On to the Kingdom of Sweden

Hej, hur mar ni alla ?

Wow ! Barcelona, Spain was epic, I feel pretty lucky to have been given the opportunity to visit such an amazing place. 

The rest of our Spain adventure went some thing like this: 

Thursday morning we ventured down early to say hello to the beach Lifeguards in Barcelona, they work for the Red Cross. In total they cover a little over 4km of beaches and have about 70 lifeguards who are employed for about 8 months of the year. I was surprised to find out they average about 7 resuscitations a season but after spending a week here and seeing the masses of people that flock to their beaches every day its just a matter of percentages. 

After a lazy day kicking back on deck chairs in the blistering hot sun we went back to our hotel for a little siesta. Our siesta's are a little interrupted by the fact our hotel backs onto a cathedral, and by chance, the big bells sit right outside our window. On the hour and half hour be get to hear: 

Doooong, Doooong, Doooong, Doooong, Doooong !

After Siesta we organised to meet some of the Lifeguards for a beer. They took us to this amazing place called La Champagneria. The place is insane. Do yourself a favour and get there at some point in your life, well, unless your claustrophobic and Vegetarian !

After we filled our bellies with great food, beautiful pink champagne and souls with laughter, we moved onto another cool little place where we drank the best Mojito's I have ever tasted in my life. 

5 Mojito's down and Gustavo (pictured above) who we kindly nick named "Hoppo" cause he is Hoppo's equivalent for the Barcelona lifeguards decided we should grab some beers at Placa Reial. Little Indian dudes walk around selling cheap beers and everyone just sits around drinking and talking. It was great. After a few we decided to pull up stumps and head home. Now Maxi is well aware there are pick pocketers but unfortunately after his alcohol intake for the night his judgement was a little clouded, one slipped through his normally precision radar and took 45 euros out of his pocket. He was pretty angry once we got home and he figured it out, and I probably didn't make things any better by Laughing Out Loud ! Very funny night :)

Friday morning my good friend "Cowboy" rejoined the team. As we we're all virgins to Barcelona it was tourist time and we set off to see some cool stuff. First stop was Parque Güell. The views from up there were insane. 

While up at the look out I found a bloke that would fit very well into Bondi team of colourful characters. Check this bloke out:

Still laughing our heads off at rocking and rolling Barcelona man we walked about 4 km down to find Sagrada Familia. The fascinating detail of this very old building had us in awe for quite some time. We probably would have gone inside had the line to get in not been 50,000km long !

Feeling like we'd walked 2 marathons, we headed home and launched into a Siesta. 

(Doooong Doooong Dooooong)

Figuring we could knock over all the sight seeing stuff out in one day, later that evening we headed up to the cable car that cruises above Barceloneta. This is a must do for anyone visiting this city. With ice cold beers at either end and 360degree views half a kilometer above the port of Barcelona, you cant go wrong !

Since it was still broad daylight at 9:30pm we just walked the esplanade, sinking a few beers and just people watched. Perfect way to finish an awesome day !

After all the effort we put in yesterday we figured Saturday was going to be a lazy day, so off to the beach we went. Barceloneta beach has these big concrete blocks that have been dropped in the ocean about 200m off shore. Im not to sure why they are there but we saw a whole heap of kids swimming out and jumping off them. It looked like fun so that was where we spent most of the day.

Feeling a little "too" lazy, we decided to hire a couple of bikes and go exploring (get lost). Barcelona is the most push bike friendly city I have ever been to. It was, with out a doubt the best thing I have done on this trip so far. We followed the coast for a while then headed in land, found a pretty little tree lined street full of local little spanish restaurants with seating out in the middle of the road. The food was delicious and the atmosphere, exactly what I wanted to experience.

I cant believe how quickly Sunday came around. Our last day was already here and I was pretty bummed out. After speaking with Gustavo (Lifeguard co-ordinator) earlier in the week we organised a little team bonding/training session with the guys and girls from his service. He sent out an email to them to see if they wanted to come along after work on Sunday night. I was blown away how many turned up. The plan was to just do a couple of board drills as they don't use them as much due to the lack of waves in the Mediterranean. We went through conscious and unconscious patient rescue situations. It got a little crazy for a bit with so many people running in and out of the water but all in all it went really well with both lifeguard services learning from each other. I just wanna take a couple of lines to say a Big Thank You to the Barcelona lifeguards, they're the most welcoming group of people I've ever met in my life and I hope if any of them ever come to Australia we can return the favour.

I'm currently on my Spanair flight to Stockholm, sad to be leaving but ready for a new adventures. Maxi has passed out so we've decided to give him a little moustache. Its even funnier now he's awake and doesn't know its there! Should make immigration interesting ! 

The next few days will consist of sightseeing around Stockholm, Sweden followed by the arrival of Hoppo, Corey & Gonzo before we jump on a Ferry and  head over to *LINK* Gotland Island !

Till next time...

GOOD BYE IN SWEDISH ! 


*Yet to learn* :)