ENGLISH
Previously on 2012 Year-End Trip: Zilko and his brother went on a 12-day trip to four countries in Europe. Now they were already in the last city stop before Zilko had to go back to the Netherlands: Barcelona.
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Day 11 (Saturday, 5 January 2013)
I decided to try a Spanish breakfast today. And so I had a Spanish omelette. It was very nice btw, and it was not like any other omelette I had ever tried. Very unique!!
Anyway, our first destination of the day was the landmark of Barcelona: Sagrada Familia. We took Metro to get there. Along the way, my brother realized that he just had lost his three-day public transport pass (so the day before we decided to buy three-day pass as we would stay in Barcelona for around three days). And so he had to buy another one, but obviously a two-day pass this time.
We arrived at Sagrada Familia and then joined the queue to get inside the church. The queue didn’t take that long; I think it was around 30 minutes or so until we finally got into the church area.
Sagrada Familia was, indeed, very majestic. It was really beautiful! Well, it still could not compete with the grandeur-ness and luxury of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, obviously. But putting St. Peter’s Basilica aside, Sagrada Familia was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been to. The design was so unique. Well, the designer of the church was the same guy as the one who designed Parc Güell; so that explained the resemblance of the two, design-wise.
After spending about one hour in Sagrada Familia, we left the church and headed to Camp Nou. My brother already bought a ticket to watch a Barca game (Barca vs Espana) the next day; and he needed to exchange the proof of purchase with the ticket. As for me, well, I found the €130 ticket price a bit too steep for myself who was not a fans of football (I don’t remember exactly the price, but it was somewhere around this number I believe), lol 
. So I did not buy one. The money would be better spent on a grandslam tournament for me, lol . Anyway, long story short, we arrived in Camp Nou, my brother got his ticket, and then we took a rest in Starbucks, hahaha .
Our next destination was the area of Montjuïc, a hill in Barcelona. I was particulary excited to go to this area because I still remembered vividly six years prior watching one episode of The Amazing Race season 10 which leg took place in Barcelona and the pitstop was in the Palau Nacional de Montjuïc. It was the elimination leg of the top four (so the penultimate leg of the season); and Lyn & Karlyn made a history that day to become the first all-female team to make it to the last three. Dustin & Kandice got eliminated here.
I still remember that I found Palau Nacional de Montjuïc so beautiful when watching the episode; and hoped that one day I would get the chance to be there. And there I was, a little bit over six years later, I was there! Yeah, it was kinda surreal…
Anyway, after going around Montjuïc, we decided to go back downtown (literally) with a funicular which was free because we had the public transportation pass. We got back to the city center and walked to the old town of Barcelona which was so Gothic. We could not enter the cathedral because it was already closed btw. We took some random buses as all in our itinerary for the day had been done; and to rest our legs after all the walking we did today.
After awhile, we got back in Plaza de Catalunya at around 19:00. We walked along the Passeig de Garcia to go to Casa Mila to take a picture of Casa Mila, hahaha . Btw, it was so crowded this evening. Apparently it was the last day of the King’s festival or something like that (we asked but noone seemed to be able to explain it clearly) so people celebrated it. We had dinner at a nice restaurant which waitress was so hot near Plaza de Catalunya before going back to our hotel.
Day 12 (Sunday, 6 January 2013)
It was a little bit difficult to find a place for breakfast this morning, somehow, I don’t know why. But finally we found one nice cafetaria near Plaza de Catalunya where we could have breakfast.
I proposed to go to Tibidabo today. To get there, we had to take a bus to the departure place of the tram to get to the departure place of the funicular which would bring us to the top of Tibidabo. So we got to the tram departure place. However, two officers told us that the tram did not operate that day (apparently it had something to do with the King’s festival or something like that); but there was a public bus which could also take us to the departure place of the funicular. However, today, the funicular also did not operate so to get to Tibidabo we had to literally walk 
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Well, of course we did not want to walk; and there was no other option than skipping Tibidabo. Our plan was to go back to Barceloneta. So we took a bus which should take us there. However, we took the wrong bus and went to the opposite direction instead, lol . We rode the bus until its end destination and waited until the bus returned to the opposite direction, which would be the right direction for us, lol . Ironically, our destination, Barceloneta, would be the other end of the bus line. So we literally went along the complete route of the bus! Hahaha But it was okay though, as we could use it to kill time anyway.
