Temperature: 25° C = 77° F Weather: Sunny & perfect Location: Barcelona

Our hotel was conveniently located by the metro station, so we got on that and headed towards downtown. When we got off the metro, we saw a beautiful city! The street was tree-lined. The weather was perfect (sunny and 72°). There was a woman on the street pretending to be a flower, so I got a picture in with her. Overall, I think Barcelona was my favorite city. It was considerably cleaner and it had so much to do! We found a food market that looked like something out of Penn Station in Philly. They were selling fish, fruit, candy, meats (including an actual boar’s head), and other foods. We bought some fruit and some dried fruit and ate it as we walked. Hilary got some weird alien-looking purple fruit with tentacles, but it tasted pretty bland.

We took a quick stop at the Cathedral and noticed that it looked a little more run-down than the other cathedrals we’ve seen. It was dark and the ceiling looked like it was covered with soot. Interestingly, this cathedral had no admission fee. They probably don’t have enough funding for any restoration work. The cloister was beautiful and there were white geece in there.

We went to see a nearby castle, but it was closed for siesta, so we went to find “la Vinya del Senior.” It’s a café where Mel Brooks likes to go. On the way, we saw many street musicians from orchestral trios to a blue-grass quartet. They were really good!

We made it to the restaurant to eat some tappas. While eating outside in the cool shade, we must have been approached by 5 different beggars. Some even came around more than once. We noticed that most beggars hung around churches. We felt bad for the children, because they are born into this life of poverty.

Next we went to see the Columbus monument. On the way, we saw a familiar sight, a Starbucks! There was also a KFC around the corner!

We did find the Columbus monument and determined that he was pointing towards Morocco, not the new world. =) We were by the docks and we figured we would catch a boat tour of Barcelona. It was one and a half hours and it took us out of the harbor and showed us some of the beaches of Barcelona.

After the boat ride, we headed up to Monjuic Park, which was built for the Olympics. We tried to walk up the center, but it was closed off, due to construction. So we walked around the side entrance, and saw an impressive fountain display!

We wanted to get to the Olympic Stadium, but the pathway to that was “closed” as well. We couldn’t figure out why it was closed because we saw some people walking up that path. So we walked around again. We decided to go to the Spanish Village, which was built in the 1920’s to be a “fake” version of Spain. We thought of it as a Disney version of Spain. They had buildings that looked Spanish and authentic restaurants and shops (although the shops were closed by the time we got there)

Side note:(On the way up the path to the Spanish Village, we saw a woman who looked like she got into a bicycle accident. Her arm was bleeding and it looked like her wrist was broken)

We thought the idea of having a “false” Spain in the middle of Spain was a little redundant, but we decided to order dinner there, nonetheless. We had a wonderful meal overlooking a quiet, but beautiful square. Across the square, there was a black tie affair, where they were playing American music. It was a great atmosphere. The only thing that bothered us was the stray cat that hung around our table. After other tables started feeding it, though, it left us alone. We got more food than we expected , and we were stuffed.

By the time we were done with dinner, it was 11:30 PM (or 23:30) =) and we no longer had time to go to the Olympic pool. =( We took a cab back to the hotel.

More pictures from Day 8:

	The front of the gothic Cathedral we saw that day.
	Hilary hopes that she doesn't get sea sick on this boat tour. She was fine!

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