Adios Barcelona, Bonjour Paris! (Monday, June 10, 2013)

Today we woke up, had breakfast, and went to our last class at IQS.  Then we had some free time so my roommate Erica, Sara, and I took the metro to the Picasso Museum.  We heard it was a must see in Barcelona, so we figured we would take advantage of our time and hit that up.  We got there only to find out that the museum is closed on Mondays.  We were all pretty upset but my roommate was probably the most upset.  I felt bad that we didn’t make it.  Now we tell people, “Oh yeah, we went to the Picasso Museum.  You didn’t?” And no one (except you lovely readers) needs to know that we didn’t actually get to go in.  How perfect! 

Then we hit up some tacky tourist shops and a pharmacy to get some goodies to bring home to the US.  After that we took the train home.  We made the same mistake as yesterday and got on the wrong train, in fact the same exact wrong train that we had gotten on yesterday, at the same exact train station.  Someone told us we were going the wrong way and how to correct our error, so we were only lost for a few minutes instead of hours, but it still cut into our free time just enough to annoy us a little. 

Once we got back we went to the produce store and the market by our hotel so we could get food and water for the train ride to Paris.  Then we got our luggage from the hotel, loaded onto the bus, and got to the train station where we all waited in a huddle next to the tracks.  Someone dropped her wine bottle and it shattered with a splash of Cava, but otherwise that part of the day was pretty uneventful.  We just sat there trying to be sure no one got pickpocketed or stolen from. 

Then we got on the train and squeezed into these tiny little 4 person cabins with all of our luggage and backpacks.  It was crowded but honestly it was more like a cozy little Hogwarts Express, only not.  Plus once they pulled the beds down it was perfect.  All of FN had 3 full cars in the back of the train (mine was the last car) so we could be as loud and annoying as we wanted.  Obviously, with this group, we were pretty ridiculous.  We danced and ate and partied it up.  I also got to have some great conversations with the other people on the trip and blog a bit for when we had Internet again.  Then I went to sleep and woke up to the weirdest doorbell wake up call and the frigid air of the city of love: Paris!