Barcelona

Hey all! So as is obvious from the title this blog is about my trip to Barcelona the week before last. Um where to start? My weekend in Barcelona was in one word AMAZING! First of all the weather was absolutely to die for. It was sunny and in the 70s all weekend! Second of all we really got to see almost everything there is to see in Barcelona, from Las Ramblas, the Mediterranean Sea, the Olympic Park, the soccer stadium of FC Barcelona, Park Guell, architecture by Gaudi, Plaza Espanya, and El Mercado (the market).

Las Ramblas is a walkway from the center of Barcelona at Plaza Catalunya leading to the port of Barcelona at the Mediterranean Sea. Along Las Ramblas are people selling a sorts of things, pretty flowers, and those people that dress up and perform like in San Fransisco. Along the way, walking down Las Ramblas, you run into El Mercado. This is possibly the coolest thing in the world. It's a huge market of people selling fishes, meats, fruits, bread, etc. I bought a carton a fresh strawberries for 1 euro that were the most delicious strawberries ever!

After that we went to the FC Barcelona soccer stadium which Sean and Elliott were all about. However, we didn't take a tour of the stadium because it cost about 15 euros which is nonsense because it costs 4 to tour the Real Madrid stadium.

We also went to Plaza Espanya. At the plaza, up the hill, is the most impressive building which turned out to be an art museum. You can walk to the top of the hill and have a very cool view of the city. Also, on Saturday nights they but on a water show with all the fountains and light them up in all these cool colors. It was almost magical!Also, behind the museum is the Olympic Park. So, after the water show we went over to look at it. While we were there Disney On Ice was there so we sat outside of the building under the Olympic torch talking and listening to all the Disney songs.

The other cool thing they have in Barcelona is this air taxi for lack of a better word. It's sort of an enclosed ski lift that takes you up and you get an aerial view of the entire city!

Also, Barcelona offers amazing buildings designed by Gaudi for all you architecture lovers. They are pretty much the coolest designs because they are so original. He used so many things as inspiration including sea shells, the body of a snake, coral, etc. I loved his work because it is like nothing I'd ever seen. He also designed this park called Guell. The park is surrounded by benches made out of mosaic stone. It was so peaceful just to sit there and watch all the people.

Overall, it was the best trip so far. The people (Sean, Elliott, Maribel, Vanessa, and myself) I traveled with were perfect; the perfect number of people! It was just a really great trip!

Besos

P.S. more pictures to come!

Just another day in the life of...

Well, it's been a little while since my last post, but that is because I've been so busy. Where to even begin? Let's see...last weekend I was taken on another trip with my class. We went to Toledo (again) and let's just say it was a less than pleasant time. Towards the end of the trip I turned to my friend, hands shaking in the air, and said, "Man he's [my teacher] has done it to us again (referring back to Segovia)". He literally gave us a 2.5 hour lunch break after which we meet back at a Cathedral. At the Cathedral he gave us a 10ish minute talk about it's significance blah blah and then preceded to tell us that we could not enter unless we each paid 7 euros. Well, obviously nobody wanted to do that. So he asked us if we wanted a break until the bus came at 6. I was like a break from what, your 10 minute talk? Jeeze Louise! So needless to say we waited another hour. So, basically I was dragged to Toledo under threat of a grade deduction to sit for 3 and a half hours. Cool.

But, anyway that Sunday (Feb. 24th) Anne and I went to Madrid to see Real Madrid play. Now, this is what I'm talking about. Enough of this cultural museum nonsense (although I admit that was not torture), I want to see a soccer game. Of course we sat in the noise bleed section, but whatever, it was still awesome. Now, the funny thing is Real Madrid was playing Getafe which basically is a team that should of rolled over. However, because we were there they obviously had to lose. But, the really funny thing was how they lost. Real Madrid had dribbled the ball down and ended up connecting off a cross to score a goal. Everyone started cheering and the players did the obligatory run over to the corner flag, dance thing. Well, apparently while they were dancing the referee had blown his whistle calling the goal back because it was offsides. However, by the time anyone (fans and players alike) realized what had happened Getafe was literally at the box of Real Madrid and yes you guessed it, they scored the only counted goal of the game and ended up winning. Crazy!
Anywho, this past weekend I went to Barcelona, however, I will save that discussion for the next blog to give it justice. I'll just say that Barcelona is amazing and the trip was beyond great!

Besos