we were taken...

...so aback by the beauty of Bruges and Barcelona that we have not been able to blog for days. Also, we have had bad luck at finding wifi spots. So, very sorry about that loyal readers. Anyway, we are now writing from a tiny travel bar in Barcelona where they are airing reruns of "The Lizzie McGuire Show" and the British owner is ragging on Prince's "Raspberry Beret." No joke.

Ok, so in the interest of catching everyone up, here's what we've accomplished since last we blogged:

- Climbed all 366 steps of Bruges' famous Belfort Tower. Almost had asthma attacks.
- Sampled some fine Belgian beer at de Halve Maan Brewery.

- Got drenched (once more) in the suddenly schizo European weather.
- Imbibed delicious chocolatey drinks at the Bar Choc.
- Purchased delicious chocolate at the Chocolate Line....ate delicious chocolates purchased at the Chocolate Line (do you see a theme here?)
- Dined at a restaurant that did beer pairings with every course. Brilliant.
- Left Bruges (sad face) for literally the quickest tour of Brussels on the planet. Spent approximately two hours (a.k.a our train layover time) touring the greatest hits: the Grand Place, Mannekin Pis and a Chocolate MUSEUM! (again, there's that theme...) - Took another train to Paris in order to catch our third train of the day, which was our first overnight train ever from Paris to Barcelona.
- Almost died of laugh attack when Monica attempted to open the little door in our private train compartment because we thought it was a bathroom. It was sketchily padlocked, which we couldn't understand and therefore tried to break open. Obviously. Several unsuccessful blows to the door later, we gave up and sat back down. Amidst the silence, we started hearing an elderly version of Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem (could it be? We had found Penelope after all?) arguing incredibly loudly in Spanish. Then, completely audibly, we heard the wife tell her husband that some crazy people were trying to break into their cabin and would not stop attacking the door. Um, oops. So that wasn't a bathroom after all? Loreli started convulsing with laughter and Mon mostly just couldn't believe what she had just done. We then strategically barricaded ourselves in so as to not incur the wrath of the elderly and laughed our whole way across France. Lesson learned: padlocked doors in train compartments are not always bathrooms. - Slept quite soundly and woke up in Barcelona very excited to spend five days exploring the city.

Upon arrival, we decided to hit the most important Barcelona tourist activity: Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi's "La Sagrada Familia," an enormous church that has been under construction for the last century and is only expected to be completed sometime in the next two decades. It. Was. Astounding. Unlike any religious building we had ever seen. We spent a good three hours there and loved the views from the church's highest bell towers.

That night, we ate one of the best meals so far at a restaurant near our hotel called Pla. It was a tiny little joint and we liked it so much we are thinking about going back before we leave. The next day, we hit "La Pedrera," another one of Gaudi's masterpieces, which is home to the supposed inspiration for the soldiers/guards/weird white helmet men in the Star Wars saga. Pretty cool. Then we went to the Joan Miro museum, which was also lovely, and finished off the night eating at Les Quinzes Nits and having the life-changing Cataluyan dessert. Mmm.

Around 1 a.m., we were like, what should we do now? Go out maybe? Yeah, ok. So we got ready and went to a crazy club called Razzmatazz. It was located in a gigantic warehouse and had at least five different floors/areas with different kinds of music. We made some cheeky British friends and danced the night away...into the morning. We were also very amused that Juliette Lewis was apparently playing at the club that night, but only saw her for a few minutes. Which was actually enough. Left around 5 a.m., very happy to have met our friends from across the pond but even more excited to go to sleep.

The next day began, well, in the afternoon. We woke up late, had a fabulous brunch at a little place called Milk, and headed to El Camp Nou, home to FC Barcelona (2009 champs! Woo!), where we toured their museum and wished we could be water girls for the team.

Then, we hiked (literally, hiked...) to Parc Guell, another wondrous Gaudi creation. From there, we went to dinner at a hole-in-the-wall tapas bar called Inopia where we had to wait about an hour just to get a spot at the bar. This is how this place works: there's a bouncer in a funny fedora who writes your name on a chalkboard when you arrive. Then, depending on how many people are ahead of you, you wait in a crowd and watch the lucky fools inside the restaurant eat delicious food from behind a roped off section. We had semi-calculated which spot at the bar was going to be ours, judging from the couples who were leaving, and were so excited it was a place that actually had stools.

Literally two minutes before our name was called, some other people from inside the restaurant took the stools because, you see, half the restaurant stands and half gets the good fortune of a wobbly stool. Well, naturally, we were then shown to our little bar space sans stools. Irony abounded. We had just stood for about an hour waiting to get in, we had seen the little stools with our eyes and been so excited to sit upon them and then poof. They were gone. Oh well. At least we could stand AND eat now. So we started ordering and were delighted with the first few dishes, achy feet and all. Monica was watching the other stools like a hawk and POUNCED the moment a couple from across the restaurant got up. Then she had the fun task of dragging the stools super awkwardly as everyone watched, probably thinking "Damn. She's a desperate hungry woman." All true. Seated at last, we were very happy and had a delicious meal.

We had to finish in time to make it to the flamenco show we had gotten tickets for earlier that day. The show, though a bit touristy, was very entertaining. Of course, it would not have been a Monica and Loreli outing without our typical laugh attacks at inappropriate moments such as when the male flamenco dancers come out in their Fabio hair and sparkly onesies. Anywayyyy, it was another great night in Barcelona, which brings us to today. (Ahh! Finally!). Sorry blog world, we promise to be more on top of it in the coming weeks. Maybe. Ok, hasta luego! Besos!

Whoa. Literally just saw a kid biff horrendously right before our eyes in the travel bar. Awkkkk. Ok, now this blog post really is complete. Byeeeeee!