Spicysaltybittersweetness...: August 2012

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Milano

We flew EasyJet from London Lutons on July 30, 2012 and landed in Milan Malpensa 5:40 p.m. The bus from the airport was 15 euros and it leaves every 20 minutes. It took the bus about 40 minutes from the airport to the center of Milan. From there it was a 15 euro cab ride to our hotel.

Idea Hotel Milano Watttredici was in a shady looking neighbourhood. There was tons of grimy graffiti. We were staying there from Monday, July 30 to Wednesday, August 1. The receptionist was a really tan brunette with huge fake boobies, and fake, french manicured nails. We checked in, got up to our room, and couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on in the room. We asked each other if this was some sort of joke. I even turned my flashlight on, and finally, Kiani called the fake tittied receptionist and asked her how to turn the lights on. Her response, "You have the put the key card in the wall, Madame." No one told us how high-tech Europe was...sorry for living!

We were starving and tired, as per usual, and found a bar/restaurant across the street, Enoteca Boscogrosso. Their kitchen had already closed, and the staff didn't really speak much english. We were famished, and ordered whatever they had available. my friend's salad was HUGE and so was my salumi and cheese platter. We never finished it, but suckered down the bottle of Falanghina. We were just grateful for food at that late hour...The staff actually sat down and chatted with us haha. We told them we loved carbonara so they said to come back the following night and they would make it especially for us, it wasn't on the menu.

A hot hot blonde babe wanders in and my friend Kiani and I both want to be her friend. We end up chatting and she buys us all rounds of Limoncello, and invites us to hang out by the pool in her Villa the following day. We stumble home to the hotel a short while later.

Hot blonde babe's boyfriend texts us the next day on behalf of his girlfriend, that she is not feeling well and that the pool would be postponed. Kiani had left to wander around and I slept in. She was waiting around the Duomo and I took a cab to go meet her. Somewhere in between her texting me, and me getting to the Duomo, she had dropped her iphone and the screen had gone blank. I sat down on the steps in front of the church and looked around for her, then looked to my right. She was setting not too far away, on the same steps. Close call! We decided we wanted to climb to the top of the Duomo, and it costs 6 euros to climb the 250 steps, and 10 euros to take the elevator.

Later that evening, we head to Enoteca Boscogrosso, and true to their word, our spaghetti carbonara is waiting for us. Hot blonde babe is there as well, and she picks us up at our hotel the following day after we've checked out of our hotel. We lounge by the pool at her Villa in Zibido San Giacomo for several hours, sipping on prosecco that her father produces! She says she would love to have us stay at the Villa, but it is unsafe. There had been a few robberies in the area recently. All the Italians had left to go on vacation and robbery was skyrocketing.

Hot blonde babe, Isabell, had promised to make us the best carbonara ever. We stayed at her apartment in Milano for the next 2 days. Her carbonara was truly the best I've ever had. I think she was a socialite, and an ex model. We found an old magazine ad she was in...I've never ever met such a hospitable and generous person in my life. When she picked us up at our hotel, she brought her car, and her boyfriend drove separately and stashed our bags in his car...her car was too small she said.

Isabell and her boyfriend, Mario, introduced us to all their friends, took us sightseeing, and made us feel so at home. We saw Castello Sforzesco e Fontana, Le Colonne, where we visited a few bars, and La Hora Feliz, where we had happy hour. There was a huge buffet at La Hora Feliz. Basically you buy a drink, and you can load up on as much food as you can fit in your belly!!! I've never seen anything like it. My favorites were the croquettes and the prosciutto wrapped melon. I think I ate the entire tray of nutella cookies.

Isabell made our visit to Milan one that we will remember for the rest of our lives. She invited us on a lake excursion, but we rented a Smartcar and drove to Lago di Garda (Garda Lake) instead.

