London's calling

So apparently May is full of holidays in France so pretty much every week of May there was no school/work. How awesome is that?! Gotta love the French, they sure do love their vacations. Did you know everybody has 5 weeks off, even if you are new in the company?! YES 5 WEEKS!! That's how much my dad gets and he's been working for the same company for over 20 years! I think everyone in America should copy the french when it comes to this.

Since there was going to be a 3 day weekend I asked my host mom if I could go on a weekend trip and she said yes. I really wanted to go to Berlin because I have been dying to go but the flights were quite expensive and well I didn't have a lot of money saved up since I had spent it all in Barcelona (I pretty much came back broke, I guess I got to blame my little shopping spree hehe). Then my host mom told me that we (my friend and I) could stay at her cousins house in London that way we don't have to spend  on hostel. So my friend and I decided to go to London, because the flight was cheaper than Berlin and we thought we could stay at my host moms cousin's house. But oh boy, going to London is not the best idea for somebody who is quite broke. My friend and I barely made it! Now that I think about it, it probably would've been cheaper to go to Berlin since we at least didn't have to convert our euros into anything else, this was the problem in London we "lost" a lot of money when we converted our euros. For example I exchanged 150, and that bought me 100 pounds. Anyways, I won't go on complaining about money and how expensive this whole trip was because it'll only make my post longer and I'm sure you don't want to hear me explain how much money we spent. Only tip is, if you're thinking of going to London do not forget like we did, that you have to convert your money and the pound is quite expensive. Also take into consideration that hostels are VERY expensive in London and you should book them quite in advance, we had lots of difficulty finding one with a price that wouldn't leave us without money to eat lol. Also, if your flight arrives at Luton airport, take into consideration that you need to take a bus to London and that costs you around 12 pounds one way (so another 12 pounds on your way back).  So maybe consider a train, like the eurostar. It might be cheaper because you arrive to London. Also the metro is not as cheap as Paris, we found out that the hard way. A one way ticket was around 4 pounds! and I think day pass was 7? So you might as well get the day pass.

Okay okay I'm stopping now, I'm going on about money. But hey, this information might come in handy for you!

Moving on.... On our first day in London we headed to Piccadilly circus, Trafagal square were we took pictures with the famous Lions (which by the way were quite hard to get up on! ) and I took a picture with an official clock that said how many days were left until the London Olympics. I might not get to be there for the Olympics but at least I got to be in London the year they happened! Plus I also got to be in London a few weekends before the Queen's Jubilee...what a busy year for London!

Piccadilly Circus...I still think this name is so funny

Then we walked by Buckingham Palace, which unfortunately wasn't so nice to look at since there was so much going on. They were preparing the area for the jubilee, so many things were blocked and the view wasn't so great. We also did a walking tour that day, but it wasn't so great as the one I went to in Barcelona. I didn't really feel like we covered a lot (then again, London is huge and everything is somewhat spread out). We mainly covered Buckingham palace, St. James' Palace, Green Park, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament...wow now that I think about it we did cover a lot haha. It was lots of walking indeed!

Trafalgar Square with it's Lions

I was 70 days away from being in London during the Olympics! Close enough

St. James' Pa

At night we went to our very first pub crawl in Camdem Town. This was lots of fun and I want to continue doing pub crawls in the future! It's so awesome because you leave all the organizing to other people and it's a great way to meet people. Camdem town was so cool, and very unique. I can't really describe it...it was very different from anything I've seen. I guess the best word to describe it is "alternate". It has a very alternative. We wanted to go back during the day because we heard they have great markets, but unfortunately time didn't permit. I also don't have any pictures to show you, but if you're in London, definitely pay a visit to Camdem Town.

On our second day we went to see Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. Unfortunately due to our  economic situation we couldn't afford going into the Tower of London. BUT we did get to read all the information about it that was outside....so that counts right? I had already been inside and from what I can remember there's not too much to it besides the crown jewels....okay yes that's good enough reason to visit but it's either eat or see some jewels that will only remind you of how poor you are haha. We then headed to Oxford street, which I would consider it the "Champs Elysees" of London. It was filled with top notch brands, and fabulous clothes. Oh I was so tempted to pull out my credit card. We also visited the Soho area, because my friend hear it was a really cool part of London. To be honest we either weren't in the right place or it's not so great. I didn't really see anything special, but then again London can be a bit confusing so it was probable we weren't in the right place.

