Barcelona la Bonita

26/03/08
Good morning! I’m on the bus from Zaragoza to Barcelona right now and I think we have about two hours left. We left home at eight yesterday and got into Zaragoza around noon. We spent the day there and had a great time walking around and taking in the city. The Basilica was really pretty, it was different than any other I had seen because it was so bright inside and the walls were light blue. We listened to a little bit of mass and walked around. In most cathedrals there is a place where you can put a coin in a box and it lights up a fake candle in a plastic case, but in this basilica there was a corner where twenty or so three feet candles were flaming bright. The candles represent a prayer and that as long as there is smoke the prayer is being repeated. After the basilica we took a little siesta at a park we found and then at 4:30PM we headed off to the Moorish Palace. We ended up hooking up with a tour group, which helped us learn a lot about the palace. During the Spanish Inquisition Ferdinand and Isabella took over the palace and turned the once beautiful library into a prison. There are still engravings in the walls preserved from the prisoners from over five hundred years ago. Some have made tally marks for each day they were alive, others carved intricate pictures, and others their names. The courtyard of the palace was absolutely beautiful and I have decided that I want to have my wedding reception there; I hope that is okay with my parents! So you walk in over the moat into this courtyard of tons of intricate arches and beneath the arches on one side is a good sized, shiny wood floor, perfect for the dinner and rocking dance party to follow. In the center of the courtyard there are gardens and several orange trees and it is just beautiful. We kept walking around afterwards, the city was really beautiful and we caught the sunset on the bridge a little after seven. We played a few games at the park and then found some giros for dinner. Rachel, Sarah, Erika and I talked for a long time in our room last night and then eventually fell asleep. We went for a good run this morning, had some breakfast at the hotel, and then got on the bus. I am so excited for Barcelona; Professor Shumway says our hotel is two blocks from the beach! Hasta Luego.
27/03/08
Wow Barcelona is amazing! I love this city so much. We headed to the beach as soon as we checked in and it was gorgeous, yet very windy. There were about twenty wind surfers out on the water, which was cool to watch, but that just tells you what the weather was like for us on the shore. After an hour we got on the bus and headed into town for the evening. We started out walking along the Ramblas and grabbed a pita for lunch and just enjoyed taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of the new city. The Ramblas was full of people and lots of pickpocketers, which unfortunately my professor found out when his video camera was stolen off the stroller. We went to the chocolate factory which was interesting, the native people once used it as their currency, how genius! There were big sculptures in the museum made entirely of chocolate, it was incredible, and it smelled heavenly. At the end of the Ramblas was Gaudi’s Batllo apartment which was so sweet, his architecture is crazy weird and I absolutely love it. We also stopped in the Cathedral of Barcelona and it was really beautiful, we had a moment to rest our legs and then we were back on the streets. We stopped in at Carre Four on the way back to the bus and picked up three delicious kinds of cereal, Fruits and Fibres, Croq Moslei, and Chocolate Pillows, milk, and bananas and then headed back to the hotel. Our dinner was delicious and we had a fun dance party afterwards. A group of us woke up early in the morning and went for a run on the beach. It felt so great breathing in the ocean air and looking out on the crashing waves. I ended up running with Sarah and we ran along the beach until we found a cool jungle gym. It was my first time swinging on the beach and I must say it was as incredible as it sounds. We got somewhat lost on the way back, but eventually ended up at our hotel and stumbled into the restaurant where a decadent breakfast buffet awaited us. We definitely felt our sixty minute run later that day when we were hiking around Barcelona all day, but it was so worth it. We started out the day with the temple Sagrada Familia, which was so awesome. It is still under construction because the building is only funded by private donors and sales from tickets because Gaudi didn’t want it to be associated with any corruption from church finances. He wanted to build this people for the people and by the people. The temple is still under construction and is supposed to be completed in fifty years, which will be perfect because I’ll be about seventy and I can come back and visit with my husband. Gaudi was such a unique and talented architect who based all of the aspects of his designs on nature, the staircases were designed after seashells and the ceiling after the canopy of trees in a forest. I usually never read all of the commentary in museums, but I read every comparison he made with nature because it was so interesting. After Sagrada Familia we walked to the hospital designed by the architect Dominique who believed that through bright colors and intriguing designs he could help suffering patients. I’ve never seen such a beautiful hospital; it had awesome exterior architecture, fountains, and bright colored roofs. After the hospital we walked to Gaudi’s park, which was so neat, his style is awesome, unlike anything I’ve ever seen. We had lunch at the park, watched a big group of Spanish teenagers playing futbol for awhile, and then headed off to Casa Mila, another one of Gaudi’s great works. We had to wait in line for about forty minutes to get in, but it was well worth the wait. The casa was incredible! First of all there are no straight walls, it is circular so that each room has natural light, and there are giant chimneys and sculptures covering the roof. The roof was my favorite part, I walked around up there for a long time looking out over the city and taking all of the beauty in. His architecture is just so bizarre I can’t do it justice in words. We walked around afterwards; they have some of the most darling apartment buildings in the world here and eventually found our way to the Cathedral del Mar. We rested our legs for twenty minutes or so and just sat in the dimly lit cathedral taking in the simple yet beautiful ambiance. Erika, Rachel, and I had a great conversation about the Holy Ghost while we were resting and it just made me so thankful to have friends who have strong testimonies of Jesus Christ. After the cathedral the beautiful displays of Gelato ice cream pulled us into an heladería and I enjoyed the tasty treat of Pistachio and chocolate ice cream. Our group broke up and Sarah and I found our way to the dock and sat and watched the boats and talked for the last half hour before the bus picked us up. We had a cereal night again when we got home and then I played a few speed tournaments before I went to bed. Sarah and I got up early to go for a run along the beach and it was incredible once again, I feel like I could run forever when I have the beach next to me. Breakfast was incredible again and we managed to smuggle a sandwich and fruit out for our long day today. Well the bus is about to drop us of for our last day in Barcelona and it is going to be great!