We arrived at Barceloneta and walked around the beach again. It was sunny but the temperature was so nice (18ºC) today so it was not too blazing hot. But still, overall, kinda weird for a winter day, no? Hahaha . After walking around the area, we decided to have lunch at a Doner. The doner was really delicious btw. Then, we went back to our hotel.
I chose to take a rest while my brother went to Camp Nou to watch his football match. But about thirty minutes after he left, he texted me that he forgot to bring his camera!! Hahaha . So he went all the way back to the hotel to take the camera. As for me, I decided to go somewhere randomly in the evening. I took the tram to the Diagonal street and went to a shopping mall which atmosphere was kinda dead because there were just very few visitors. I went back to Plaza de Catalunya afterwards and had dinner at a KFC there. Btw, the KFC tasted a little bit differently though, hmmm. I found it a little bit less crunchy and so less delicious, somehow.
Day 13 (Monday, 7 January 2013)
Today, I was going back to the Netherlands while my brother continued his trip to Vienna, Austria. We took the train (after finding out the day before that, again, train was a cheaper option to go to the airport than shuttle bus, hahaha ) to the airport. We arrived at Terminal 2 and took the shuttle bus to go to Terminal 1 where my brother’s flight to Vienna would depart from (his flight was scheduled to depart two hours earlier than mine).
After he checked-in, we had breakfast at a cafetaria in Terminal 1. Then, at 11:00 we parted away as my brother went through the security check to go to his gate and I went back to Terminal 2 to check in for my flight.
In my booking confirmation, it was said the check-in desk in Barcelona would be opened since 2 hour 40 minutes prior to departure. Well, my flight was scheduled to depart at 14:15 so I thought it should be open by 11:35. But then, the desks were opened just at 12:15 
. But well, because I was the first one queuing for it, I was also among the first to get the boarding pass, hahaha.
As I said, my flight was delayed for about an hour. Apparently the cause of this was airplane rotation where the previous flight to Barcelona had to wait for about an hour to get a plane ready, or something like that. But in the end, I boarded my plane back to the Netherlands: A Transavia’s Boeing 737-8K2 reg code PH-HSB flight number HV 6062 at around 14:50.
Transavia’s HV 6062 route map from Barcelona to Rotterdam
Anyway, so, my flight took off from runway 07R of Barcelona El-Prat Airport. About two hours later, it landed at runway 24 of Rotterdam The Hague Airport. After taking my luggage, I took the bus to the city center where I transited to take another bus to get back to my apartment in Delft.
And here, my 2012 year-end trip officially ended.
THE END.
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Spanish Omelette for breakfast
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Sagrada Familia
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Sagrada Familia’s Back Entrance
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Queuing at Sagrada Familia
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Sagrada Familia
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A window in Sagrada Familia
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The ceiling of Sagrada Familia
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Sagrada Familia
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The two towers, by the Plaza d’Espanya
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Palau Nacional de Montjuic
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Yes, we could take escalator to go up the hill
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Palau Nacional de Montjuic
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The pitstop of leg 11 of The Amazing Race 10 was these stairs. Dustin & Kandice got eliminated here
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Barcelona as seen from Montjuic
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Gothic Barcelona Old Town
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Cathedral in Barcelona
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Casa Mila
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Nice grilled veal for dinner
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It was indeed a hot winter, at 18ºC.
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It was hot
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Barceloneta
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Barceloneta Beach
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Aqbar Tower, a cucumber-like building in Barcelona
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A Transavia’s Boeing 737-8K2 landing at runway 07L of Barcelona Airport. She would fly back to Rotterdam as HV 6062
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First row seating!!