We did a pitstop in Verona and couldn't figure out what the parking signs meant. Wandered around for a bit and Kiani and I got sidetracked and separated by the Arena, but found each other again. We sat down for dinner at Ippopotamo, and I asked the waitress if it was ok to park where we parked. She shook her head and said I should move it or be slapped with a 30 euro fine. I got to the car and luckily, there was no ticket. I moved the car to the street with the giant clock tower, and ran back to eat my lasagna. There was a cold stone gelato shop attached to the restaurant...I think we ate gelato twice a day, every day the whole time we were in Italy.

We jumped in the car and made our way toward Venezia...

Paris

We flew EasyJet from Ibiza and landed in Paris, Charles De Gaulle Airport on July 20, 2012 at 11:10 p.m. EasyJet is Europe's budget airline, and the prices are so low because they don't include checked luggage. You are only allowed one carry on bag and it can't weigh more than 10 kilograms! It's 15 euros to add one checked bag online and 30 euros at the airport, which I ended up having to do. We took a cab from CDG airport to our hotel, which was in Clichy. The receptionist took a liking to my friend, and told us he'd be off in a bit if we wanted to grab a bite to eat with him. We dumped our backpacks off, freshened up, and met our friend, I forget his name?! He was Russian, but lived in Paris, and he took us to a doner shop down the street. He was nice enough to pay for our meal.

Aside from beautiful architecture and delicious food, we found Paris a bit boring. We managed to scrape by not speaking a lick of French, but Parisians are hardly warm and comforting as a whole...We managed to do everything on my mental checklist: The Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, The Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame, and Champs Elysee. We also found a French Army Museum.
We had never been to Paris before and had no clue where to stay. Clichy is in the buttfuck of nowhere, so we relied on taxis to get around. I think we took the subway a few times too, but it was rather confusing, as we didn't know where the fuck we were. We spent a total of 4 days in Paris, which was plenty for us. We really couldn't wait to get the fuck outta there.

There were several cafes near our hotel, and all of them had really good food. L'Industrie Cafe serves a mean omelet, even if the staff is a bit smarmy, and Les Deux Coupoles where we dined twice, because we loved the food and the friendly staff so much! We both had the fish of the day the second time we were there and it was so yummy, served with a side of fettucine. The desserts there are decadent!
I didn't start drinking coffee until I set foot in the EU. Espressos are always served with a small cookie or a chocolate in Paris. What a nice touch! I also didn't consume much booze up until we got to France., but enjoyed a glass of wine or two every day, for the most part. The only mediocre restaurant we tried was Pizza Pino. We were starving and drunk and we asked our cab driver where there was a late-night restaurant. It's a pizzeria, how bad could it be, right? We asked the waiter what his fave pizza was...When it came out, we looked at each other inquisitively. It was barely edible, and not cheap. Our other interesting encounter was the cabbie who we told to wait for us as we raided a mini mart for snacks. He not only didn't wait, but gypped us of our change!

One evening, we were having a lengthy dinner at a cafe, Le Roussilon. My appetizer was bone marrow, and my entree was salmon tartare with frites. For dessert we shared a tiramisu, and it left something to be desired. Everything else was good though. I love European cafes and restaurant because they actually encourage loitering! We camped for a long time, meanwhile making full use of the free wifi. I got up to use the bathroom and bumped into a really cute, tall Aussie. I ran back to Kiani and said, "Wanna meet my new friend???" She thought I was joking...He ended up buying us drinks, and we head to his hotel with him, The Pullman in Bercy. He had to grab something from his room, and afterward we went with him and a friend of his to The Frog in Bercy Village. He buys us a bottle of Bordeaux, which I was supposed to share with Kiani, but guzzled on my own, haha. He goes to the bar and returns with wooden boards holding several shots of beer. Beer sampler boards!!!! I think Kiani got paddled with one of em.

Long story short, I ended up going back up to the Aussie's hotel room with him (What WAS his name???). His pristine white bed must've looked like a crime scene in the morning because it was that time of month for me. Oops. I went and grabbed Kiani in the hotel lobby where she had been waiting for me, and we made our way back to our hotel in Clichy. The End.