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

We tried to go to another pub crawl that night, but once we got to the bar there was nobody and well we didn't want to pay 15 pounds for a pub crawl that was going to be empty. So we decided to do some sightseeing of the same things we had seen that day but at night. It was so beautiful to see the London eye and Big Ben at night. Oh and the worst part about this was as we were heading back to my friend's house (A friend of a friend lives in London and she hosted us for a night, which was a total life saver and money saver too!) we go inside the tube (subway for the americans, metro for the canadians haha) we see a HUGE group of people just being loud and just having a good time. I look at one of them and see that he was wearing a t-shirt that had the name of the pub crawl we had gone to earlier that night! We were so confused! When we went to the bar there was nobody yet here they are a group of at least 50 people or more. That just depressed us.

London eye and Parliament

Big Ben and Parliament

The next day the friend who we had stayed with for the night took us to Nottin hill to see the market. It is such a beautiful and cute area!  There were a bunch of houses painted in sweet pastel colors, and I just loved this. Also it was so different from any other part we had been in London, it was so calm and peaceful then again maybe thats because of the fact that it was a sunday morning. We then headed King's Cross to meet a friend of mine from Montreal. I love seeing friends or people that I know from back home in a different country. It just think it's so cool! I mean think about it, you both live your own separate lives and suddenly you're in the same country that is not your home country!! Okay, maybe I'm the only one who feels that way... We took a picture with the famous 9 and 3/4 sign from Harry Potter and it was like a dream come true. I am a huge Harry Potter fan! When I saw the sign I couldn't help but jump up and down from excitement.

Notting Hill

We then headed to the museum of British history because we wanted to educate ourselves more about British history....to our surprise this museum was NOT about british history but instead world history. Yeah how weird is that? Why would you name your museum British History museum if what you have on display are objects from Greece, Egypt etc? So we only stayed for a few min and decided to go look for Shakespeare's The Globe.

That night we decided to sleep at the airport because our flight was leaving at like 5 or so and we needed to take a bus that took like an hour to get to the airport and well to get to the bus we would've needed the tube, but by that time it would be closed. We figured it wouldn't be a big deal, but oh boy were we wrong. I don't think I'm ever going to sleep in an airport again, at least not if it's not necessary and specially NOT if it's a small airport like the Luton airport. We did not get any sleep that night, it was cold and I was paranoid about getting my bags stolen while I was sleeping. The only thing that made it better was the awesome tea from Costa (it's kinda like their Starbucks). A pot of tea was like a pound and something...A POUND!! Can you believe that?? In Paris (or anywhere else I've been) they charge you like 4 euros for a CUP of tea! I wish we had Costa everywhere. I am definitely going to miss it!

We finally made it home after a very long trip. I was very sleep deprived but I had to suck it up because I had work that evening. Yay, watching over kids when you only slept 3 hours! I seriously don't know how parents do it.

Giverny

Today my friends and I decided to visit Claude Monet's garden. To be honest I was a bit hesitant about visiting at first and I wasn't really into the idea. I know who Monet is, but I didn't see what the big deal was about seeing his house and his garden. Clearly I am not educated because once I got there I finally understood why.

I got to admit, I am so happy I decided to go in the end, yes getting there took us a few hours since we decided to take the cheaper option which meant we had to take like 2 different trains and then a bus. But it was SO worth it. It also served as an escape from the usual hectic Parisian life. It's crazy to see that just right outside Paris there are houses, gardens, trees etc. I had forgotten how there is more outside the city.

I unfortunately didn't have my camera with me that day since I decided to go last minute, after my host mom told me it was beautiful and really worth it, and it was the worst time to not have a camera. The garden was beautiful, and I could see where Monet got his inspiration.

There where different kinds of flowers, and they even had a few chickens in one area. We also got to see the famous lilly pond, and it was so beautiful and peaceful. We just stayed there for a couple of minutes admiring the view. There was something so serene and inspiring about the garden that I cannot describe it with words. I felt as if I was a fairy surrounded by beautiful flower and their bright colors and their scents.

We also got to see his house, which was pretty big and had an amazing view to the garden (of course). It was pretty cool because not only did you get to see where he lived, but also see how houses back then were. I always find it interesting to see old houses, to see how people lived and how different they are from today. The biggest changes of course being the kitchens!

