Mas Carnaval!

Ok, so..the barrier. After we ran through, we spent a good hour or two running up and down the streets, through parade floats and crowds of people. We were distracted by some Spaniards dressed like Irishmen and took some photos with them, and later by some Spaniards dressed like Frenchmen. Haha. At one point a policeman told us we couldn't go down a street, but we stood there looking distraught and after a minute he just waved us through. (The policemen secretly loved our costumes too, we heard them sometimes say Barca! as we passed, but with a serious look on their faces so you couldn't hardly tell. It was funny.) We found the beginning of the parade again, our favorite part, and this time danced in the street with the red, bird-looking men, and the abominable snowpeople, and the chiquita banana people, etc. We met the "Prince of Sitges", who was pretty adorable in his black and white suit and had a FCBarcelona flag. We also ran into the 80's costumed men (still my favorite) and a float where we almost jumped on with the revelers, but were told we couldn't by someone at the last minute :(. The parade began dying down as the costumed people in it either got to drunk to run around or just left the parade altogether, so we walked around some other places to see where everyone in Sitges was going to end the night. We got some more policemen to let us through barriers, found a party where you had to have a ticket to get in (no fun!), and then walked toward the street of bars. We walked through but were pretty tired and it was close to the time we needed to be leaving. We decided to head back towards the train station to find our bus. On the way, Megan really, really wanted a muffin, and I was hungry as well. We found the street the shop was on, but 5 or 6 policemen were blocking it. Megan started talking to the one on the end, explaining that we just wanted a muffin and weren't going to the parade that was at the end of the street. He claimed he didn't speak english (though he said it in english) and pointed us to someone who did. That guy also said he didn't speak english and pointed us to someone else. By this time we were getting what was happening, these policemen were having some fun and trying to confuse us! We proceeded to tell them we weren't drunk but continued to play along, trying to get on their good side so they'd let us through. We talked to them for 5 more minutes, asking for photos, to be let through, phone numbers, and more, haha. Finally one of them talked to someone behind him and then waved us through. Victory! The muffin shop was open (miraculously) and we got one each and ran off towards the station. At the train station we asked around till they told us where the buses stopped (which was far away!). We got there, and saw a huge line. A policeman told us only one more bus was coming. We went ahead and got in line, now in a bad mood because it was 3am, we wanted to go home, and buses were supposed to run till 5am. Megan asked him again to make sure, and then we left because there was no way we'd be getting on that bus. We walked back towards the city center, slightly dejected and wanting our beds-the fun had mostly worn off, and the train station didn't open till 4:30. However, after we found a bathroom we felt better and decided to make the most out of our last hour. Even though we'd be getting home really late, the night had been so much fun that it was worth it! We ran into some friends from our dorm on the way to the bar street who were heading for the train station, and we said we'd see them there. We then ran into someone else we knew who was lost and we made sure she made it back to the rest of the crew. Later on in the street we ran into more people we knew, danced a little, and then decided to go back to the station. When we got a block or two away, we saw a horrible sight-a line stretched down the street away from the station-everyone waiting in line to get a ticket and wait for the train. Oh no. We walked closer and luckily found our friends about half-way up and jumped into line with them at about 4:25ish. The line actually wasn't so bad and only took 15 minutes before we made it into the station, but I waited another 10 minutes in line for a ticket, and then 5 minutes outside for the train that came right before 5am. The rush for the train was crazy. People cheered when they heard it coming and police had to be by the doors to make sure no one was pushing and shoving to get on the train. Megan and I made it on with no problem and I was surprised at the number of people who fit. We had made friends with a French and a German exchange student while waiting and talked to them on the way home. They were both studying spanish in Barcelona. They were nice, but we promptly forgot their names after leaving the train and heading home. Oh well. It was a long walk home from the metro station, our backs and legs hurt from standing and dancing around for 12 hours, and we hopped into bed without even washing off our makeup at 6:15am. I then got up for class at 7:45, and came straight home afterward to sleep for hours! What a night!