2013 Volleyball Tour Blog Tour #3 – Day 11 Barcelona Hop on Hop off tour
This morning everyone was excited
to have a free day and to do the Hop on Hop off tour of Barcelona. We started our tour at about 9:30am with the
first of our group boarding the first bus and then 5 minutes later the next
group and finally the last group 5 minutes after than… The day was a hot one…. but this is Barcelona
in July…. John had reminded us to put on sunblock as we would be outside all
day… and to drink lots of water…. It did not take long to see why…. The air was
about 90 degrees and the hot sun seemed even hotter when you are sitting on the
top of the open air bus…. Everyone was free to explore various parts of the
city … the hop on hop off bus had 3 separate lines that explored 3 separate
areas of Barcelona… and over lapped slightly to allow us to transfer from one
line to the other… We liked the broad
streets and the open feeling that
Barcelona had… There were so many interesting
architectural designs (some were pretty weird)… but also cool at the same
time. Many of us went to the very TOP of
the hills behind Barcelona for a breathtaking view over the city and out to the
water. We saw the FC Barcelona stadium,
the Olympic stadium and various buildings from the 1992 Olympics…. And some
people (the more adventurous ones …) took a gondola ride from the top on the
hill down to the marina….
In the afternoon… many of us
gathered at the beach and played some beach ball, went swimming and had
dinner. Sitting on the beach
in 85
degree temperature with the sun setting, the full moon rising reflecting back
on our trip…. we all said we would love to stay here a few more days…. But at
the same time we were eager to go home too.
We had a brief meeting to discuss
the morning transfers to the airport (we had 2 transfers…one for the early
flights … and one 2 hours later for the later flights).
The early transfer was a 4:30am…..
That meant we had to wake up at about 3:30am…
The second transfer was at 6:30am.
Skipping a head to our departure
morning…
We all arrive to the airport on
time… to check in for our various flights home…
Some parents decided to take a
taxi so they could sleep in a bit longer…. And not have to go to the airport
quite so early.
Everyone said their goodbyes at
the airport…checked in for their flights home… and waited for their flights…