Eurotrip '05: Barcelona

Fri, July 15, 2005 (Day 45)
Whirlwind-esk times in Barcelona, Spain! Ok... here's the situation: Ginny's friends Arantxa and Aitur are getting married in the town of Valladolid in central/northern Spain on the 16th. Thus, it was our hope that we could arrive in Barcelona on the 14th, Ginny could take off to Vallodolid on the 15th to make the wedding, and Steve and I would follow suit on the 16th to make the wedding reception in the evening. As we quickly learned... when you want to travel in Spain during the busy summer, you'd better book well in advance....
So.. we arrived in Barcelona late in the evening on the 14th. We immediately tried to make a booking for the trians we wanted to Valladolid. No dice. Apparently all trains were booked for the next 3 or 4 days, or something ridiculous like that. Shit. It was late, and we were tired, so we figured we'd call it a night and try our luck again tomorrow. Eventually the 4 of us found our way to the IN OUT Hostel. Checked in and pretty much zonked - it was a lonnnng ride from Nice. Felt kinda bad because we realized that in light of the train difficulties we'd really only be spending one night in Barcelona, and thus Cass followed us all the way to Spain just to turn around and head on back to Prague.... but I guess it was her choice. I can't help it if I'm irresistable ;) .
This morning (the 15th) we said our goodbyes and went our separtate ways. Things were looking pretty distressing for a while there when Ginny started to realize that there was a good chance she might not make this wedding. Luckily for her (and us), Steve was able to use some quick thinking and action to get us booked on a bus.. looks like we may make this wedding yet. The bus wasn't until later, so we got a day pass for the metro and jetted around the city. Headed to the Rumblas (?) and walked down through the main area of Barcelona.
We started to get a little hungry, so I pointed out that there were a number of these buffet places located on the free map of the city I picked up. Thinking it was a great idea, the 3 of us hit up the closest one. Big Mistake. That was 8 hours ago, and I'm still so stuffed I can barely move. Turns out putting a bunch of hungry, thrifty backpackers in an all-you-can-eat scenario is not a good idea. We ate for 2 hours straight.. it was sick. I just about vomitted, I was that full (gross hey?). Afterwards, it was all we could do to roll up the road and find a park (Parc de la Ciutadella) where we flaked out on the benches for TWO HOURS next to the zoo because we couldn't move. Once we re-gained mobility, we walked down to the beach - pretty nice. From there we hit Sagrada Familia - a very cool and unique cathedral. Headed back to the station to collect our bags from the lockers we stored them in. I called Dad to wish him a happy BDay. Now we're in Barcelona Nord awaiting our 22:30 overnight bus to Valladolid. I know I vowed no more overnight busses... but you gotta do what you gotta do. At least we'll make the wedding now!