I'm a LIAR.

I'm a liar. A big fat liar. I said I would be done writing about my trip a few weeks ago, and well... oops. I still haven't. Here's my Barcelona recap, folks!

Once I got off the train at the Barcelona station, was starving and needed to find my way into the city and to where I was staying. This is when things get way crazy. I ate at McDonald's and let me tell you, it was some of the best fast food I'd ever had. Europe, and many other countries, have much stricter and better food laws so the food that foreign McDonald's serve is about 10,000 times better than the American ones. Oh, and in Italy, McDonald's serves traditional Italian coffee because there is no way in hell that the Italians, or Spanish for that matter, would serve the crap we do. From there I went to the info center, got the free Barcelona map (sponsored by McDonald's - it told me where all their BCN locations were) and the bus map. Figured out which buses I needed to get the apartment where I was staying and started on my way.

This is where everything hits the fan and my little grudge against Barcelona started. I texted the girl I was staying with - my phone had been just fine my whole trip - and got on the bus. When I transferred to the second bus, about 10 minutes in, I realized that I was heading west, not east... so I had to get off, cross the street with two suitcases and a bag and wait 10 minutes for the next bus heading the right direction. So not happy, plus, I was exhausted and my internet hadn't been working well in Alicante so there were constant calls home to have things researched (train info, bus times, etc). I hadn't heard back from the girl that I was staying with by the time I found the building, so I sent another text and after about a half hour of waiting, called home to have an email sent because apparently I wasn't getting texts from home anymore and data was too expensive without wi-fi. After an hour of waiting, Marina's (who I was staying with) boyfriend Xavier found me in the lobby of the building and apologized and we then realized my phone wasn't working because Marina had gotten the email finally and gave him a call to come give me the keys. He was super nice, helped me with my luggage and went up to the flat. He showed me around, told me where the local markets were and made sure I was okay, and we chatted and apologized in Spanglish for a bit before he had to get back to work. I was so annoyed with the whole day that I just sat in my room for a bit before venturing around the area I was staying in. I found a little bakery that made cupcakes, some of the best I've had, and the markets where I picked up snacks, juice and some food when I didn't feel like going out. I crashed early that night, and got caught up with emails and stuff from home. I woke up the next morning, not quite ready to explore, but knowing that I needed to at least figure out that area that I was staying and get my barrings.

The little taste I got on the first day and a half that I was there was great. I slept a good portion of these days, realizing too that the jet lag caught up with me HUGE, facetimed with my family and just took it easy because I knew that I was going to have to start early and see a big part of the city in a day, so I needed as much energy as I could muster.

venezia.

Venice is amazing. There is no shortage of things to see, streets to get lost on and bridges to cross.

For those of you that don't know, I have a huge fear of open water. Yes, I can swim and I know that the Lincoln Tunnel in New York went under water. No, I don't know why, I just don't like it one bit and I don't want to talk about the irrationality of it. Additionally, there are two parts of Venice. One that is part of the mainland of Italy, the other that is a serious of islands connected by bridges and water ways. The cooler, more known part of Venice is the islandy part. In order to get there, you either drive, boat or take the train across the water to the island. Luckily, I have awesome friends who completely distract me so that I don't freak out when I realize that I'm on a train that appears to be choo-choo-ing its way across the top of the water ready to sucked into the ocean at any time. See what I mean?! Instant worst case scenario in my head and I'm not even there anymore.

Now that my lovely fear and the islands of Venice have been described, here comes the beauty of the city. Monday night, Jen and I decided to go to Venice on Tuesday and Verona on Wednesday because we both agreed that the possibility of rain and open water wasn't going to be the best mix for me and it wasn't supposed to rain on Tuesday. Good idea us! We got up and got to the train station around 9ish and headed the hour or so to Venice. The train ride was nice and we got there quickly. When we got to Venice, it wasn't too crowded so we decided to head toward St. Mark's before all the other cruises and tourists got there and bombarded the island. This is when I noticed something really cool. Italy is full of inter-Italian tourism. There were bunches of Italians with maps and cameras visiting for the day. It's a decent sized country with a ton of things to see, so I can only imagine how many more times I will need to go back to see everything! (ha, see what i did there?!)

Walking through the streets, its so easy to get lost, but no matter what, you'll have to cross bridges and walkways and as long as you follow the signs that have been put up, you'll find your way to the major things among the islands. We reached St. Mark's and were greeted by less people than we anticipated and amazing sunshine allowing for great pictures. The line to see the inside of the church was already hundreds of people long, so we passed on seeing the inside and took a bajillion pictures of people, pigeons and architecture. The church and piazza were beautiful, the water and sky was so clear. Venice is everything that I ever wished it could be.

The bridges were beautiful and its amazing how these buildings and things were built atop tiny islands that are now sinking and have crazy things that are now under water. There are parts of buildings that are not underground. How freaking cool is that?! Honestly! There are so many things under the surface in Italy and I wish I could see them all! For me, the coolest part of Venice was the Ghetto and seeing the history of the city. I'm out of words for Venice. It was just beautiful, see?