Oy Vey!/Bloody Hell!
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2009
1
3
20
Trip End
Apr 29, 2009
Howth, County Dublin, Ireland
Monday, March 16, 2009
On Friday we went to the Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila, Block of Discord, Park Guell, Magic Fountain, and Barceloneta. The Sagrada Familia was breathe-taking... in more ways than one. The building was beautiful and intricate and we were able to ride the elevator all the way to the top (i mean ALL the way and this sucker was huge!). Well, after we finished the sketchy elevator, we found out we had to walk down... not any old staircase, but a very small, open air spiral staircase. Katy does not do so well with heights, and I am pretty darn terrified myself. The staircase was not a spiral staircase that we would have in the states. The entire stairwell was about two and a half feet (if that) in diameter and had a half foot wide hole with NOTHING blocking it that went alllllll the way down, many many many floors... We made it down, but our poor little legs were quivering and I don't know if Katy will ever trust the elevators I choose to go up again :-).
After our adventure in the Church, we got very very very lost with a Polish girl and ended up on the back side of the mountain we meant to be on, leaving us no option but to hike up and over the mountain, to the cute little Park Guell that Gaudi designed... imagine Whoville meets Spain, that's the park and the houses in it.
On Saturday, we rented a car. Crazy? Probably. After searching the parking lot for the little bugger, we found our Smart Car-- one of those crazy small European cars that we Americans all laugh at. It was the smallest car you could ever see. We had a foot long front, two seats, ANNND, nothing. Just two front seats and then the end of the car. Well, Kallie started the journey out of Barcelona by some screams, some I don't know what I am doing so just follow the Spaniard in front of us!, and some very fast stops and goes around a round about. Then she got us lost, going around and around the road we were attempting to get on. Finally, we got on, had no idea where we were going, found a English speaking man, and got direction to where we were trying to go. The highway was not bad at all! We arrived at beautiful Besalu and it was FANTASTIC! The little town is a medieval town that is still surrounded by a wall and has a giant bridge to get into it. The roads were small and curvey and everything was stone. The town was fantastic and it felt like we were princesses in the medieval town! After leaving Besalu that night.... the 24 hours of ridiculousness began! We started out well until we got to a toll booth and couldn't find where you pay cash at... let me tell you, the next 24 hours get a little ugly and highly entertaining! - we don't know how to get out of the toll booth that only takes passes, so picture this. Kallie and Katy in a foreign country, 20 seconds before a huge herd of quick driving spaniards on the interstate, and one little smart car reversing down the interstate very very quickly... yes, we did it, katy reversed down the interstate so that we could pay in the toll that takes mula. well, we then decided to save 1.40 Euro (Like 2 dollars) by going around the tollway. Note: if you ever find yourself driving in Spain, take the stinking tollway and spend the 2 dollars, it IS worth it! We found ourselves driving and following the signs to Barcelona, until we suddenly (or slowly) realized that the signs to Barcelona had disappeared... uhoh. Yes, Kallie and Katy get lost everywhere, including Spain. We kept going, hoping to find our way. Poor decision: turn around or ask for directions, don't keep going! When we finally decided to ask for directions, we were on the highway near a sketchy area of Spain that we decided was unsafe to step foot in, so we kept going... and going... and going. Finally, we found our way outside of sketchy-ness and turned around. As we went, we stopped at a gas station and got directions. We got back in our car with confidence only to have our little Smart Car talking Smart to us. BEEP BEEP BEEP went the little car. Katy screamed SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP. We pressed all the buttons in the stinkin car and nothing would make the BEEP BEEP BEEP stop. So, we tried the manuel... oh no manuel is definitely in spanish. So, we try Kallie in the driver seat, the BEEP BEEP BEEP stops! So Katy returns to the driver seat, the BEEP BEEP BEEP restarts. WHAT??? We don't know. So we drive around to a poor Spanish man who probaly thinks American girls are creepers. We roll down the window and Kallie asks in the best gringo SPanish she can muster... "porque es BEEP BEEP BEEP"... the man looks around confused, and says "no se" and rambles in spanish that we "no se". iyiyiy... soo after 45 minutes of BEEP BEEP BEEP, we say screw it, we are driving home with BEEP BEEP BEEP.... about 20 minutes down the road, Katy decides to open the door and close it... yes folks, the BEEP BEEP BEEP stops. We had just tried to stop the BEEP BEEP BEEP from occuring for an hour and it was the stinking door ajar beeping! who does that? we do.
we are thoroughly lost again at this point, but luckily our smart car has stopped beeping. We drive and find a street that looks familiar and turn on it... the problem, no mountains no directions, no street names, no bueno! we don't know which way we are going or where the heck we are in this huge city! after another few hours, yes hours, we stop to ask for directions and get gas.. expensive gas. we get directions, turn down a one-way the wrong-way, screamed, cussed, and got back onto the right way and FINALLY after 4 hours on a supposed-to-be 1.5 hour trip, find our way back to the parking garage.
after dinner, we go to sleep for 4 hours before we have to be up to catch our bus to the airport to fly to dublin. we plan for half hour to do a 15 minute trip, just in case we thought. we thought wrong. we got behind a slow couple checking out (5 minutes gone). we miss our stinkin metro train by literally 2 seconds and the next train doesn't come for 10 minutes because its 6:30 in the morning (10 more minutes gone). We RUN through the biggest metro station there is, up stairs, down stairs, through corridors, screaming "perdona! perdona!" and pushing poor spaniards out of the way (oh, with our huge backpacks on and katy's bummed ankle). we barely (BARELY) make the next metro. we get to the next station and start running again... an even bigger station... as we have spaniards yelling and laughing at us "corre!! corre!!" or "run! run!". We get to the top of the huge thing and run around finding security guards, locals, information people, and train attendants to find where our bus leaves (in 1 minute). they a;; point us to the same bus. we go to the bus and ask more people, its this one they say. FIVE people say its this stop thats the bus to the airport that is an hour outside of barcelona. we stand there, and watch a bus go by with our airports name on it. uhoh? but the locals said it was here so we stay. we get on the bus and ask the bus driver, yes we are on the right bus he says. we ride the bus and pay for the bus. we get off the bus. guess what! WRONG AIRPORT. we run all up and down this airport, no other buses, only trains that will miss our flight or taxis for an hour and a half ride. we are 2 hours out from when our flight leaves. we try to book a new flight, not possible. we suck it up and get into a cab. RAPIDO RAPIDO! we rode the hour and a half long taxi ride to the airport, want to guess how much it cost us? guess... 200 freaking dollars! yes, Kallie's first taxi ride was a whopper of one. but the good news is, we made our flight!!--barely!
so, after a long and scary and turbulent plane ride, we made it to Howth, Ireland.
It's fantastic, picture what you think of when you see Ireland in a movie, yes its that gorgeous! The people are wonderful! The English is relieving! and the accents are fantastic! not to mention a few rather attractive Irish boys :-)!
we spent the evening walking to rocky beach paths, looking at the cute harbor houses, eating Turkish delight and fudge, and relaxing... trying to regain composure and peace over the last 24 hours of craziness and 200 dollars of a taxi ride :-)!
so, our b and b people need their computer back and we must get some rest.
thanks for all your love and prayers! can't wait to update you again!
love
kallie and katy
