Barcelona Day 3 and 4

Day 3 in Barcelona began as a big blur from the long night before. We both woke up disoriented and confused as to what had happened and how we had even gotten back to the hostel. After deciding that a warm meal would be the cure-all we needed, we were off to find tickets for the event we had been looking forward to the entire time we had been here: FC Barcelona (consensus says they’re the best soccer team in the world) v. FC Sevilla. Given my minimal interest in soccer as a whole, what I was most excited about was the stadium: Camp Nou (Google it, you’ll see why). Pre-game preparation for the game included buying two FC Barcelona jerseys (Messi for me, David Villa for Nick) and a bottle of gin (much to Nick’s chagrin). After breezing through the entire bottle, half a bottle of left over Spanish wine, and filling a “halftime flask,” we were ready for the game. After we got to the metro station, we figured out that we while we may not be the only people heading to the game, we were in all likelihood the only ones who decided to get blackout drunk before the game. I imagined walking up to the game would be like walking up to a Bucs game back home, boy was I wrong. On the way in there was no chanting, no trash talking, and quite frankly no talking at all. Everyone had this super serious, super sober look on their faces. It was pretty intimidating actually.

After a short mile hike to the top of the stadium, we landed in our seats ready for the insanity to begin. The view from the top of the stadium was unbelievable. For starters it’s 344 feet long and 223 feet high with a seating capacity of 98,700+, making it the 11^th largest stadium in the world. The top level and the bottom level is covered with red seats, white the middle level is mainly blue, but has sections of seats that spell out the team name FC Barcelona and an appropriate phrase “Mes que un club” (More than a club). I was expecting a Doak Campbell student section type of experience but that was also not the case. The fans sat quietly for the majority of the game, only applauding on around ten to fifteen ‘soccer appropriate’ occasions such as a steal away from Sevilla or a close shot on goal. The only fans that stood the whole game were sitting above us (we were only 10ish rows from the absolute top, so they were close) and boy were they boisterous. They were constantly yelling chants that only they seemed to know the words to, with my favorite being “Pu-ta Se-Vi-LLa, Pu-ta Se-Vi-Lla, Puta Sevilla!” (maybe because that was the only one I could actually understand.) You would think they would be drunk, but no, bare sober, just intoxicated by the game (really, they only sold non-alcoholic beer at the stadium (good thing we had an ace in the hole)).

The end of the game was pretty intense. It had been a 0-0 tie all game and then during extra time, the best player in the world (guy on the back of my jersey) gets slide tackled next to the goal and gets a penalty kick (those reading who don’t know what this is…like a free throw for getting fouled in basketball, except there’s a goalie in front of the hoop trying to block it). Everyone was definitely cheering at this point, but then anticlimactically, he missed. The walk out of the stadium was much like the walk into the stadium (except we got a sausage sangwish (sandwich) on the way out, it was served medium rare and was phenomenal).

Later that night we decided to go out to club CatWalk down by the coast of Barcelona. While it was definitely fun, there were a couple of X-factors we thought we might encounter, but really underestimated. First of all, house music songs are hard to tolerate at a high volume, especially when they all sound the same. Second, dancing in Spain is completely different than back home; dancing couples simply two-step in front of each other and no one in the whole club fist pumps, really, no one fist pumps. Lastly, ice is hard to come by at Spanish clubs, so shots are served warm, making them 10x worse than normal chilled shots. All of those X-factors combined with fatigue from the game and the fact that it was 5am in the morning, we decided it was time to go back to the hostel.

Coinciding with our post club after party ritual of the trip, we pounded a bottle of Paparika flavored Pringles and went to sleep.

The next day we had an 8pm overnight train to Bern, Switzerland so we decided to explore the coast of Barcelona since we hadn’t been there all trip. It was definitely a sight to see. The port was full of multi-million dollar yachts Oprah couldn’t afford and the Mediterranean Sea was equally as eye catching.

Dinner that night was one of my favorite of Barcelona. We searched the back alleys for a restaurant that didn't have any English menus, we learned Spanish (well, I learned Spanish, Nick just copied me on test days apparently) and we wanted to use it. We stumbled across a restaurant with people standing outside yelling orders at employees inside making sangwishes. After a 10 minute wait to get a table (1 of the 5 in the restaurant) Nick gave me the reins and told me to make it count #goodcall. I walked up to the counter and ordered two sangwiches, (one with eggs, manchego cheese, and pesto sauce; the other with chicken, feta cheese, pesto sauce, tomatoes, onions, and a ranch sauce to top it off), an appetizer of sun-dried tomatoes on top of bread with a tzatziki spread to dip, and then the star of the show "papas bravas." I don't know what that means in Spanish, but here's what it meant to our stomachs: fried potatoes (think Taco Bell 'cheesy fiesta' type potatoes), with 4 sauces spread all over them (one 'creme fresh' sauce, one spicy type, one type of 'dill-flavored-cream- sauce, and one balsamic vinaigrette. Oh. My. God. One of the best things I have ever eaten...ever. I wish my camera was working (pictures to come after I buy a new battery) so I could show the presentation of the dish, it looked like something you would see either at an expensive up-scale cafe or an oddly expensive buffet line.

Before we boarded the train to Switzerland, I took one last picture of the train station and my camera screen turned black with blinking white words that said “Battery exhausted!!” I chuckled to myself thinking, “Us too.”