Burning Man 2011, Rites of Passage

MY TWO CENTS ON BURNING MAN

Make sure once you've received your coveted ticket, to pack it with your other gear. Bring water. And more water. pack a few shiny and or furry bikinis, and this applies for males or females. tutus are recommended also. make sure you have one very warm long furry coat for after the sun sets. The temperature drop is insane. Bring sunscreen or sunblock. I found that the cooling misty sprays worked the best. One thing that i wished I'd remembered to pack last year was a water mister bottle. Other playa peeps had em and it was the most remarkable sensation to be surprise spritzed in the 90+ degree desert heat. Bring a bicycle and maybe a spare bike chain or 2. a few people lost chains last year and some lost their tires. for food, bring non perishable goods. protein bars that don't melt, nuts, pretzels, and canned tuna snacks. i don't think i'll ever be able to eat another canned tuna snack ever again. luna bars and pretzel chips were my go to. and almonds. other campers do give out food, but don't rely on them for sustenance. ooh, canned soup works wonders...
coolers are a must, although ice lasts in there a maximum of 2.5 days. and the camp that does sell ice has a mile long line. port a potties were cleaned often and weren't all that bad. being that i'd never camped before, this was all new to me. sure, hand sanitizer in place of soap and water, why not! and my boots broke the 2nd night i was there so i was forced to duct tape em. then the duct tape gave out and i was stuck wearing 7 inch tall transformer boots with huge buckles, and had to ride my bike around in those...i learned how to ride a bike at burning man, dodging inebriated burners, and art cars...finally i gave up and wore my crocs the rest of the burn...please do bring ear plugs if you have any hopes of sleeping. the dubstep blares day and night. Please do try and sleep. The best time to sleep is around 2 am, the sun glaring through your tent will most definitely wake you up around 8 or 9. the best moments i had were during the day at burning man, riding around on my bike and looking at all the art, meditating at the temple... i really wasn't into all the dance parties or drunken orgies, but everyone experiences burning man in their own way...
met a lot of really amazing and kind souls...

Make sure to bring useful gifts to trade and barter...Burning man is a gifting community. earplugs are useful. handmade gifts and crafts are useful.
anything that you forgot to pack, someone else will likely have. but don't be a sparkle pony and rely solely on others' kindness.

after all that's said and done, get ready for the most mind blowing, sensory overload, thought provoking, and spiritual gain-worthy, journey of your life. i'm no longer content with being an observer in life. i am no longer comfortable in my comfort zone. the burning man slogan is ,"oh, the places you'll go!" this slogan could not be any more appropriate. coming back to the real world was so weird. i couldn't quite adapt quickly enough. a lot of people feel that exact same way, so be sure to have a few extra days to decompress before you head back to work or to school...

burning man 2011 changed my life forever, in more ways than i ever thought possible. there are no words to describe this event. JUST GO!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Ibiza

We arrived in Ibiza on Vueling Airlines, Flight 3510 at 6:05 a.m. on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. We had requested an early check-in at Hostal Rosalia in Sant Antoni de Portmany, but of course of course our room wasn't ready when we got there, why would it be? We left our backpacks at the hostal and found a hotel on the beach, which had huge wooden lounge chairs. The cushions were stacked nearby. We were so exhausted that we didn't care about sleeping on a rock hard surface.

We had stayed out all night the night before, and went straight from an Irish pub in El Born, Barcelona, home to pack our bags and do another line, hopped in a cab to Barcelona airport reeking of booze...After the excruciating airport security screening, we fumbled around for a bit. It's so bizarre to me that the gates at the airport aren't pre-assigned beforehand...While we waited for our gate number to appear on the monitor, I went outside to smoke a cig and look for more booze. Scored some screw top wine at the airport bar, a chardonnay-muscat blend and guzzled it down...

The flight from Barcelona to Ibiza was way too short, we tried to take a nap but failed miserably. Perhaps it's not the best idea in the world to snort half a gram of blow before a nap attempt. Just sayin...On board, we suckered down 2 mini bottles of prosseco and landed in Ibiza way too soon. We immediately found a taxi in the taxi cue just outside Ibiza airport and it took at least 25 minutes to get to Hostal Rosalia in Sant Antonio. When we were looking for hotel rooms, most everything was sold out in Playa d'en Bossa, so we settled for a room in Sant Antonio. We later found out that Sant Antonio was the equivalent of Spring Break/Frat Boy Central. All the UK-ers stay in Sant Antonio, all the Italians in Playa d'en Bossa.

