Barcelona and Andorra

Hi all!

So, I was going to go with a group from the University to Barcelona and Zaragoza, but it was canceled 24 hours before the planned departure. Very quickly, I planned a trip by car with my friend Joe and two of my German friends to Barcelona and Andorra. Since it was a holiday, there were not rooms available over the internet, so we arrived in Barcelona without accommodations. Starting at 9 in the morning on Thursday, we traveled to Zaragoza en route to Barcelona. We saw alot of the main buildings there including the Aljafería Palace and the Pilar Virgen. After driving for 4 more hours, we arrived in Barcelona without a place to stay. After three hours of searching and driving, we found a hotel in the north of the city. We stayed in two rooms. Joe and one of the Germans were in a single, and I shared the honey moon suite with the other German.
We ate some wonderful Chinese food and ended the night early...

Friday morning started early with visitations to Barri Gotico and the Cathedral near Las Ramblas. Then, we saw the arch of triumph and the Sagrada Familia. This is a church that has been under construction for the past 120 years. It is a product of Gaudi and is very interesting to see. After, we went to the Olympic stadium at Montjuïc and to the built castle at the top of Montjuïc. During our second night, we planned to have a party at our flat because we had an awesome patio, but people did not want to come! Instead, we went to Las Ramblas and hung out with Angela, Megan, Michelle, Alex, and some very lovely French people I had met.

Saturday morning began at 8 and we first went to Park Guell then went to the Tibitabu at the highest Mt. in Barcelona. We left Barcelona midday, and drove through the picturesque mountains to Principality of Andorra. My host mother described Andorra as two streets with lots of cheap things. Andorra was exactly this; lots of shopping and stores between two streets. The surrounding mountains were very beautiful and there was some snow near the boarder with France. We waited two hours to enter France because of boarder "security" that was nothing more than police only watching the cars go by. We drove through the French Pyranees, through San Sebastian, and finally we arrived in Santander around 3:30 in the morning on Sunday. This trip was very fun, and I learned alot about Catalonia independence, German music, and sneaking 4 people into hotels and flats made for 3!!