Hola Arc de Triomf

So yesterday was another eventful day in Barca. After waking up at 2 PM, which was very difficult considering the time change our bodies have been through the past four days, we decided to walk around the city. We were caught up with the old architecture of the buildings and all the store fronts that have fresh bakery goods and sandwiches that we didn't even realize we were a couple miles away from our hostal and right in front of the Arc de Triomf!! It was awesome! So big and old, full of detail. It was very cool. The most famous Arc de Triomf is located in Paris, but there are several other famous Arc de Triomf's in Barcelona, London, and one in Romania. This beautiful arch was built for the 1888 Universal Exposition, which took place at the Parc de la Ciutadella.The Arc de Triomf was situated at the end of a wide promenade and served as the exposition's main entrance. It stands out from Paris' Arc de Triomphe with its colorful architecture and designs. We stopped to take a picture and then went back.

We met up with my friend Patricia who goes to DePaul and is from Barcelona. She helped us out a ton. She got us a cell phone in about 10 minutes, which probably would've taken us an hour. She showed us around a little bit, too. It was busy around Barcelona because tomorrow is El Tres Reyes (Three Kings Day) which is a bigger celebration than Christmas for them. They open up their presents today and in honor of the holiday, there was a huge parade at night! It lasted over an hour, full of floats, balloons, people, and music. The parade passed right by our hostal (our hostal is very centrally located in the city). We took a ton of pictures from the parade that we'll post to facebook, but here are a couple of cool ones.

 

Patricia also showed us the Supermercado where everyone goes to buy groceries (like a Dominick's back home) and she also showed us the local fresh market on La Rambla. La Rambla is the most popular, touristy street in Barca. La Rambla is a cool street in itself, but the market is incredible. There are just stands and stands of fresh fruit and vegetables in one area, fresh fish and seafood in another, eggs breads and spices. Almost everything you need is there and it is all fresh. Can't wait to have a place to live and shop to get groceries like this :)