Our dingy room cost an arm and a leg. Kiani ended up booking all 3 beds in our room so that we could have some privacy. The guy at the front desk told us we should've notified them beforehand that only 2 of us would be occupying the room?! We paid for all 3 beds, does it matter how many people are in it??? When we booked the room, the website clearly stated that free wifi was available. The alleged wifi was not public wifi, but was used for the hotel surveillance cameras. I don't remember sleeping very well in the dingy hostal, it was basically the place we stashed our bags.
I fucked up royally by booking that 6a.m. flight cuz our room wasn't ready til nearly 2p.m. We walked around and looked for a nice stretch of sand to nap on, but there was none. We saw a tiny bit of beach but it was dirty and infested with party people who were obviously up from the night before. Kiani passed the fuck out on a bench and I poked her and we relocated, back to the hotel's wooden loungechairs. There was a hotel worker who was trying to put the cushions back on the chairs, but i pretended to be asleep and ignored him. We almost got eaten alive by the flies. Ick.

At some point, we move back to the benches across the way, and just as i start to doze off, 2 policemen on motorbikes rode up and told me that sleeping on the benches was not allowed, and if i had a bikini, to put it on and go sleep on the beach. GRRRRRRRR. They make their way on over to Kiani, 3 benches down, and tell her the same thing they told me. We huff and puff our way back to the Hostal and Kiani says, 'I hate this place.'

We were sleep deprived and had no energy to do anything, dragged our asses back to the Hostal and asked if we could nap by the pool. We must've been a sight to behold, 2 fully clothed girls by the pool, with makeup on from the night before, asleep and probably snoring in the 100+ degree weather...We awoke from our nap and the room still wasn't ready!!!!!!! I chainsmoked and chatted with some Scottish girls poolside. The hostal rented out mopeds and we saw some dumb chick run her moped into the sidewalk and laughed our asses off.

PACHA

As soon as our room was ready, we put our backpacks down, and slept until about 9p.m. Kiani had seen online somewhere that Erick Morillo was spinning at Pacha, so were were riled up about that. We got ready and hadn't even made it far; we found a ticket outlet that had Erick Morillo/Chuckie tickets for 47 euros. We hopped on the disco bus, the bus that drops everyone off at the clubs...the first stop was Amnesia. Next stop: Pacha. I saw Pacha from a mile away, it was illuminated by purple lights. The interior was very posh, and the special effects are spectacular, from the blasts of dry ice, to the laser light shows, to the fireworks coming out of the ceiling.

We found a roster and Erick Morillo wouldn't come on til 4a.m. so we ask the doorman if we can leave and come back. We take a left and spot a dozen delicious men. The last 2 in the trail stop and chat with us, and we end up spending the rest of the evening with them. Kiani ends up liking Neek, and I like his friend, Carlo. I assume that both boys are community property, and Neek keeps disappearing to talk on the phone. Neek takes off early, and Carlo stays with us girls til about 6a.m. He give me a peck me before he leaves...He's heading straight to the airport from the club. Both boys are Italian but live in Belgium...Kiani and I end up leaving shortly thereafter,and find a little cafe called Temptacio, where we sit down and order a multitude of pastries, each pastry better than the next. The place was a bit overpriced, but probably the only place open at 6a.m. Everything in Ibiza was overpriced...Our shithole hotel cost over $100/night, and our mini bottles of Cava at Pacha cost 20 euros a piece!!!

After our tummies were full, we decided to check out the beach. On our way, we came across a boy and a his shirtless friend. The shirtless friend was sitting on the ground. London boys, Jake, and the shirtless one, Ahmad. They both proclaimed their love for American girls and joined us on our beach hunt. We found a small stretch of beach in Talamanca...I think this was after Ahmad had ripped off Jakes's All Saints T-shirt and shredded it into little pieces. Jake grabbed Ahmad's button down shirt out of Ahmad's hands and threw it up into a nearby tree. The tree wasn't very tall, so Ahmad was able to retrieve it. Jake ripped the shirt out of Ahmad's hands again and threw it up into a really tall tree. Ahmad's shirt is probably still up in that tree to this very day.