I wish I could share with you some pictures, but since I didn't have my camera on me I couldn't take any. But if you are in Paris, have a day to spare and are a big Monet fan or love gardens or simply curious, you should definitely visit Giverny. There is an express train that take you there but it costs around 26 euros. If you are on a budget, there is another way to get there cheaper, but it is much longer, (on our way back it was much faster for some odd reason) so it's up to you to decide if you rather pay more and get there quickly or pay less and take more time to get there.

"I am only good at two things, and those are: gardening and painting."-Claude Monet

Hunchback of Notre Dame

Today I went with two of my friends to Notre Dame to climb up to see the view and those famous gargoyles. After waiting around half an hour to get in ( you should get there early in the morning if you don't want to wait too long in line since they only let around 20 people at a time) and climbing what seemed to be the most claustrophobic stairs ever, we finally made it to the top and the view was just amazing. I honestly think that it doesn't matter where you go, from which building you're looking at Paris, the view is beautiful because Paris simply is beautiful.
This view was very different from the top of the eiffel tower though, because you got to see the gargoyles and the detail of Notre Dame itself, which is quite impressive. As I looked at the beautiful city that is Paris, I couldn't believe I was there standing on top of Notre Dame and not only as a tourist, but as resident. I lived here, no matter if it was only for 6 months, I got the chance to be in this incredible city, a city many dream about visiting, a city many people come and visit for 3 or so days and here I am, getting to see the city with plenty of time and being able to see it every single day for 6 months. It was so unreal. Just thinking about this made me want to never leave. To think that at the beginning of this trip I kept telling people that Paris was nice but I could never live here. I don't know what changed my mind, maybe the fact that I fell in love with this place or maybe it grew on me, or maybe I just got the hang of living here....I have no idea but I clearly think different than 4 months ago.
Okay so I am going to stop talking about my love of Paris, since this post is about Notre Dame, I'll save the gushy talk for another post haha.

So the main thing to see on top of Notre Dame is the gargoyles, the architecture, and the view. You got to see the details in the ceilings and walls that you normally wouldn't from far away. You also got to see the famous bell known as "Emmanuel", that is only rung on special occasions now. I was kind of hoping it would be a little bit more like this...

 The bell in the Hunchback of Notre Dame 2
(Picture taken from google)

Full of jewels instead of this...

But I guess I'm going to have to settle for a jewel-less bell, that's alright it was still pretty impressive since I've never seen such a big bell.

The gargoyles where pretty cool too, I couldn't help to think about the gargoyles from the movie though.

Look! I found Laverne!! 

Laverne
(Picture taken from google)

Here are some more pictures of the view and the Cathedral

Bretagne

I came back from a vacation in the amazing and beautiful Barcelona and I got to go on another wonderful vacation. This one was a bit more different since I left with my host family for a week to the french region of "Bretagne".
At first I was a bit nervous since that would mean I would be in the middle of nowhere with the kids for an entire week without being able to see my friends. I know I have been living with my host family for 4 months now, but I have never been with them for an entire week with them only without being able to go out at night with friends to wind down. I was also nervous because I wasn't sure if they were expecting me to help them with the kids or not.
After our 6 hour drive and getting lost and not being able to find the house my host mom had rented, we finally made it to our destination. I wasn't sure what to expect, she had said that it was a house in a farm that the farmer rented out and that we could go see the cows, the horse, the donkey etc.
We got there and I really felt cut out of civilization. I don't know how people can live in small towns! It was such a big change from Paris to a small town near the city of "Pornic". I was trying to stay positive and open minded but I had no idea what to expect of this vacation. What were we supposed to do here besides see the farm animals? There was beaches nearby but in April it's not still the warmest time to be at the beach all the time.
I started those vacations with pretty much not knowing what to expect and thinking that it might be really tough with the kids, but my experience was completely different. I had a great time!
We were able to see the farmer milk the cows and try FRESH milk. I'm a big milk lover so this was pretty cool for me. However the second time we tried it I didn't quite like it, it had a really weird smell to it. We also got to see just born calfs! They were so cute. There was also this donkey who was soooo cute! Everytime we would go outside and he would see us he would come up to us! He loved being petted and he would follow us everywhere, it was so adorable.

