Barcelona

Barcelona 4/30 – 5/2 2010

Sorry for the delay, my excuses are lame so I won’t even bother with them, but here’s an update about my trip to Barcelona!

FRI: After spending the night at the airport, we woke up on the ground to people getting in line to check in for their flights, and decided it was about time to get out of there. We caught a bus to the hostel, which was very homey with couches and a tv with tons of dvds. Then we took the metro as Barcelona is kind of huge, and took the outdoor escalators (thank god these were there – I have never seen them outside like that but I wouldn’t have made it up the hill without them!) to Park Guell by Gaudi. Barcelona is filled with work by Gaudi, and Park Guell has got to be the most amazing of what I saw. It is wacky and different, starting out with a sandy winding path up to a few artsy crosses with cactus scattered along the way, and continues to a large plaza with a curving bench decorated with mosaic along it. The center was filled with performers and scam artists I’m sure, and the wall along the side of the hill had the oddest décor – to the left was almost a hall made of little rocks put together, to the right was a hall with circular tops and columns making up one side. It’s hard to explain, you’ll have to look on my facebook for the pictures!

Afterwards we took the metro to see Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, both by Guadi, but we only went inside Casa Mila. Again, very odd architecture and a rooftop that stands out as odd even after a hundred years after it was built. We took the metro to the famous “Ramblas” street which runs a long length going from expensive stores to cheap market areas. We saw Plaza Catalunya before heading to the Cathedral and finally back on the Metro to see the Fountain Show. This was really fantastic, a great end to the day. It was drizzling a bit, but we all sat under our umbrellas and watched the water show light up as it got darker and more visible. Most of the music was what you might call inspirational – lots of fun songs, a bunch from famous Disney movies. After our long day that had been run on minimal sleep after staying at the airport, we went back to the hostel and ended up watching the tail end of The Patriot while the guy on duty made us some homemade sangria.

SAT: We took the metro to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s most famous work, a giant “melting” cathedral that has been worked on for over 100 years and still may not even be finished in my lifetime. This place was covered in carvings that when viewed from afar melded together and looked like candle wax. The inside has two stories, but unfortunately is under construction so has limited viewing. It is sure to be amazing when finished. Afterwards we took the metro to the Columbus monument, sat by the pier and walked around a bit. We walked the length of Ramblas to head to Subway for lunch but when I got there, I realized my wallet was missing. After a frantic call home to have mom cancel all my cards, we walked to the police station nearby and waited so I could make a report – all in Spanish by the way! The cards never had any purchases made on them, so I don’t know if my wallet was stolen and they just wanted the cash, or if I just dropped it and lost it, but either way, I am glad I didn’t have my passport in it! I lost 75 euro cash and my license, insurance, credit cards, but everything has been sorted out and replaced, minus the cash. The whole dabocal took up a good portion of the afternoon, but luckily my friends were great and spotted me for the rest of the trip and made sure I wasn’t too upset about the situation. We went back to the fountain show and watched again which was great, very fun to sit and relax to at the end of the evening.

SUN: We took the metro to the Picasso museum which was free that day, and wandered through the paintings before finding the chocolate museum. It was great – a chocolate bar was your entry ticket! The place was filled with chocolate sculptures and very interesting. Afterwards we went to our hostel to pick up our luggage, took the metro to the bus to the airport. When we arrived, Kathleen and I walked in to find a dead cockroach on the floor of our room! We were horrified and had to check everything in case there were more, but we never found any. Monday we had a half day of class which was great since I had to work on my huge Spanish paper to get my Spanish major, although I didn’t actually get that thing done till the last minute! However, I found out today that it was approved and I should be able to get my Spanish major now!

Barcelona was definitely a success story - even with the missing wallet, I'd do it again. We saw some amazing work by Gaudi and had a fantastic time. I am very lucky.