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This was how Dutch weather greeted me as we were approaching Rotterdam Airport.
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Rotterdam The Hague Airport, Rotterdam
BAHASA INDONESIA
Sebelumnya dalam 2012 Year-End Trip: Zilko dan adiknya bepergian selama 12 hari ke empat negara di Eropa. Kini mereka telah berada di kota perhentian terakhir sebelum Zilko harus kembali ke Belanda: Barcelona.
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Hari 11 (Sabtu, 5 Januari 2013)
Aku memutuskan untuk mencoba sarapan ala Spanyol hari ini. Dan jadilah aku mencoba omelet ala Spanyol. Enak loh btw, dan rasanya tidak seperti omelet-omelet lain yang pernah aku makan sebelumnya. Sungguh unik!!
Anyway, tujuan pertama kami hari ini adalah landmark dari Barcelona: Sagrada Familia. Kami naik Metro untuk pergi kesana. Di jalan, adikku baru menyadari bahwa pass transportasi umum tiga harinya hilang (jadi sehari sebelumnya kami memutuskan untuk membeli pass tiga hari karena toh kami akan tinggal di Barcelona selama sekitar tiga hari). Jadilah ia harus beli yang baru deh, tentu saja kami memilih yang dua hari ya kali ini.
Kami tiba di Sagrada Familia dan kemudian bergabung di antrian untuk masuk gerejanya. Ngantrinya nggak terlalu lama kok; kalau nggak salah sih hanya sekitar 30an menit saja sampai kami akhirnya masuk ke area gerejanya.
Sagrada Familia tuh ternyata memang beneran keren banget loh. Indah banget! Yah, tentu saja masih tidak bisa dibandingkan dengan keagungan dan kemewahannya Basilika Santo Petrus di Kota Vatikan ya. Tapi kalau kita tidak memperhitungkan Basilika Santo Petrus, Sagrada Familia jelas merupakan salah satu gereja terindah yang pernah kumasuki. Disainnya unik sekali. Yah, perancang gerejanya sama seperti perancangnya Parc Güell sih; makanya kita bisa melihat kemiripan dari keduanya, dalam hal disain.
Setelah menghabiskan waktu sekitar satu jam di Sagrada Familia, kami meninggalkan gerejanya dan menuju Camp Nou. Jadi ceritanya adikku sudah membeli tiket nonton pertandingannya Barca (Barca vs Espana) untuk keesokan harinya; dan ia harus menukarkan bukti pembayaran dengan tiketnya. Untuk aku sih, tiket seharga €130 itu jelas kemahalan lah ya bagi aku yang nggak nge-fans sama sepakbola (Aku nggak ingat harga persisnya berapa sih, cuma ya harganya sekitar seginian deh), hahaha . Jadilah aku nggak beli. Sayang duitnya dong, mending ditabung buat nonton turnamen grandslam dah kalau aku, huahaha . Anyway, singkat cerita, tibalah kami di Camp Nou, adikku mendapatkan tiketnya, dan kemudian kami istirahat deh di Starbucks, hahaha .
Tujuan kami selanjutnya adalah area Montjuïc, sebuah bukit di Barcelona. Aku ingin banget pergi ke tempat ini karena aku masih ingat dengan jelas enam tahun yang lalu aku menonton satu episodenya The Amazing Race musim 10 yang mana leg-nya diadakan di Barcelona dan pitstop-nya berada di Palau Nacional de Montjuïc. Ini adalah babak eliminasi dari empat besar (jadi leg kedua sebelum terakhir); dan Lyn & Karlyn membuat sejarah dengan menjadi tim semua wanita pertama yang masuk ke tiga besar. Dustin Kandice tereliminasi disini.
