Day 10

Had a relaxing morning, finally! We slept in and then laid out by SOHO's pool. We were lucky enough to get two chairs in the sun. I start reading The Diary of Anne Frank that we bought in Amsterdam and Nate jammed out to some tunes on the iPod. When we decided to head back and get ready for the day, the cleaning crew was just putting the final touches on our room. So, we decided to take a stroll around our neighborhood for a quick bite to eat. We ended up at a pizzeria (always a safe bet in all the countries we've been to). We were definitely their first visitors of the day so it took awhile to place our order. We wanted to order one pizza to share and when we did, the waitress told us in broken English that it wouldn't be enough for two people. So, I ordered the mozzarella pizza and Nate had the chorizo. When the pizzas came out they were completely different then what we expected. It looked like a flatbread sandwich but it was delicious and really hit the spot.

After lunch, we hit La Rambla. From our hotel, it’s only about a 10 minute walk, no more than a mile. We had read that the area is home to street performers, bird stalls, and tourist gift shops. We were not aware that at the bird stalls guinea pigs are also sold! As you can imagine, we were so happy to see the little cobayas (Spanish for guinea pig) running around, eating lettuce, and popcorning (what a guinea does when it gets excited). Along with the birds and guinea pigs, the stalls sold bunnies, turtles, chipmunks, and a number of other small pets. After the happiness of seeing all these guineas past, I was sad that I couldn't take them all home with us. Thinking about it, this is no place to keep guineas. Its way too hot and loud for their little bodies and brains. We talked about creating a "Save the Guineas in Barcelona" campaign but figured we'd get little to no response from friends and family at home. However, if you're interested, let us know!
About halfway down La Rambla, just off the side of the street is a large market that sells vegetables, fruit, candy, ice cream, meat, and seafood. The sights and smells were amazing! All of the produce was fresh and the seafood still moving. The vendor that first caught our eyes was selling gummy candy. We purchased 20 euros worth of sweets and then stopped at the gelato booth for a scoop of vanilla and oreo flavored cream. We kind of wished we had an apartment to go back to so we could make a meal with all the local ingredients.
The end of La Rambla is lined with artists making caricatures for tourists. There were also many street performers dressed up in all types of costumes. Just imagine a street performer in downtown Chicago and multiply that X 10. These people go all out for tips from tourists visiting. Mostly, people give them money to take pictures with them. Another main attraction on La Rambla are the pickpocketers and scam artists. This is the perfect place to have your purse picked through especially when you're infatuated by the guinea pigs at the bird stalls.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a small cafe for a few cervezas and chatted about our trip so far. Nate couldn't believe that we were already on our tenth day and thought for sure that we had a few more days to explore Barcelona. Nope... it’s coming to an end!
We also stopped for dinner on the intersection of La Rambla and SOHO's street called La Tramola. We ate outside and enjoyed the tapas style menu. We ordered: garlic potatoes, marinated meat, cheese and tomato salad, fried chicken, and marinated mushrooms. After seeing a neighboring table with fried calamari, we also ordered that. It was very delicious and filling.

While Barcelona is home to a great nightlife scene, we just couldn't find the energy to do more exploring. It was another early night in bed but just want we needed after a long day on La Rambla.