Barcelona

el 9 de diciembre de 2008

It's been a while since I've updated I guess. I've been doing a lot of stuff actually. I went to Barcelona two weekends ago, from November 27 to December 1 (Thursday night to Monday night). I meant to update when I got back but things got busy. So here it is now!

The city is very international. I heard more Italian and English than I heard Spanish. Many of the Spaniards speak English as well. The city itself is gorgeous. I love the architecture, something that I can't get in Santander. Once again this is my only regret about this city. It doesn't have the historic ancient section of the city, which takes a lot of the fun out of being here. Back to Barcelona... Night and Day differences: we arrived at night. There were men selling beers right from the six pack all down the main roads, and there were a couple of hookers at the end of our street. The street was also full of probable pickpockets and homeless people. The next morning the city was something completely different: a boisterous, beautiful city full of displays or art, music, and dancing in the streets. I couldn't believe it. What a transformation.

Starbucks. We stopped in. Several times. Lots of times actually. I celebrated the fact that they were there a little too much. Again, international city: every street corner has Starbucks or fast food. NOT like Santander at all.

The Collectibles Shop: Here was where I found several amazing things. Most of them were the most gorgeous chess sets I have ever seen in my entire life. Ever. I wanted to buy one SO badly it hurt. The prices were reasonable, only about 75-80 Euro for a set. But what a set, hand crafted and beautifully painted. If only I weren't a poor college student. I also found in that shop Blokus Duo which, that's right, is two player travel blokus. Again, the 30 Euro price tag outdid me.

Food. The food was amazing. We ate well, but economically all weekend. The first night there we stopped in a restaurant across the street from our hostel and I had the best salmon I've had in my life. It was right up there with my mom's home cooked meal, it was so good. I devoured it. We had ourselves the menu del dia several times and enjoyed the hell out of that too.

Picaso Museum. This place blew my mind. It was great to see how Picasso's art evolved. Before he developed Cubism, his paintings were just like any other master's art, in that there were landscapes, portraits, etc. His Blue Period has to be my favorite. Even more than Cubism. It's the obsession in the artist that drives me to wonder and awe. This man was feeling something deep down in his soul and for who knows how long, could not paint a picture, could not create art without having heavy blue overtones. And like I said, it's so strange seeing him go from that to Cubism.

Water Fountain Light Show. Oh my god, this was one of the most awe inspiring things I have ever seen. It was a HUGE fountain downtown near the Olympic Park, and they run a 15-20 minute light and music show where the fountain just dances. Literally, the water was dancing. I'm trying to use the term as literally as possible... little room for metaphor. The way they engineered the show was just brilliant. The way they played with the mist and the streams, and moving them together. At one point they had the entire outside ring doing mist, and with the lights it looked like there were figures dancing in the shadow. It was awesome. I think Cory took a video, so maybe he'll put that up online somewhere. I hope if any of you are in Barcelona you will make it one of your top priorities to go here. It only takes a half hour and it is truly worth it. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Quantom of Solace. Yep. Barcelona has movie theatres that show the movie in their original language with Spanish subtitles, so we took the opportunity to catch the latest Bond flick. Worth it.

Sagrada Familia. Gorgeous and very impressive, but very under construction. It's a giant church for those wondering. It was one of Gaudí's last works. It's still incomplete. We had more fun in the little christmas fair outside.

Park Guell. So the whole trip was really worth it just to see the sunset from this park. Again, one of the must sees in a trip to Barcelona. The top of the park crests and there's a small bald spot where you can look out upon all of Barcelona. We could see the entire city stretching before us, and we were lucky enough to get there at sunset. I'll not comment more, but instead leave you with this picture.



Museo Gaudí. Though it was nighttime when we got there, we checked out the outside of the Park Gaudí. It was a lot of Gaudi type things, all beautiful of course. I love his intricate style of everything. The colors he uses and the designs he creates are gorgeous.



Barcelona Zoo. I hate zoos. I've decided. Especially ones in big cities. I've never seen more sad looking animals with such small living space in my entire life. The only fun thing I enjoyed was when the peacocks came and had lunch with us. They are so used to people being around that they'll get within a meter of you. It was crazy. Plus there was an albino one. How cool is that?


Other things we did that are worth a mention but not much commenting:
-Dunkin Coffee. It was gross, but funny to find.
-Statue of Columbus
-Irish pubs. Three. All right next to each other. And full of Brits. We only went in one.

All in all, the trip to Barcelona was amazing. Huge success. My favorite part was sharing it with the people I did. We all live in Santander, and we're all good friends, but when you're thrown into the same small hostel bedroom for 4 days, the bond deepens... and the jokes fly. It was good time for sure.



I can't wait to go back!!

Hasta pronto,
Andrew
Santander, ESP