Aku masih ingat bahwa waktu menonton itu, aku merasa Palau Nacional de Montjuïc itu sangatlah indah; dan berharap suatu hari aku akan berkesempatan pergi kesana. Dan disanalah aku, enam tahun lebih sedikit kemudian, aku beneran berada disana! Ya, ini adalah sebuah perasaan yang sureal…
Anyway, setelah berkeliling Montjuïc, kami memutuskan untuk turun dengan naik funicular yang gratis karena kami memiliki pass transportasi umum itu. Kami kembali ke pusat kota dan berjalan ke kota tuanya Barcelona yang nuansanya sangatlah Gotik. Kami tidak bisa masuk katedralnya sayangnya karena sudah tutup. Jadilah kami naik bus secara acak soalnya semua tujuan di itinerary kami sudah dikunjungi; dan sekalian buat mengistirahatkan kaki setelah banyak berjalan.
Setelah beberapa waktu, kami kembali ke Plaza de Catalunya sekitar jam 19:00. Kami berjalan sepanjang Passeig de Garcia untuk pergi ke Casa Mila untuk foto-foto disana, hahaha . Btw, malam ini suasananya rame banget. Ternyata ini adalah hari terakhir festival raja atau apa gitu (kami sudah iseng bertanya tetapi kok tidak ada orang yang bisa menjelaskannya secara jelas ya) jadi dirayain gitu. Kami makan malam di sebuah restoran yang oke yang mana pelayannya cantik banget loh di dekat Plaza de Catalunya sebelum kembali ke hotel.
Hari 12 (Minggu, 6 Januari 2013)
Agak sulit untuk mencari tempat buat sarapan pagi ini, entah kenapa. Tapi untungnya akhirnya kami menemukan sebuah kafe yang oke di dekat Plaza de Catalunya untuk sarapan.
Aku mengusulkan untuk pergi ke Tibidabo hari ini. Untuk kesana, kami harus naik bus untuk pergi ke tempat keberangkatan tram yang akan membawa kami ke tempat keberangkatannya funicular untuk naik ke Tibidabo. Nah, singkat cerita tibalah kami di tempat keberangkatannya tram itu. Disana, ada dua petugas yang memberi-tahu kami bahwa tramnya nggak beroperasi hari itu karena festival raja atau apaan lah itu; tetapi ada layanan bus umum yang bisa membawa kami ke tempat keberangkatannya funicular. Hanya saja, hari ini, funicularnya juga nggak beroperasi jadi untuk ke Tibidabo ya kami harus berjalan kaki deh .
Ya tentu saja kami ogah dong jalan kaki sehingga kami harus mencoret Tibidabo. Rencananya, kami akan kembali ke area Barceloneta aja. Kami naik bus yang seharusnya membawa kami kesana. Namun, kami naik bus yang salah dan kami jadi malah pergi ke arah yang sebaliknya, huahaha . Kami naik bus ini sampai tujuan terakhirnya dan menunggu sampai busnya berputar balik ke arah sebaliknya, yang mana merupakan arah yang benar bagi kami, hahaha . Lucunya, Barceloneta adalah tujuan terakhir dari arah sebaliknya ini. Nah, jadilah kami menaiki bus ini di sepanjang rutenya! Hahaha . Tapi ya nggak apa-apa sih, karena toh kami ada banyak waktu dan ini buat sekalian membuang waktu kan.
Kami tiba di Barceloneta dan berjalan berkeliling pantainya lagi. Cuaca hari ini cerah tetapi temperaturnya oke banget (18ºC) jadi kan nggak panas menyengat gitu. Tapi tetep aja sih rasanya aneh soalnya kan sekarang ini lagi di tengah-tengah musim dingin ya. Hahaha . Setelah berkeliling areanya, kami memutuskan untuk makan siang di sebuah Doner disana. Donernya enak banget lho btw. Lalu, kembalilah kami ke hotel.