We also got to go to the beach and oh my God, I fell in love. I love the beach, always have...I mean who doesn't? But this beach was different, much different from the ones I'm used to, beaches like Cancun. First of all the weather was completely different. It was April so of course it was still a bit cold, but not only that there was so much wind! I hate wind, so this was one of the things I did not like about the beach, but the view won me over at made me forget about the wind. The beaches in this area where filled with gigantic rocks, I don't know what they're called or how to describe them so I'm just going to include pictures so you can see for yourselves. I can't even describe the beauty of the beach, and maybe you'll be like okay it's not that nice, but for me there was something different, something special about these beaches that stole my heart. At the end of this trip I just knew that I wanted and needed to move to a city that has a beach. I would love to have that view every day. Here are some pictures....

Another great thing about this trip was the food. I ate SO much food, and I have to blame the grandpa for that. I seriously think I gained 10 lb in this trip with all the food. Worst part was that I knew I was eating too much but I just wanted to try everything and it was hard to say no. Also, the meals where very different from what I'm used to, here they actually have the full 3 course meal. (I should not though that this 3 course meal (4 if you include cheese) was for special occasions because back home we  only eat the main course and dessert. )We first had an appetizer, either salad or some kind of vegetables. We then would have the meal and after that we would have dessert and oh of course cheese. This was where everything went wrong. It was so hard for me to choose between cheese or dessert. I fell in love with cheese, and they had so many different kinds of cheese and I wanted to try them all, but then again they kept ordering typical "breton" (from the region) desserts that looked delicious. It also didn't help that the grandpa kept asking me if I wanted cheese, and then he would offer me dessert. I wanted to say no and I did sometimes, but he just kept saying "oh c'mon" and would give me the cutest smile that made me feel like it was okay if I was eating that much. But then I would look at my host mom and she made me feel the complete opposite. I would get this vibe from here saying "oh my god you're eating way too much", and this is what I don't understand about french women. As you can see from my description of our meals, the french clearly love their food but at the same time I feel like french women don't eat anything and that ladies is how and why french women are so skinny. Then again maybe it was just my host mom that was like this? Because I had a friend who said that her host mom ate a lot and was still pretty skinny... so I am still perplexed by this question every woman asks herself "why are french woman so skinny?" I mean how do they do it? They eat so much bread, wine and cheese. I don't understand. Anyways going back to the food...I tried a several different desserts and I can't remember all of their names but my favourite was the Kouign Aman.

(Picture taken from google)

It was so delicious, it was crunchy and sugary what more can you ask for?!














By the end of this trip I was really happy I had had the chance to come it was a different environment and different interaction with the kids. First of all the second eldest ( I won't say their names for privacy reasons) was like in love with me. He wanted me to sit with him all the time at the table, he asked for me all the time, it was so random but so adorable and it made me very happy. I got to play soccer a couple of times with the eldest and his cousin with the soccer ball I brought them from Barcelona ( I shall point out how that ball ended up destroyed by the end of the trip! Those kids really like to play soccer) which was fun but at the same time very tiring since they were playing 2 against one and well they're pretty good and I'm quite out of shape so it was hard for me to be running around all the time. Plus it's crazy how those kids can go on for hours playing soccer, me on the other hand I can only play one match and that's it haha.
To all those au pair's out there reading this and are going to be going on vacation with the family and are a bit scared about the experience don't be. In a way I think this is much better than a regular day back at home because you actually get to play with the kids, so its a different interaction. I also feel like everybody is more relaxed making the kids easier to handle. You can actually do all the activities they/you want unlike when you are back home and you have to give them their bath, dinner get them ready for bed etc and are more limited with time. However before you go on vacation I would suggest that you ask your host family what your duties will be. For example I didn't have to work, I just helped with the table, if the mom needed help I would help with the bath and of course play with the kids. That's pretty much all I had to do, but I had a friend who went on vacation with the grandmother and the kids and well she pretty much had to work so for her it was a different experience.

For all of those who are thinking of traveling around France I would really recommend visiting the french region of Brittany (Bretagne), it is such a beautiful region!

