns which looked like they’d been frozen in time from the 18^th century. We started climbing higher and higher into the Pyranees mountains, and stopped at Monserrat, a smallish town and basilica. I’m sure the views were all breathtaking… however, we couldn’t really see much as we got higher and higher because there was a thick blanket of fog which followed us, accompanied by a lot of rain and cold. It was kind of funny, the fact that we were at what is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in Spain, and we couldn’t see 5 feet in front of us! We made the best of it, though… so just imagine that through this white canvas there is actually something breathtaking! We saw the Basillica, I smuggled out a worshipping candle for a souvenir, got hot chocolate and a little snack at the cafeteria, and then took a hike up El Camino de Cruz… which, again, would have been a beautiful view if we could have seen past all the whipped cream in the sky! Haha but really it was fun… I will definitely be going back to Monserrat in better weather.

We stopped again in the middle of nowhere for dinner at a random hotel/restaurant joint. I got a salad (bleh) and fried vegetables, accompanied by lots and lots of bread. Dessert was some kind of ice cream chocolate cake thing. I've had better... but hey at least I've got some vegetables in me to accompany the plethora of tortilla sandwich from lunch!

So, now we're in Barcelona! Sidenote, Spanish is not the official first language in Cataluña... Catalan AND Spanish are. Catalan is sort of like Spanish, but then again sometimes it's really different. I guess lots of people speak both languages here, though so I think we'll all get along just fine. I've been getting really thrown off when trying to read signs, though! Anyways, exploring Barcelona tomorrow! Now it is time for some Bachelorette, relaxation, and a lot of sleeping. Pray for sun!