Anna's Northern Adventures: Barcelona and Edinburgh

Gaudi building

Plaza Catalunya

My time away continues to fly by and I was glad to get to Barcelona and have a relaxed 3 days. The weather was still incredibly hot and the first afternoon I simply sat under a tree at the waterfront and watched the world go by. It's fascinating to see what people are wearing in the heat and I saw some outfits that were definitely borderline decent! Plus, all these girls kept on coming back to the hostel with full body sunburn and marvelling that I had managed to stay so white. Gotta love my SPF 50 sunscreen, wearing a hat and trying to stay in the shade. Though, I do seem to have more freckles than usual... We had a bit of a scare with a Hungarian girl who came in with sunstroke so I was dealing with fainting, headache and throwing up until late at night. Her friends seemed to have no idea what to do! Thankfully she recovered before I made the decision she needed to go to hospital. I am loving the hop-on, hop-off buses and the one in Barcelona was great. They have two big loops that take around both west and east sides of the city and I got to see so much this way. And it was in the shade, with a breeze and didn't involve walking (all fantastic points). One

La Sagrada Familia

of the days was a little cloudy with some showers so I went up Tibidabo, the mountain, and enjoyed incredible views right out over Barcelona. It is a beautiful city with lots of interesting buildings (Gaudi) and plazas and a very relaxed atmosphere. I went into the Gaudi park which was incredible to see his designs and how he incorporated nature and the abstract into practical usable spaces. My last afternoon I sat on the beach and watched the people getting burnt, squealing about the cold water (this was the guys, not the girls) and the tourists learning to sail. Plenty of capsizes to keep me amused!

View from Tibidabo

St Giles

Holyrood Palace

In Edinburgh I stayed with a family friend of my German host family, Barbara. She is a lovely and welcoming older lady who enjoyed showing me around her city. It was a very strange experience wandering through streets that all have the same names as Dunedin. George Street, Princes Street, Hanover Street, Chambers Street, Roslyn, Corstorphine. Almost like being at home! I loved Edinburgh and it's the first place I feel like I need to go back for more time. Barbara took me to her folk club who insisted that I sing a Maori song. Mind blank. Thankfully I managed to get out the national anthem which kept them happy. I found it awesome to hear them played their traditional songs as well as ones they've written or learnt from friends. My turn in the circle came again "another NZ song!", so they got the song of the Lonely Mountain, from The Hobbit. After that I had to sing musicals. Very welcoming and friendly people and I would go back in heartbeat.