What we learned in Barcelona.

I made a post about what we did in Barcelona, so how about a post on what we learned in Barcelona? We are, after all, world travelers now, and world travelers share their experiences. Gather around folks for a lesson in all things Barcelona!

1. Of course the people in Barcelona speak Spanish, right? After all, it is in Spain. Well, they do... kind of. A lot of them speak Catalan. According to my trusty friend, Wikipedia, "As an official language, Spanish is understood almost universally in Barcelona. In addition, 95% of the population understand Catalonia's own native Catalan language, while 74.6% can speak it, 75% can read it, and 47.1% can write it." This means, a lot of the Spanish we learned in high school and college, in Josh's case, was useless. 
2. They love their doggies. There were dogs everywhere. Train station? Dogs. H&M? Dogs. Outside at cafes? Dogs. There are dog parks all over the city, which seem empty during the day (since people are at work), and are filled with happy pups at night. The dogs there look the same as dogs here; don't ask me why that's fascinating to me, but it is. They are so well behaved there. Most were not on leashes and wandered, but stayed close to their humans. We loved the dog watching as much as the people watching.
3. Speaking of people watching, holy PDA, batman! I'm assuming everyone knows the meaning of "PDA" but, just in case, it means "public display of affection." The couples there must really, really like each other. Stopping at a red light? Make out time! Riding a scooter at 40 miles per hour? Still make out time! Walked away for 30 seconds to return a rental bike? Oh, I missed you so much; let me sprint to you in order to make out!!
4. There was another public display that caught us off guard (even though we knew to expect it) and that was the public display of boobies on the beach. We walked onto the beach fully dressed and began walking down the water, took some pictures, and then headed down the beach. I think Josh nearly fainted when he spotted his first pair of boobs. Then, we began to notice they were everywhere. One lady was striking a pinup pose, boobs poked way out, getting her picture taken. We also saw the public display of one man's bum. It was not pretty.
5. Even with all these gorgeous, topless women around, the men still can't take their eyes off a tall, blonde American. Josh mentioned to me that men were staring at me and I, oblivious to stares, didn't believe him. Then, I started paying attention. They were staring. I don't exactly look like the average local, and apparently the men like us American ladies. It was quite ego boosting, I must admit, considering how beautiful the women are over there.
6. Not only the local hornballs could tell I was an outsiders, every employee in Spain knew we didn't belong. Everywhere we went, before we spoke a word, we were greeted with hello's and hi's. Not once did we get an hola. I believe we got one buenas dias only to get it quickly changed to a good morning once the speaker actually saw us. I think we screamed American. Even if we didn't scream American, we definitely screamed, "hello there, we don't speak a word of Spanish!"
7. Despite the language barrier, most of the people there made a wonderful effort to speak English to us. If they didn't speak English, they would find someone who could to translate. A lot of the menus had English sections, which was very helpful. Everyone was very nice and willing to help, which we really appreciated!
8. People in Barcelona seem to love two things: coffee and beer. In the mornings, every cafe you pass (about three per block; these people love their cafes) has tables filled with people drinking coffee. In the afternoons and evenings, the same cafes now have people drinking beer (they often have coffee, as well). We ordered beer at nearly every meal. They never ask what kind of beer. You order a "cerveza" and they bring out a beer. We were never disappointed in their selection!
9. You know what they don't like? FOOD. These people were always enjoying beverages at all times of the day, but we never saw the locals eating food at the cafe. And when I say never, I really do mean never. They don't eat! And when they do eat, they eat late. We're talking 2:00pm lunches and 9:00pm dinners. We went to one restaurant whose kitchen didn't even open until 8:30pm. Craziness, just craziness.
10. I think we figured out why they weren't eating at restaurants. Beer at restaurants? Cheap! Food at restaurants? Expensive! Now, the food at the grocery store? CHEAP! One euro for a block of brie, one euro for an enormous jar of olives, three euro for meat that would cost ten dollars over here. The grocery stores of the USA need to travel to Barcelona, observe the prices, and get their act together and stop overcharging so much!
11. The buildings there are beautiful and antique. I swear half the buildings we passed were older than our country. Just look at the places we went for the wedding: Santa Maria del Mar, site of the ceremony, was built in 1329 and La Baronia, site of the reception, was built on top of an old farm house dating back to the sixteenth century. Every building has amazing detail, and nearly all have art or sculptures adorning the walls. It's amazing and not like anything you see here.
12. The public transit was so clean and nice. The metro was spotless and had screens that clearly told us what stations we were passing, how long until we arrived at those stations, and what direction we were heading in. The cabs were brand new and clean and the driver was so nice. He didn't just drop us off near the church. He drove through an alley way, through a crowd of people, and dropped us off right at the entrance to the church.
13. The clothes are... different. The guys? Dress pretty normally, actually. The women? They don't really wear jeans or dress pants like we do here. They wear sort of, well, pajama pants. Some are linen, some are cotton, some are silk, but they all look like pajama pants. One girl walked buy that had full-on Princess Jasmine pants! Oh, and bras are apparently not popular there. We got quite the show.
14. Getting around takes some getting used to. The crosswalks don't count down like they do here. You'll have a green walking man, then it'll blink for all of two seconds, it will then turn red and BAM the cars start moving. It's like a game of Frogger. You have to be fast! And street signs? Pssh, they must get in the way of the prettiness. Their street signs are the names engraved in tiny stones on the sides of buildings nowhere near the streets. It makes it so confusing!
15. American music everywhere!!! I was hoping to escape the evil Katy Perry or the obnoxious Rhianna... nope, they play just as much over there. Ugh. And they have American food chains everywhere. McDonalds, Burger King, Dominos, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts... check, check, check, check, check and check!
16. The weather there is AMAZING. Everywhere online we read of how hot it is there. Guys, it was 80 degrees, sunny, with a lovely sea breeze, and actually got chilly at night. Maybe we have gotten used to the Florida heat but it was NOT hot. We had the most perfect weather!
17. The areas around the city are just as amazing as the city itself. We traveled to wine country for tours of the vineyards and it was AMAZING. Other people were sleeping on the bus (they were all hungover from the groom's bachelor party in Ibiza), but I couldn't keep my eyes off the landscapes surrounding us. Both the welcome dinner and the reception were about an hour outside of Barcelona and the views were AMAZING (do I use that adjective enough? And why do I always capitalize it? So predictable). We drove through the most, you guessed it, AMAZING town on the way to the reception. I cannot even imagine living in a place that gorgeous.
18. You can totally have an amazing vacation on a budget. We didn't pay to go to any museums, didn't pay for any fancy pants tours, and didn't spend a lot of the euros we brought with us. We had an amazing budget vacation and still learned a lot about the country, saw the sites, and experienced a new country without spending an arm and a leg. It's possible!

The classiest, most mature, fanciest world travelers ever.

We had an absolutely AMAZING vacation and we are so glad we went. It was the fancy-pants honeymoon we never got to enjoy. I'm still partial to Italy because their food portions are ridiculously large and the wine is endless, and that's important to me, but Spain was wonderful. You feel like you're walking through history no matter where you step. The art is impressive, the views are breathtaking, and the people are friendly. We would absolutely go back. Next time we would bring our Caroline. As much as we missed her, we are glad we didn't bring her on this trip. Lugging around a 7 month old in the places we visited would have been stressful on both us and her. I honestly believe she was better off staying in her familiar environment. But in a couple of years? We would LOVE to take her. Next time we go to Europe she'll be by our side. 

Okay, so who's getting married in Europe next? We'd love to visit Germany, Ireland, or even Italy since Josh has never been. Get on it, friends ;)