Ella, Natalie, Barcelona

Ella and Natalie decided to spend the summer in Barcelona. They had just completed their HSC and everything fell into place when they bought their tickets to Europe and ended up in Barcelona. Natalie knew what she wanted in love whereas Ella knew only what she didnt want.

The girls started off their adventure at an all you can eat kebab shop. The kebab shop blasted drum and bass music and was open till late. Something the girls took to very fondly. The day was followed by some casual sightseeing to the famous Gaudi masterpiece, The Sagrada Familia. The girls were amazed at this building. They thought that Gaudi must have been on acid or something because the cathedral was like a mind tripping maze of colourful mosaics and unusual shapes which creates possibly the coolest cathedral in the world. Continuing on the acid adventures of Gaudi, the girls caught a metro (for free of course), to the Gaudi gardens. The girls marvelled at the gardens which were full of colourful mosaics and more crazy architecture. The girls enjoyed a picnic in a secluded area of the gardens where they overlooked Barcelona and the Gaudi masterpiece. Beats from the buskers on the streets floated up into the gardens so the girls had some free music to accompany their pleasent picnic. The girls continued exploring the mazes in the gardens and they found a local spanish guitarist playing in a quiet corner of the gardens beneath some crazy Gaudi architecture. The girls sat there admiring the guitar which they found inspiring and very touching.

the night ended early (5am)

The girls tucked into their hostel with their cups of soup and were preparing for a quiet night until they were propositioned. But they were not propositioned to get a dodgy flight to Oviedo with a Spanish lover, instead by a lone traveller (crazy asian chick) who promised them an amazing night at an amazing club. The girls started on a bottle of wine and eventually the group grew as more travellers joined the party team. It was getting late 1am and the boss was not happy that the hostel had turned into a drinking ground. The strong group of travellers slowly left the hostel and headed to the club and danced all night long to the world famous dj Anja Schneider. From what the girls remember the night was a blast and they headed back to the comfort of their hostel dorm at 5am.

The next day the girls were woken to the pleasant surprise of moving out of the hostel due to increased rates on beds which increased by 17 euros because of the world famous sonar festival. The girls headed to a shitty share house apartment that they found on the internet. The girls were allocated a single room (resembling an asylum) with no windows and white walls. In an effort to escape the mental institution apartment the girls called up the crazy asian and headed to an exclusive VIP party on a 5 star hotel terrace which had an amazing view across the beach of Barcelona. The crazy asian got Ella and Natalie onto the VIP list and the girls again danced the day/night away to crazy minimal techno beats and watched the sun go to sleep into the Barcelona beach!! The next day the girls repeated the party schedule at the same VIP party. This time the girls were invited to hang out with a big group of Londoners. They knew where the parties were at and took the girls along to all the hot parties in Barcelona including a DJ set by Seth Troxler which was completely off the hook!!!!

Ella and Natalie were begining to experience stomach ulser problems..... The 3.50€ mojitoes, the Sonar festival parties and sleep deprivation were taking there toll on the girls. So instead of having a big night out clubbing the girls decided to head to a bar for some quiet drinks (and a few mojitos). The Londoners were on the same boat so they met the girls in a bar and discussed the meaning of life or life in Barcelona. But in true Barcelona style the night ended early (5am) because the girls missed the last metro so Ella and Natalie and the londoners ended up sitting in the main Barcelona park drinking cerveza (beer) bought of street entrepeneurs (street sellers who sell you warm beer).

The girls also worked on their photography skills and were taking great photos of eachother in the Borne district (the ghetto) and on the local Barcelona beach. What the girls found most interesting about the beach was that locals found it appropriate to turn a family beach into a nudist beach. Many sizes, shapes and colours intrigued the girls and they labelled many of these strange creatures confidence boosters!!! So the girls set up their sarongs next to a beach bar (and the confidence boosters) and sunbaked as techno beats were blasted across the beach. The girls also came to the realisation that the beach is the best shopping area in the whole of Barcelona. Entrepeneurs, as the girls liked to call them, sold everything from Louis Vuitton bags, Sunglasses, sarongs, massages and even drugs all at a "special market price".

For the next few days the beach was the place to be. The girls met up with an old friend who usd to work with Ella in Sydney. He took the girls to a big beach festival on the main beach which celebrated the shortest night of the year. Locals were setting off fireworks in every direction and the girls were sure it sounded like WW1 let alone that some local kid is going to blow their arm or someone elses arm off. Ella and Natalie decided to call it a night when they had sand in every region of their body due to the beach party festivities.

But instead of jetting off to Oviedo with a Spanish lover in a dodgy aeroplane the girls thought it to be safer to buy a 4€ train ticket and head off to the beach town of Sitges for the day. The girls enjoyed roaming the small alley ways of tapas bars and spanish style houses which lined the densely populated beach. They then proceeded to try and find a patch of sand on the beach which was large enogh for the two girls to sunbake. Naturally on this popular beach the girls were only able to find a 1 metre square patch of sand which allowed them to sit up their neighbours ass.

In true woody Allen style Ella and Natlie headed up to the theme park located on top of a mountain which overlooked Barcelona. The girls felt likt big children in a playground. They got a bit excited and bought fairy floss and toffee apples and sat on the big ferris wheel and enjoyed the sugar and the sweetness of Barcelona from above. But this sweetness came to an end when the sugar slump kicked in and the girls were too sick and tired to do anything else except sleep on the steps of the theme park. After the girls awoke from their slumber they headed to The 4 Gats restaurant for a late dinner. They ordered squid ink and cuttlefish paella for entree, cod in ratatouille and aioli for wine and slow cooked chicken catalan style for mains accompanied by a bottle of white wine to suit the fishy meals. The girls enjoyed their meal while some poor old man belted out tunes on a grand piano and other wealthy old people got pissed of champagne and then got a shock when their bills would come out. But the girls had Sophie, Natalies mum who was generous enough to shout the girls the gourmet dinner and spare the girls from another night of baked beans.

The girls left Barcelona still not sure what they were looking for in love. But they knew that they had fallen in love with Barcelona.