At home, but not at home

The last couple of days in Barcelona have been kind of interesting. I haven't done any really tourist-y or sightseeing things. I still wander and explore, but it's not as intense as it was last week.

My routine has been similar. My day gets started at about 10a or so. I wander/explore for a few hours, have a meal, go back to the hostel to rest or read (who am I fooling? I always fall asleep!), and then go out for awhile.

Yesterday I was in the L'Eixample neighborhood again. I found an internet cafe that isn't exactly right around the corner, but it's .02 euros a minute and - the best part - there's NO countdown clock. Geez that thing stresses me out! I stopped at a grocery store to get dinner: a fresh baguette, an assortment of cheese, some chorizo, red globe grapes, and a bottle of wine. And spent only €5! Plus that's what I'll be having for dinner tonight, too, so that's the best €5 I've spent so far. I met up with my next CouchSurfing host around 11pm. He had a surfer with him and we met up with a friend of his and yet another surfer. It was so cool sitting in a room, having a beer, with a British guy, an Albanian guy, a South African girl, and a Portuguese guy. If you concentrate real hard, you can probably hear all the accents in your head. :-)

Today I decided to get outta BCN for awhile so I hopped a train to Penedes, wine country. The scenery on the way there is crazy. It's some serious countryside. It's hard to describe, but it almost looks like a green desert. If you've ever seen Napa Valley in California or Tuscany in Italy (other famous wine areas), maybe it looks like that. . .but I've never seen those places, so I'm not sure. I didn't actually go on a wine tour, didn't feel like spending the euros, but it was nice to get out of the city for awhile. My night will be low-key. I'll go back to my room, have some dinner and some illicit wine (wine's not allowed in the hostels cuz they only want you to buy what they sell).

Oh! And I forgot to mention. Today I also went to the post office to buy stamps. So that's a grocery store and a post office in the last two days. That's what I mean by my title. I'm doing normal, everyday things that I'd do at home, I just happen to be many miles away and trying to use a foreign language while I'm at it.

Here's one of my favorite pictures from today. I was walking back up the road toward the train station (which, conveniently enough, is right next to the Freixenet winery).And I like this shot taken from my hostel's rooftop, too. Other pictures have been uploaded to Flickr, if you want to check them out.