Blogging from Barca

Hello dear friends:

I am enjoying a little down time right now in Barcelona where we are spending the weekend. We are all resting right now because we got in at 2:00 am earlier this morning! Barcelona is kinda like the New York of Spain- very cosmopolitan, very hip, and huge. Coming from little Santander, we were suprised that it took an hour and a half to walk from the city center to our hostel.

Before I go any further, though, let me tell you about our trip over here. It was all of our first experience with Ryan Air, which is a super-low cost carrier here in Europe. Basically, there is no assigned seating, no ramp into the plane, nada. But the flight was only 85 euros round trip. Boarding was fine- once it is announced, everyone crowds to the r0pes, hoping to be the first to be allowed past and be able to walk out on the tarmac and thus board the plane. We got on easily because there was almost nobody on the flight. In fact, we all had our own row. But the wind was terrible! We got to Reus (about an hour and a half outside Barcelona) in only about 45 minutes (it was suposed to take 75 minutes).

It was landing that was the hard part. It was blowing so hard, that the entire plane was getting pushed off it's course towards the runway. Occasionally, the plane would take a brief drop downwards. It was scary! However, our pilot was excellent, and steered us with wonderful skill onto the runway for a perfect 10 landing. Once in Reus, we took a bus to the city itself.

We checked into our hostel (actually pretty nice, but requiring some getting used to) and tried to get to sleep as fast as possible. This morning, we went to the Sagrada Familia, which is a unbelievably impressive chapel designed by Antonio Gaudi. It has several huge spires and sculptures everywhere on the chapel. It's kinda hard to describe, so I'll post pictures as soon as I get back to Santander. The work began in 1896 and is not yet completed. Afterwards, we took a lesiurely stroll through that part of town. The city is both metropolitan and beautiful.

Thank God for once again blessing us with beautiful weather. Tonight, we go to the part of the town that hosted the 1992 Olympics, where there is a fountain that goes up and down timed to music.

- Charlie