Short and Quick - 'That's What She Said'

My faithful blog readers (...all four or so of you), I'm back and blogging y'all! A week without any posting seemed strangely long for me. I may just love you.

I'm not even too sure what to include and to exclude in this post about what I did in Spain. I have a feeling it'd be completely boring too -- sightseeing, eating, drinking, travelling, touristing, etc.. I'll post a few entries later about some finer moments of the trip, but for now, here's a digested version of a reader's digest version of what I got up to:

• Took a trouble-free flight from Frankfurt into Madrid at 8pm and met with Jessalyn and her boyfriend Koen (third wheel, I know okay?) who had already been there for the past few days. Man, it was SO good to see some familiar faces again! We ventured out that night with some Italians which they had met earlier, whom insisted on showing us the Aussie Bar. Had a few beers there - for your information all you international people, we do NOT drink Fosters, and NO it is NOT "Australian for Beer". We proceeded on to do a mini club crawl and entered into a few non-ventilated, cigarette smoke filled drinking holes. Starting to feel extremely festy, we left around 1am to go home. Got to see a KKK ceremony though - oops - I mean the Easter Liturgy around 2am whilst in search of a means of transport home.

• Second day: Went to Parque del Retiro which was amazingly aesthetically pleasing, and then checked out the Palacio Real, currently the largest Royal Palace in Europe. Feeling a little thirsty, we took a seat at a posh looking place and almost paid 60 Euros for a jug of Sangria! .. Thank God I understood a bit of Spanish! Left immediately and had 2 Euro Sangrias and tapas instead.

• Second night = CCRRAAZZYY night. Got a bit of a story about this night so get excited about a blog to come!

• Third day: I woke up super late surrounded by several Italians girls (nothing suss!) in a beautiful apartment overlooking Palacio Real which was just amazeballs, unfortunately that was negated by a god awful hangover. Did a solo zombie walk through Gran Via of Madrid which is a showcase of early 20th century architecture *coughandshoppingcough*, visited some neat little markets and then got stuck in Easter crowds. Got to squish up next to a hot Spanish man though.

• Third night: We had attempted to go out but everyone was wrecked and my throat was starting to get scratchy from inhaling so much second hand smoke. It really IS that bad. Not being able to endure anymore passive smoking, we had chocolate churros, copious amounts of tea and KFC instead.

• Fourth day: Jess and I arrived in Barcelona (Koen had gone home to Holland for uni) and went to our hostel (Graffiti Hostel) only to find that it was the epitome of shit. The entrance to the hostel was via a seedy looking door, which only opened once you buzzed the even seedier looking telecom system. So there we were, walking for HOURS around the city and literally asking all the hotels and hostels in eyesight if there were any vacancies. Being Easter weekend, it had seemed that everyone in Europe had decided to come to Barcelona - and well why not. We FINALLY found an el cheapo hostel that was surprisingly nice. Ended up going on a pub crawl with about 70 or so drunken foreigners to the best and biggest club I've ever been to - Razzmatazz. Live band, 5000 person crowd, 5 different dance rooms, all-round amazingness.

• Woke up much too late and got kicked out of our room. Once again, we began looking for another place to stay and eventually found a cheapish hotel which was much more than we had expected! Started our two day bus tour in the arvo and visited the Fira de Barcelona which was just one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Too buggered to do anything at night. Throat was really starting to give.

• Woke up feeling like death but managed to do a whole day of sight seeing and checked into yet another place to crash. Observed the Sangrada Familia which is a huge, unfinished and will never be finished, generally useless Monument of Barcelona. Viva Gaudi! Took a series of trams up a mountain and got to see the view from the top.. aaannndd it was actually quite shit. Hostel was surprisingly nice. Passed out at 8pm (no joke) and started hallucinating after intaking some strong cold and flu medicine.

• Last day in Barcelona.. BOO! Whats a better way to spend it than to shop shop shop! This would've been 100 times better for me if my body didn't ache like hell let loose - it was so bad that I literally lost my breath just climbing a flight of 10 steps (but I'm okay, mum!). Got to catch a Flamenco show though. Had to rudely wake up at 4am the next day to catch my flight back home!

Adios España - despite robbing me of all good health, you were great while it lasted!