Eyjafjallajokull vs. Barcelona

OK now about Barcelona.

Going into this trip I had very high expectations. Good friends of mine as well as anyone I have talked to only had high praises of Barcelona. I was very excited to finally be visiting this cosmopolitan city. After getting a good nights sleep, Katelyn and I successfully met up with my sister. The first thing we did was introduce Shannon to the Bocadillo (a Spanish sandwich). Its so simple yet so delicious, and anyone who knows Shannon knows how much she loves a good sandwich. From there we spent the first day walking through Parc Guell and visiting the various Guadi houses. Parc Guell was my favorite part of Barcelona because it was spring time and everything was in bloom. It was a great opportunity to take photos.

My first impressions of Barcelona while walking around is that it is a densely packed city that shouts style. It also appeared to be a far cry from the fiesta-siesta lifestyle of Southern Spain that I was so accustom to. Barcelona has been breaking ground in art, architecture, and style for more than a century. From the Modernista architects led by Guidi to the adventurous redevelopments of Picasso and Miró.

At the end of the day we were back at the hostel waiting for my friend Morgan to arrive. We had all planned to meet in Barcelona and spend a long weekend together. After waiting and waiting, finding it very peculiar that Morgan hadn’t arrived and that we hadn’t heard from her I went to check my email. Sure enough I had a message from her. Apparently the volcano, Eyjafjallajokull,
that erupted in Iceland was canceling flights all across Europe. Morgan was stuck in Germany.

We first found out about the ash cloud while in the Sevilla airport because so many flights in other countries were being delayed and canceled. I just figured it was because so many flights that had to go through Iceland were backing up all the other flights. We hardly batted an eyelash as we thought there was no way it would affect us. Silly, stupid mortals. Of course it would. It would spread and settle and infiltrate its way pretty much all across Europe, stranding thousands and frustrating even more. But at the time I never thought it wouldn’t allow Morgan to get to Spain. Little did we know that Morgan not making it here was only the beginning of our Volcano troubles.

We were all very disappointed that our plans of meeting up were ruined thanks to Mother Nature but we continued with our sight-seeing. The next day I realized how Barcelona really does contain some of the world’s most bizarre architecture. We marveled at Gaudi’s still-unfolding masterpiece the Sagrada Familia church.

We did a lot more walking around and sight-seeing and also visited the Picasso Museum displaying much of his earlier work. It was this day, Saturday, that Shannon found out her return flight to Ireland was canceled. It kinda felt like we were cartoon characters being followed by a thick, ominous gray cloud because of all the bad luck we were having on this trip. Shannon was very freaked out by the prospect of not being able to return to Ireland as scheduled and even more so as we found out that airports might be closed for up to a week. I kept trying to remind her that there are much much much worse things in the world than being stuck in Barcelona for a few days extra days. Luckily she was able to stay with her study abroad friends once Katelyn and I left.

However, for a period of time Katelyn and I as well weren’t sure if we would be able to get home. All airports in Europe were closed for a short time. On Sunday the Barcelona airport was opened back up but it still showed our flight home early Monday morning as being delayed. Needless to say we were all on edge about when and how we would be getting home. A lot of time was spent on the internet looking for the latest airport updates and watching the news about all the damage this volcano, that no one can pronounce, was making.

We decided to forget about all of our troubles and go out one night. We took Shannon to a delicious paella place for dinner right by the beach. We stuffed ourselves with rice and sangria and then went out to a club and danced until morning (thats the spanish way). Shannon unfortunately ate too much paella as i mentioned in a previous entry and ended up watching Katelyn and I dance but I think a fun time was had by all.

Unfortunately most of Sunday was spent inside and trying to figure out if and when we could get home. Because of this there were lots of sights left unseen. As Sunday evening approached Katelyn and I were still unsure if our flight was departing early the next morning. We decided to go to the airport and carry on as if it wasn’t delayed and see what happens. Remember how I said the airport Katelyn and I flew in and out of was about 45 minutes outside the city? Well for us this meant catching a bus at 4 in the morning to get to the airport in time for our 6am departure time (And yes I was sure it was 6am and not 6pm this time!). In the middle of the night I said goodbye to my sister, told her to enjoy her extra time in Barcelona and to go see all the things I wasn’t able to. (One of the houses Guidi designed).

Katelyn and I headed to the airport with our fingers crossed that our flight would be on time. We both had work to be at that morning and we were cutting it close as it was. (Our flight is the only one NOT canceled!)

Finally something on this trip went our way and our flight was scheduled to take off as planned. Sitting on the plane, drifting in and out of sleep as we were flying over Spain I was realizing how much of an adventure this weekend had been. I realized that the world is so much smaller than I could have ever imagined and I also learned that good company can make a seemingly horrible and frustrating situation perfectly fine. I don’t know what I would have done without Katelyn at my side through every leg of this journey and it is always comforting to have my sister with me. So disaster or delight I can always say to Katelyn or Shannon “Hey remember that trip we took to Barcelona?!”