Ahmad told us all we should go for a swim, and all of us tell him to jump in first. He jumps in and then gets down on all fours in the sand. We have a hard time getting a cab because Ahmad is covered in beach grime. The first cab driver we came across merely shook his head and drove away. The second cabbie, a female this time, got irritated with Ahmad's harassment. He had basically started to offer 60 euros for a ride...the third cab agreed to take us back to Sant Antonio for 60 euros, but none of the boys had any cash, so once we got to Ahmad's hostal, he had to run upstairs and grab cash. He took awhile, and i ended up paying about 30 euros, the fare on the meter.

Our cab driver looked really irritated and was starting to drive away when Ahmad comes running up, with 60 euros in hand. The disgruntled driver had already taken off. We all go up to Jake's hotel room and wake up both of his roommates, and eventually we get kicked out by a very angry hostal worker who even threatened to call the police. We go to Ahmad's hostal and wake up his two roommates and then head to their hotel pool. Around noon, Kiani and I excuse ourselves to rest up.

We meet back up with Ahmad later that night, and head to Lineker's to pre-party. Trying to find a cab to Amnesia was out of control. The cue for a taxi would've taken an hour, at least, An illegal cab driver approached us, and we ended up cramming 5 people into a tiny jeep. The driver lived in Ibiza and was trying to make some extra cash. He also asked if we were interested in party supplies: Ketamine, Cocaine, etc..

AMNESIA

As soon as we get to Amnesia, we look for a secluded spot to do the drugs, but don't manage to find one, so we go inside. The club is obviously very greedy, and has over sold tickets. It was impossible to move around once we got in. We were all in one group at one point, and then it was just me and Matt. Matt held my hand and led me through the mass of people. I almost started hyperventilating at one point, it was so hot, and there was literally a mosh pit of people around me. Matt made sure I was ok the entire time. We eventually found the other 3, and danced as best we could, but we were packed in like sardines in a can. Kiani wanted Molly and Matt said he'd go look for some if I would give him a kiss. He went out looking for awhile, but came back empty handed. I kissed him anyway, and after lots of inappropriate dancing, we decided to leave the club. The taxi cue outside the club was ridiculous (surprise!) but we found another illegal cab driver. He didn't seem to know where he was going and I thought he was going to chop us into little pieces.

When we finally got to the vicinity of my hotel, I discovered that it was my mistake. I had told the driver Sant Antonio Bay, but my hostal was actually in The West End. Oops. The receptionist would not let Matt come up to my hotel room because he wasn't a registered guest. Matt finally ended up paying 20 euros to spend the night. We woke to Kiani and Ahmad staring down at us like specimens under a microscope...We hadn't locked the door and they had walked right in! Matt and Ahmad left and I thought I would never see Matt again, as Kiani and I were Paris-bound later in the day. Ahmad texted Kiani that Matt wanted to see me again and they came to get us at La Cantina, where we were eating mediocre Thai food. Matt and I hung out one last time...I texted him the day after Kiani and I landed in Paris, but he never responded. He could've given me a wrong number, for all I knw. I'll never know. I found out from Ahmad that Matt's knee had swollen up and he was in the hospital in Ibiza. Haven't heard from him since...

2 days in Ibiza was more than enough and we were definitely partied the fuck out...

Ibiza Airport

Pacha

Amnesia

Sant Antonio

Our tix

Friday, August 10, 2012

Barcelona

I had booked an apartment on Passeig de San Joan, near Gracia, and it took us 2 trains to get there. From the airport we hopped on the train to Sants station, the main train station in Barcelona, then the Metro L5 Blue line towards Vall D'Hebrón until Verdaguer, which was the 4th stop. We get off and walk to the corner of Provença and Passeig de San Joan but can't seem to find the apartment building. At night, everything looks the same, especially in a strange city. We ended up calling Ines, one of our hosts. She came out and collected us. Ines and her boyfriend, Guillerme rent out rooms in their flat. On airbnb.com, the apartment was listed as being on the 4th floor. We climbed up 107 steps with our 20 kilogram backpacks before we made it up to the flat.