29/03/08
Yesterday was fabulous. A big group of us had an Olympic morning as we took the vinicular up to Mount Jout where the Olympic games of 1992 were held here in Barcelona. We went to the sweetest museum which showed the development and highlights of almost every sport in both the summer and winter games. There were television screens everywhere which were constantly playing highlights of Olympic history throughout the years and then at the end of the tour there were six or so televisions that you could play with and select whichever Olympic event you wanted to watch. I watched a lot of Michael Jordan and the Dream Team and of course some amazing gymnastics routines. We were all getting so excited for the Olympics this summer! After the museum, Sarah, Erika, Rachel, and I left because we wanted to see the Picasso museum. It was located back behind several alleyways and it felt so awesome winding our way to the entrance. The states don’t have anything like these darling alleys where you look up and see terraces with flower pots and clothes hanging dry, or at least I haven’t found them yet. I loved the museum, Picasso started painting when he was thirteen and his work is amazing. It showed the different stages of his work and how he eventually developed into abstract art which we see most of today. The museum was interesting because it shows that Picasso really was a genius artist, although he painted very abstract in his later art, he was a master at painting realistically as well. We all said ice cream at the exact same time when we finished and so we stopped and ate a delicious cone to give us some energy for our next very culturally enriching task: shopping. We browsed around in the darling stores of Barcelona for about two hours and I got a funky pair of sandals which I love. Everything in the stores was so cute, but usually very expensive. We found our way onto a side street when Sarah said that she smelled Indian food. We kept looking and came upon this ultra sheik restaurant lounge with red walls, zebra covered couches, and glowing candles. We looked at the menu and were sold. We split the most delicious appetizer of humus, pita, and vegetables, the humus was the best I have ever eaten and I think I’ve tried almost every kind. Then I ordered fajitas, and you are probably thinking that fajitas are not an Indian food, but the chicken was cooked in curry so it was. The food was absolutely delicious, I had a bite of everyone else’s plates and each was fantastic. We sat and talked in the lounge for a long time and then wound our way back down Las Ramblas to the bus. Barcelona is an incredible town, but to me it doesn’t feel like Spain because there are endless amounts of tourists and everyone speaks English. Barcelona is like an amazing European tourist vacation spot, which I have fallen in love with. I definitely am not ready to leave Barcelona; I could spend another week here and still not see everything, so hopefully I’ll be able to come back some day.
We got back to the hotel and started up a dance party in room 111, which turned into a bridal shower for Brittany when Andrew, one of the four guys from our group, came in as our fully clothed stripper. He danced with her and talked in this hilarious German accent and then left. I could hardly breathe it was so hilarious. We all had pitched in and bought her this cute little Spanish number which she loved and then she had to take off to go chat with her fiancée on the internet. I could never be engaged and be living in a different country! After the dance party around eleven, Dani, Suzie, Erika, Sarah, Natasha, Rachel, and I decided to go take a dip in the Mediterranean. It was exhilarating and the adrenaline rush kept us from feeling the freezing cold water too much. Just thinking about it makes me laugh out loud, it was definitely one of my favorite experiences in Spain. We walked back to our hotel, washed off, put on our pajamas, and topped off the night with two hilarious episodes of The Office. Well I’m going to go get ready to have my last run on the beach and then get on the bus for the eight our drive home! I love Spain!