Barcelona is the most beautiful city I have been to.  The architecture is so wonderful, and the city is just gorgeous.  I could be saying that just because I didn't have to wear my winter coat at all, but I genuinely loved it.  Not that I didn't love the other cities, but I don't know, it just seemed different here.  The first day I got to Barcelona I was a little lost.  Usually at the train stations or airports they have free little maps and booklets with things to do, where to stay, the usual stuff, but not this one. So I had no idea where I was or where I wanted to go. Not a good start after a terrible nights sleep on the train. Eventually, after finding the hostels around the train station started at about 50 euros a night, I decided to take advantage of the shuttle service to Passeig de Gracia, which is the centre of the city.  I found a hostel there where all 3 nights in total were less that 50 euros. I spent the first day just walking around the neighbourhood, familiarizing myself with street names and buildings and such, and of course made a trip to the grocery store to stock up on a few items. It was an early night that night, and the other people in the room made sure it was an early morning as well, being very noisy when they packed up and left.
The second day I took the metro about halfway and walked the other half to Parc Montjuic. Essentially it is a big park with lots of gardens and museums and the Olympic Stadium on top of a huge hill.  I figured I better get some practice in walking up hill, so instead of taking the gondola up I walked it. Good news, I'm still in decent shape for Kili.  I had heard Barcelona was bad for pickpocketing, and had my first (and only so far) experience with it.  An old lady came up to me and was selling roses for the celebration of the Flamenco (or something... hahah) and it was basically a give whatever you wanted to.  I didn't understand what she was saying, so I opened up my wallet in front of her and started going through my change. She pushed my hand aside and grabbed a 0.20 euro coin, and very stealthily grabbed a 50 euro bill. Thank goodness I looked in my wallet about a minute later. I chase her down and started yelling and making a scene and she gave it back and told me to leave. I guess she figured it'd be better to shut me up then have me follow them around all day scaring all their "customers" away. I learned my lesson though, and I won't be so stupid next time. That afternoon I decided to venture down to the sea side. I walked down La Rambla which is a big street with lots of street artists, and souvenir shops and just in general really neat. I had put on my swim suit but couldn't find the actual beach, so I sat by the water front with all the boats. Of course since I was planning on going to the beach I had left my camera back at the hostel. All the fresh air really tired me out, and I was a little sick with a bad cough, sore throat, and a runny nose, so I decided rather than pushing it by going out at night I would just stay in, get lots of rest and get better for Kili.
The third day, my last day, I started out by walking back down to the sea side. I took a different route though, and saw several beautiful buildings. Eventually I got down to the sea, and typical, I found the beach but didn't bring my swim suit. It was nice just to sit on the sand in the sun though. March 9th, and I got a sun burn! Amazing. I decided that afternoon to walk to see the Spanish Arc de Triomfe. While not quite as magnificent as the one in Paris, it was still very impressive. I walked through the garden that was beside it, and it was very nice. All 3 days that I was in Barcelona were sunny, clear, blue-skies with temperatures between 15-20 degrees. I didn't get to a bull fight, which I wanted to, but I found out that the bull dies at the end of it, which I didn't think happened, so I think I'm ok that I missed out on that.