Exhausted, sweaty, and gross from the 12 hour flight and 2.35 hours layover in Dusseldörf, we manage to muster up enough energy to walk downstairs and look for something to eat. (Dusseldörf airport is one of the coolest aiports I've ever seen, by the way.) We managed to find a restaurant that was open and gobbled up paella, pan catalan, and croquettes. The waiter told me they were "croquetes" not croquettes.

We spent July 11 through 18th in Barcelona, and got to know the city pretty well even though we slept a shitton, like hibernating bears!

We must've slept forever, I know for a fact that we wasted at least 2.5 days to sleeping while we were in Barcelona. It took us a while, but we somehow managed to get around the city, mostly on foot, sometimes by taxi or metro. We eventually wisened up and rode the metro more often because taxis are pretty costly, as are meals.I've ever seen. There wasn't much in the way of Asian cuisine, just crappy chinese food. I squealed like a little girl in a candy shop the day I saw an udon shop. I remember eating a lot of bocadillos (sandwiches), and we did have really yummy Thai food at a place called Thai Gracia.

Our second night in Barcelona, after wandering around in Las Ramblas, we found ourselves in front of a bar called Kulas. There was a young, really tan Asian lookin boy in a Hawaiian print shirt that was unbuttoning. What the drew our attention was the neon green headband he was wearing, as well as a matching neon green fanny pack. Looked like someone worked out all the time... We started chatting, and out came a thick southern Californian accent. Alex was born and raised in Orange County, California and had moved to Barcelona for school or something like that. He said his father was helping him out financially and whatnot but he was working part tome as a greeter at Kulas.

We asked him where we should go dancing, and he mentioned City Hall. It was a Thursday night, 'Club 4'. Mondays were 'Fuck & Rock', Tuesdays were 'Wild Tuesday', Wednesdays were 'Pigs and Diamonds', Fridays were 'Exa Club', Saturdays were 'Pure City Nites', and Sundays were 'The Black Room.' I had time to read the marquee over and over because we were in line for quite a while, and we had gotten there around midnight when the club wasn't even packed yet! Everyone was dressed pretty casual, and we were in flip flops haha.

We finally made it to the ticket window, cover was €15, about $20. It wasn't super packed when we got to the dance floor, and there was still plenty of room to dance. Apparently Molly is very popular in Barcelona because we found some almost immediately. It looked different from the MDMA in California, it was in chunks versus the usual pulverized crystals found in Los Angeles. I found it strange that it's customary to just let the bitter crystals dissolve in your mouth?! I only ate a little bit, and boy was it gnarly tasting! A short while later, I was rolling balls! DJ Dubfire was spinning and then the room filled up rapidly. I heard DJ Dubfire is from Seattle. Amazing DJ...

We danced on and off and wandered to the chill out room downstairs, which was more lounge-y with more toned down beats and Kiani started chatting with a boy. I went to the restroom and came back and sat down next to a boy in a plaid shirt and we started chatting. Turns out Kiani's boy, Alex, was friends with Jamie, the boy i was talking to. Jamie had a really thick Scottish accent, and I had a hard time deciphering what he was saying.

Between the thumping music and me being fucked up, I could barely make out a word of what he was saying. Speaking of making out, I guess he and I made out excessively haha. We all went outside to smoke at some point and the bouncer said we couldn't re-enter, that the club was shutting down anyway...we wandered the streets together. Alex said there was an afterhours somewhere, that a bus would take us to the undisclosed location. We escaped and finally settled on sitting down in a Plaza, I think it was called Plaza de Catalunya, and made friends with a few kiddos who were sitting there before us.