Vicki,Cristina,Barcelona

***** This is an old post from April that I never got around to posting.  As you can see my last post was in April and well we're now in August... Yeah I'm only 4 months late. But I've been so busy and as you can see when I write posts they're quite long so I never have time to write/finish them that same day. I know I said I was going to post everything that was going on with my life in Paris, but instead of writing I got a bit busy with enjoying my time in Paris and therefore never really had time to post all my stuff. However, I in the following days I will continue posting the other posts I never got around to doing so when they should've been posted lol. So I'm just letting you know so you don't feel confused****

I went to Barcelona!! My first trip outside of France and I am so happy I got to go see this beautiful city. It's crazy to think how after only four days I had gotten so used to being there and seeing the same people in the hostel, that when we had to leave it felt so weird. It felt as if we were leaving behind good old friends. I was so sad leaving specially because I just thought about how who know’s if I’ll ever get the chance to go back to this beautiful city. Just thinking about not ever being able to come back, how this might be the only time I visit Barcelona...well I felt very strange, I cant describe the feeling. Have you ever thought about how if you visit a place, for example Bali, or China, how you might never ever be back? How if you didn’t enjoy your trip to the fullest, you might never get a chance to do so again? I’ve been lucky enough to travel and I've never thought about this, and I don’t know what made me think this way on this trip, but its quite a sad thought realizing how that might be the first and last time you see a place (if you really like the city)...

My friend and I left on April 13th (yes, I took an airplane on a Friday 13th and survived!) morning and got to Barcelona around 10am. It took us like an hour to find our hostel but finally found it in the end after asking like 10 people for directions (thankfully I can speak Spanish, it made things so much easier). For our first day we took it quite easy, we didn't do any major sightseeing. One of the first things that surprised me though was how everything was written in Catalan (language spoken by all of Catalonia)  and not in Castellano (Spanish). I knew that people always told me that in Barcelona they spoke a different language and that it wasn't exactly part of Spain because it was a separate community, but since I never really understood this I never really paid much attention to it. In fact I had even forgotten about this, that on my way there I was so happy that I was going to be able to understand everything but to my surprise all the metro signs, names etc were in Catalan. It is very similiar to spanish but it is more like french, a mix of both. So in a way I was still able to understand since I speak both languages. So if you are planning a trip to Barcelona and you only speak spanish, don't worry everybody speaks spanish so if you need to ask questions don't be scared. In fact besides the fact that all the signs are in Catalan you would've thought that they didn't speak Catalan, all I hear was spanish.
Okay so moving on... The first place we went to go visit was a Mexican restaurant my dad had told me to go check out because it is owned by   a famous Mexican soccer player. I know, I was in Spain and I was going to going to eat Mexican food, you must be thinking what is wrong with me but hey, you have no idea how much I miss Mexican food! I just had to, I needed my dose of Mexican food and trust me those tacos were so good! We then headed to the beach but unfortunately it was too cold to go in the water or even to wear a bathing suit (there was of course some crazy people surfing! I don't know how they weren't freezing). Note to self, if I ever get the chance to go back I am definitely going to go during the summer.

However it was still nice to get to be at the beach and enjoy the sun.  Oh and I got to touch the mediterranean water! Well... it was a bit of a fail haha. I wanted to put my feet in but I was wearing boots and I didn't want to go through the hassle of taking them off and then having to take off all the sand off my feet and wait for them to dry so I can put my socks back, so I just touched the water with my hand which resulted in my boot getting wet. Smart one.

We then headed to Parc de la Ciutadella.  It's a very big park and it's quite nice. It has different buildings inside which didn't really make it feel as a "sports park"(it's full name is Centre Sportiu Municipal Parc de la Ciutadella, which translates to Municipal Sports park). One of my favorite parts of this park and I guess it was mostly because I've never seen this in a park, making it random but unique at the same time was that they had a giant mammoth. Yes, a giant mammoth statue!! As you can see quite random. I also enjoyed the big fountain they had next to the mammoth. It wasn't working but it is still pretty with all the different sculptures.

Me trying to climb the mammoth

We then walked to the Arc de Triumf, which I guess it's the equivalent of Paris' Arc du Triomphe, but of course Paris' is much prettier. 

The next day we  went to go see the Sagrada Familia and two more Gaudi buildings. I was surprised when I found out that   the whole church itself is not Gaudi's design and that only one side of the church is. I think this was due because the plans were either lost in a fire and then he died. I'll be honest I forgot the story behind this, so if you're really curious you might have to google this to verify my story haha. We wanted to go inside but it was quite pricey to go in (it was around 12-15 euros) and when you're a budgeted traveler like we were, you have to choose and pick what you get to see, unfortunately.  So we didn't get to go inside but we at least got to see the outside, which is one of the most impressing structures I've ever seen. I would say of architecture but that is more than architecture, that building is art.