Aku memilih untuk beristirahat sementara adikku pergi ke Camp Nou untuk menonton pertandingan bolanya. Tapi sekitar tiga puluh menit kemudian, ia sms aku dan bilang bahwa ia kelupaan kameranya!! Hahaha . Jadilah ia kembali ke hotel untuk mengambil kameranya. Aku sih malamnya memutuskan untuk berkeliling acak aja. Aku naik tram ke arah jalan Diagonal dan pergi ke sebuah mall yang suasananya sepi banget karena nggak ada pengunjungnya. Aku kembali ke Plaza de Catalunya setelahnya dan makan malam di KFC disana. Btw, rasa KFC-nya agak berbeda lho, hmmm. Rasanya kurang kriuk dan kalah enak dibandingkan KFC yang lain gitu, entah kenapa.
Hari 13 (Senin, 7 Januari 2013)
Hari ini, aku kembali ke Belanda sementara adikku melanjutkan perjalanannya ke Vienna, Austria. Kami naik kereta ke bandara (Ya, lagi-lagi kami mendapatkan informasi bahwa kereta itu lebih murah daripada shuttle bus, hahaha ). Kami tiba di Terminal 2 dan kemudian menaiki shuttle bus ke Terminal 1 dimana penerbangannya adikku ke Vienna akan berangkat (penerbangannya dijadwalkan berangkat dua jam sebelum penerbanganku).
Setelah ia check-in, kami sarapan di sebuah kafe di Terminal 1. Lalu, jam 11:00 kami berpisah dengan ia masuk ke area keberangkatan dan aku kembali ke Terminal 2 untuk penerbanganku.
Di konfirmasi pemesananku, disebutkan bahwa konter check-in dibuka 2 jam 40 menit sebelum jadwal keberangkatan. Karena penerbanganku dijadwalkan berangkat jam 14:15, artinya konternya mulai dibuka jam 11:35 kan. Namun, ternyata konternya baru dibuka jam 12:15 dong . Yah, tapi karena aku adalah orang pertama yang ngantri, aku jadi yang pertama mendapatkan boarding pass juga sih, hahaha.
Seperti yang kubilang, penerbanganku terlambat satu jam. Ternyata penyebabnya adalah rotasi pesawat dimana penerbangan sebelumnya yang ke Barcelona harus menunggu selama satu jam untuk sebuah pesawat gitu, atau apa lah semacam itu. Dan akhirnya, aku menaiki pesawatku untuk kembali ke Belanda: Sebuah Boeing 737-8K2nya Transavia dengan kode registrasi PH-HSB dengan nomor penerbangan HV 6062 sekitar jam 14:50.
Rute penerbangan Transavia HV 6062 dari Barcelona ke Rotterdam
Anyway, penerbanganku lepas landas dari landasan pacu 07R Bandara Barcelona El-Prat. Sekitar dua jam kemudian, aku mendarat di landasan pacu 24 Bandara Rotterdam The Hague. Setelah mengambil bagasiku, aku menaiki bus ke pusat kota untuk transit menaiki bus lain untuk kembali ke apartemenku di Delft.
Dan disinilah perjalanan akhir tahun 2012-ku secara resmi berakhir.
SELESAI.
. Besides, I don’t really like working at home anyway because at home I can’t be as efficient as I would like to be.
huahahaha 
(yeah, science rocks!! 
)) . A few hours later, it came to the state that it was supposed to be, hahaha 
, or when the weather or climate is really worth writing, huahaha 
It was not a hard rain after all so it was still safe to play under the rain (the court did not become that slippery). But still, it was quite a unique experience for me, hahaha 
. The trainer looked quite surprised and praised me for that, muahaha 
Well, of course not like they had staffs standing somewhere and giving random books away to random passing-by strangers. No. But interested students and staffs should come to the library in two predetermined sessions to pick up any books they liked. Also, to be fair to all students and staffs, each person could only take 10 books maximum. Plus, all people who came got free hot chocolate or coffee and some cookies, muahahahaha 
. One thing, because this library was formerly my faculty’s library, the books they were giving away were also closely related to the faculty: they were books about mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering; even though some magazines like National Geographic were also available. But of course I did not want to take the magazines as it seemed to be like wasting this opportunity if I only took magazines, right? hahaha 
