Europe Day 2: Friday, May 11
6:30 am Woke up early
I slept really well last night, since I was so exhausted from traveling. The ANT hostel serves a complimentary breakfast every morning so I had their pan y jamon today. We walked to the Arc to find a bus to our first destination, Parc Guell by Antoni Gaudi. This park on Carmel Hill was composed of beautiful gardens and buildings with colorful tiles and mosaics. The buildings honestly looked like gingerbread houses with gumdrops on top! I got more photos today, perfect for my Instagram feed, lol (@abbyjoystudio).
Our next stop was also by Gaudi, the famous Sagrada Familia. Guess what we had for lunch? McDonald's—the first of many😐. Yani was bragging about how Spain uses 100% beef in their burgers so we just had to try🤷🏻♀️. . . and it was also affordable, haha. I ordered a Mac Jr. and the register was making fun of us Americans, in Spanish, for not knowing how to use Euros since I handed him a "whopping" 20 Euros😬. We took our lunches and had a picnic at a sandy park across the church. There was a guy playing with a drone, which made the birds freak out, and a bridal couple getting their photos taken in the midst of tourists and sand. . . kind of a weird spot for an intimate photoshoot. After lunch, over some gelato, we had fun telling and laughing at awkward guy stories, Yani's hicupping story in particular, haha. Before meeting up with our group at Sagrada Familia, we stopped by some boutiques, one being Prize, where I almost bought a pair of blush flats and earrings, but I'm always so indecisive!
Although Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) is still under construction, the outside with its intricate details and the inside with its stained glass windows, which gathers light in streams of colors, made the cathedral quite a sight for sore eyes! We went all the way up its Passion Tower which overlooked the city and had a close up view of giant grapes, oranges, and wheat detailing on top of the church (very Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I might say). Sagrada Familia was a great experience, but it also reminded me of how easy it is to believe that we can worship God with just works and beauty.
For dinner, Yani, a BJU student from Barcelona, hosted dinner at her house. Her mom was so sweet for preparing a traditional light dinner of bread, ham, omelet, and strawberries for us. Their home was cozy on the 11th floor, with a roof top view of the sunset. Being such a matchmaker, I was eager to hear Yani's parents' love story. Yani's mom explained that she prayed for a man of Psalm 112, which totally made me a emotional, haha🤭❤️. Since the metro can be sketchy at night, Yani's dad made two trips to drive our group back to our hostel—such a sweet family!
I had a lot of fun today, but I'm glad we can sleep in a little bit tomorrow☺️.
TTYL
Made with Joy,
Abby Joy
