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BARCELONA

Our trip to Europe was amazing. Paris was everything Monica dreamed of and it super exceded Peter's expectations. The french truly know how to do it. They have a reason to be arrogant....their food and wine are like heaven. People kept telling us that french people were rude and did not like Americans, however we disagree. The french are amazing, they are accommodating, hospitable, friendly and giving. Monica kept saying that she wanted to take a french person home with her due to their fabulous nature, amazing cuisine and ability to make fine wine. Monica had chosen France as her part of the trip and after departing Bordeaux we all left with great memories of that country. Now it was time for Spain, Peter's choice for the trip. We all thought Barcelona would be the highlight, the pinnacle of our trip. All the web searches, travel books and travel magazines suggested that Barcelona was in the "must see cities before you die". Barcelona was even rated number as the second best place in the world to live and the accolades just keep going and going regarding this city. It is with great disappointment that we inform you friends and family who have not been to Barcelona that we did not find anything we had read of Barcelona to be true. We even kept saying to each other "maybe we have just missed the Barcelona others have visited". We walked and walked in search of the great beauties of this country but we ran out of time before we could find the treasure of that city. Barcelona was dirty (More dirty than any other big city), it was smelly (and no we are not referring to the locals), the people were rude and unfriendly (and Monica speaks spanish). Barcelona is crowded, over crowded and crowded some more. Peter and Eric once asked a bartender where they could find a liquor store or grocery store in order to by a few bottles of wine. This is what the bartender told them: (and it was not lost in translation because the bartender spoke English)
" Go left out of the bar and at the first block, make a left at the prostitutes, bang twice on the second garage door with graffiti on it and they will let you in and sell you whatever you want".
And let's not even get started with the food.....
Seriously we have had better tapas in "Ceviche" in south Tampa. To put the cherry on top of it all, 2 days before returning back to the states we got food poisoning. We spent 24 hours thinking we were going to die and strategizing the way to get to the hospital. Pictures to follow (Not of us throwing up but of us enjoying ourselves in wonderful cafes and breathtaking vineyards).

Moral of the story: Gatorade is available no matter what city you are in and it tastes just like the gatorade we all know.

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