The church is not finished yet

This is the side that Gaudi designed

We then went to see Casa Mila, otherwise known as La pedrera  and then to Casa Batllo. At the end of our trip we decided to go inside Casa Batllo, and the inside was insane. The walls were all full of curves and you thought that you were in a playhouse. I couldn't imagine an actual family living there, but yes people used to live there.

We then went to see Casa Mila, otherwise known as La pedrera  and then to Casa Batllo. At the end of our trip we decided to go inside Casa Batllo, and the inside was insane. The walls were all full of curves and you thought that you were in a playhouse. I couldn't imagine an actual family living there, but yes people used to live there.

After our Gaudi sightseeing, we headed to a free walking tour. I will recommend to anybody who is traveling around europe to look up free walking tours in the city you are visiting. Usually every city has one and they are great because they are tip based only, instead of paying the 15-20 euros tour agencies charge you and the tour quality is still pretty good. After our tour we signed up for a "cooking class". This cooking class was AMAZING and I recommend everybody who is going to Barcelona to take it (the bar that offers it is called "Travel Bar"). For those who don't really like cooking like myself, do not panic you are not actually going to cook. I gotta admit I was a bit disappointed when I found out that we are not actually cooking, but instead watching the chef cook, however the quality of the tour was so great that I didn't care. The cooking class was going to teach us about the tapas and how to prepare paella the famous spanish dish (if you don't know what Paella is, shame on you go right now to your nearest Spanish restaurant and order it! But beware, it is rare to get a good paella without it being expensive). The chef took the group to the Mercat La Boqueria which is Barcelona's very famous Market. This market is insane, it's so big and has everything you need. The chef gave us a tour, not only describing how the ingredients need to be but also a little bit of facts about the market. If you are in Barcelona, and you don't want to go to the cooking class, you must at least go to the market. It's pretty hectic there, but there's so much to see, and they sell fruit juices for 1 euro and they're delicious and refreshing. We then headed back to the bar/restaurant for the class. The chef started bringing out a bunch of tapas and explaining a little bit the history behind the tapas and how they're prepared etc. By the end of all the tapas I was quite full and we still hadn't gotten to the paella! Oh and did I mention we got served sangria?? yum yum yum.

That night we went out with a big group from the hostel to a club called "Catlwalk" right by the beach. I personally liked the club, it was pretty big and it had a terrace with an amazing view but my friends didn't like the music and they wanted to leave so we left after only being there for an hour I think. We headed to the beach and just hung out for a bit, we then headed home around 4:30 am because I was pretty cold. It's weird to think of yourself feeling cold in a place that has a beach but fun fact, Barcelona's beach is artificial and the sand is from Egypt! So yes, it's possible to feel cold.


 The next day we visited Parc Guell which was designed by Gaudi and it is so beautiful. The main entrance is the most beautiful part but there's also a part were you get to climb up a little hill and you get an amazing view of Barcelona.

On our last day in Barcelona we went to Mont Juic which was something one of my best friends recommended we went to go see because of the fountains but when we went the fountains were off. However the view from the top of the hill was beautiful, so I do suggest you go see it. One thing I suggest not going to is to Pueblo Espanyol. The concept of this place is to show different spanish regions and their different architecture, but if you are not in the guided tour you don't really understand and all you see are pretty buildings that are shops. So you basically pay to get in to shop.

So there we go that was my trip to Barcelona. It was an amazing experience and I hope I do get to come back in the future (and of course in the summer). I recommend to everybody to go see this city, it truly is beautiful and there's so much to see. One of the things that I didn't like about it was how a lot of the Gaudi buildings were so expensive to go in. They all cost at least 12 euros. Maybe it's because they're so famous, I don't know, but I think they shouldn't be so expensive so they can promote culture. At least have some student prices/ european union prices just like they do in Paris. I guess I got used to pretty much getting in for free to a lot of museums in Paris.  Another thing I do recommend to all of the fashionistas out there is to go shopping in Zara. Since it's a brand from Barcelona I found that everything was so much cheaper here than anywhere else! Another store that I liked their style and prices was Lefties. Oh one place I forgot to mention is the Ramblas. There's not much besides a bunch of people and little shops, but it's still nice to see and it's one of the most famous tourist places in Barcelona.