The sun started poking it's head, and Kiani, Jamie, Alex, and I all made a beeline for the nearest bathroom, only there weren't any! We finally came across a small cafe and I asked the owner,"Puedo usar el baño?" He responded, "Si." Alex went to a stall, and Kiani went into the next one. Alex went and waited outside for us. I sat on the bowl, and was mid-trickle, when Kiani said, "Amy! I can't open the door!" I was coming down off the E, and my head was a bit fuzzy, and it was as hot as an oven in that bathroom! We banged on the door and heard 3 men trying to bust the lock.

I think we were in there for a good 30 minutes and even took funny pics...the door finally opened after much proddig and prying, and the boys were so fucked up they barely noticed we were gone. We walked a bit further with Alex and Jamie, and said we should go to bed, so they hopped in their cab and we hopped in another back to our flat.

The second time we got locked into a small room was at an atm right by our flat. It was around 9:30 pm and we were on our way to dinner, but Kiani needed to get some cash. La Caixa was the name of the bank, and the atms looked like little glass rooms. I was smoking a cig right before we walked up to the atm and had only taken a few drags, and left it on a ledge nearby because Kiani couldn't get her card to go in the machine. I went inside to help her insert her card and went back to open the door to smoke the rest of my cig. The door wouldn't open! We were locked in again!

An older lady walked by and we banged on the glass. She stopped and fiddled with the door, to no avail. A young mulatto lookin guy walked by and tried to help us too. Nothing worked. We finally called '112', Spain's equivalent of '911'. The man on the other end asked for our location and said help was on it's way. 6 Catalan firemen showed up, along with 2 police officers. Yum! The stupid glass door had a self-locking mechanism and they guided us through on how to open it. about 30 seconds later, we were free.

The firemen said people lock themselves into that ATM all the time and not to feel bad. The cutest fireman asked us to write our names down on a piece of paper and asked where we were from. We thanked them profusely and hoped thu would add us on facebook.

The apartment we were renting near Gracia was kind of like a grown up version of a hostel. Guillermo and Ines rent out 2 bedrooms in their flat and the second round of flatmates are a gay couple from New York. Shane is a pharmacology student and is backpacking Spain for the summer. I don't really recall the boyfriend's name, he was really quiet and didn't seem to have much of a personality. Shane heard that Kiani and I were headed to Figueres, to the Salvador Dali museum and decided he wanted to come with, but his boyfriend stayed at the flat.

We got to Sants Station and saw that the bus to Figueres was sold out. The price for a one way bus ride to Girona, was €20; Girona is about 30 minutes from Figueres so we'd have to transfer to another bus and whatnot. Our other option was to rent a car. We walked across the street to Hertz and an economy rental was €88, split 3 ways was cheaper than the round trip bus fare. Well that was a no brainer!

The drive from Barcelona to Figueres is roughly 150 kilometers. Hertz had given us a dark green Mini Cooper, and it drove like a dream. Needless to say, we arrived in Figueres in no time at all.
Figueres is a teeny town, and the main attraction is the Dali museum. There was a long line of people that waved around 2 buildings and through the courtyard to enter the museum. I could've spent the rest of my life on the museum. Kiani and Shane were both done admiring the art before I was, and I met them outside. We stopped for snacks at a cafe by the museum, and drove on to Cadaques, which was about 39 kilometers from Figueres.

Shane navigated the whole time, thank God, because the roads were confusing as fuck, with millions of roundabouts. The roads started narrowing and spiraling as we approached our destination. We did a pitstop at a tiny stretch of beach, El Port De La Selva, where the locals are bathing in the ocean. We arrive in Cadaques and the streets are swarming with people on foot, motorcycles, or bicycles. The road to the residential area is basically a teeny tiny one way lane and i'm wondering where the heck to park the car! We circle for a bit, up and down the rolling hills, and spot another Mini Cooper backing up. It had been parked on a curb, on an incline. As soon as it's pulled away, I quickly pull in. If everyone else is making their own parking spot, so can I!

Cadaques is breathtaking, with sparkling, deep sapphire blue water lined with white houses. The white houses all have blue shutters. Wow.

I later found out that Salvador Dali spent time in Cadaques, as a child, and then later had a vacation home in Port Lligat.