The sun also rises (but I don't get up early enough to see that)

      Before I give you all an update, I would like to take a moment to mourn the loss of a dear, dear friend. Well... maybe "dear" and "friend" are too strong of words. Tolerable being seems a little more suiting... Or maybe 'cat that I hated but sometimes would pet and it would be ok' is the best way to describe our relationship. But none the less, the world is a sadder place without Meeko Sproul in it. Well, maybe not sadder (for me anyway). Safer. The cat had lethal claws and teeth and wasn't afraid to use them. We had our ups and downs (mostly downs), and although I was never Meeko's biggest fan, I understand loving a pet that everyone else thinks smells bad. Meeko is survived by his loving owner Christina Sproul, his only real friend in the world and will be missed by a few people (probably not by me though).


Well, now that I've properly mourned my greatest enemy, onto Barcelona updates. The sun FINALLY made its first appearance today, which made functioning on 1 hour of sleep almost bearable (although I still took a 2 hour siesta). The greatest part about the sun coming out (and my day) was the sunset. A few of the girls and I decided to visit el Castell de montjuic (or the Castle of Montjuic) which is this medieval fortress type thing complete with a moat. It's on a peninsula 173 meters above the city, which feels like 1730000 meters when you decide to be economical and walk up the hill instead of taking the 16 euro gondola ride to the top. When we got to the castle at the top, we spent about 30+ minutes just walking around, taking pictures, and saying "look at the view!" approximately every 2 seconds. But the absolute most spectacular image was not the sweeping landscape or the Mediterranean coast, but the sunset. I really can't describe it and so wish I had my camera cord to upload pictures but for now you'll have to take my word, it was breathtaking (in the awe inspiring sense as well the 36 degree temperature with heavy winds freezing cold way).

In other news, I've finally discovered something I really don't like about Europe: the smoking. My hair, my clothes, everything smells like an ash tray. Every time I open my suitcase I feel as if I am getting cancer. Everywhere I go I am attacked by a cloud of second hand smoke. Es horrible. I talked to a waiter at a restraunt today about how annoying it was and he said (I think) that smoking wasn't bad for you and everyone does it. I told him "todos los personas en Espana fuman y todos los personas en Espana muertan." For those not as gifted as I, I told him (I think) "All of the people in Spain smoke, and all the people in Spain die." He laughed and said something, I either don't remember or didn't understand (probably a little of both). I was too busy patting myself on the back; I said a complete sentence in Spanish! With a subject and a verb and everything! And I did it all by myself! Victory.  

Anyways, we are heading to Madrid tomorrow for the weekend, so I might not be able to update you all again until Sunday (We'll see if the hotel has WiFi). I know, it's devastating, but try to hold yourselves together. Hopefully when I come back to the blogging world, I will return armed with a camera cord to upload photos.

Mucho Amor,

Robyn