Hello Young Adventurers!

Locations: Toulouse, France.  Barcelona, Spain
Languages Spoken: French and Spanish
Words learned:  Gracias- Thank you.

Since I last left you following the “train wreck” that was the trip to Toulouse, things have been much calmer!  Since I got into Toulouse so late, I decided to just go ahead and call that day a bust and head to sleep so I could be well-rested to explore the next morning.  My friend from home, Katie, lived here for a while two years ago, so she had given me some things to see and do while I was there.  I knew I could do it all within half a day, so I even let myself sleep in for once!

I got up, had a slow morning, and left the hostel at 11.  It felt so good to get some real sleep after the crazy day before.  I was worried I was getting sick, so I knew I needed to take care of myself to prevent that from happening.  The theme of today was to simply wander. To just go where my feet take me and see what I see.  I had a few landmarks to make sure I hit along the way, but the city was small, so I knew I could easily make that happen by just walking.

This town is adorable.  Think of the village from Beauty and the Beast set in a little more modern setting and no curses turning people into monsters and household appliances.  The people here were smiling, the food was delicious, and fresh pastries were EVERYWHERE.  I basically spent the entire day eating different desserts.

Now, I promise you guys, I do my best to not just eat sugar.  The problem is the food just doesn’t look as pretty so I don’t take pictures.  The big challenge for myself today was to do my best to only speak in French.  I couldn’t say much, but I was able to order my food, buy some things from the store, and have some small conversations in French!  It was so exciting!  I may not be fluent, but it was really fun to know that I could definitely get by at this point and be understood.

There was also a really fascinating Japanese-style garden that I explored.  I ended up walking around 6 miles, and my feet were done with it, so I stopped for some tea and pie, wrote in my notebook, and turned in for the night.  I was waking up early for my next train to Spain!

The next morning I got up super early to catch my 8AM train to Barcelona, Spain.  I had prepared this time for my 3hr. trip with podcasts downloaded onto my phone and it fully charged.  But guess what happened?  THIS TRAIN HAD WIFI.  It was clearly a gift for going through the train chaos of two days ago, and I was so thankful.  So one really comfortable train ride later, I found myself in my 5th country of the trip so far- Spain!

I got off my train, and was immediately lost.  I’m realizing finding my way from the station to my hostel in any new town is the hardest part of any new city.  I had a picture saved with the directions, but the WiFi in the station wasn’t working, so I couldn’t figure out which metro trains to get on to get me where I was going.  To make matters worse, I had spent so much time in France, that when I went to speak to anyone, I would automatically talk to them in French (and not good French at that…), which only added to the confusion since they speak Spanish here.  I ended up finally getting some help on finding the right train and got to my hostel.

The rest of the day was spent just walking around, eating, and exploring the city. I love to take a day to just walk around and learn the city when I know I’m going to stay for a few days.  It helps me figure out where things are, and helps me make a plan and navigate for my time in the city.  What I figured out is that I already LOVE it here.  I walked all the way to the beach and then wandered my way back, and I saw so much life and energy in this city.  It’s filled with small-alleyways filled with shops, restaurants, and color.  The people are kind and warm.  And the food is amazing.  Tapas (small bite-sized dishes) are huge here, so I stopped and got some with a cup of gelato before heading back to the hostel.

One thing really cool that I learned about the beach here- see how it has sand like we’re used to back in the States?  Well, this beach originally had no sand. They brought sand from Egypt right before the 1992 Summer Olympic Games to help make it more appealing for everyone coming into the city for the games!  Evidently, the 1992 games in general were a huge turning point for this city, and it opened up a lot of doors for them to become the amazing place to visit that it is now!

The rest of the night was spent doing chores.  Y’all, I feel like a spoiled man right now- this hostel has a washer and dryer, has AIR CONDITIONING, AND my bed has a curtain so I can have my own private space.  This trip has definitely taught me to find appreciation in the smaller things, and man do I appreciate them.  In fact, I love this city so much, and this hostel is so comfy that I decided to stay for a couple extra days than I planned.

This morning I got up early to go on a bike tour of the city!  My friend recommended it, so I was very excited to learn more about the city and get some exercise in too!  We rode around the entire city this morning for over 3 hours, and I learned all about local traditions, the various neighborhoods, history, and about Antoni Gauldi- a famous architect from Barcelona who designed its most stunning, and unique buildings.  Here are some of the pictures!

I’ll give more on the history that I’m learning in my next post, as well as more information on Gauldi and his inspirations- nature and dragons!  There’s a great story with this one, but I want to get a few more pictures to post here before I tell it.  Tomorrow I get to go tour the big cathedral that I’m in front of up there, La Segrada Familia, that he is most famous for designing. For now friends, I’m off to go explore the city some more and get some tapas!

Have Courage, & Be Kind,

Mr. Weavil