Bar-Bar-Barcelona!!!

Despite everything that could have gone wrong with the whole training to Barcelona to catch another train to the airport to meet Mike who hopefully made his standby flight, nothing did! I frantically got off the train pushing past crowds of people with a 50 lb bag over my shoulder to find him leaning against the wall smiling ironically at my confusion. It was awesome! Equally amazing, Metro and hostel were found with relative ease.

I had mixed feelings about coming to Barcelona. Over half of my classmates in Oviedo were pick-pocketed here and had horrifying experiences to share. Also its initial description as a sprawling humid Los Angeles-like city did not immediately appeal to me. But, as with every city I here, I have fallen under its charm. Barcelona has an undeniably Mediterranean feel to it that really took me a second day to fully appreciate. The first day involved a lot of orientation and getting lost and wandering through winding, narrow streets in the Gothic District... all fun, but I couldn't really get a sense of the place. In the cool evening, we had our first, but certainly not last dip, into the salty Mediterranean waters, which was very fun and refreshing. Las Ramblas, the main thoroughfare that connects the old and new towns ending up at the sea and a giant statue of Colombus, has seen too many tourists and no longer deserves a three pyramid rating in Rick Steves' book.

Today was a perfect day for sight-seeing. Sunny and warm, but not too humid, which is many people's complaint of Barcelona. I nearly screamed when we arose of the Metro to see the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece and the symbol of Barcelona. When I first saw pictures of the place, I thought it looked like one of those sand castles that children make by dripping wet sand in a pile. But the "drippy sand" look is really the elaborate and ornate detail of biblical scenes and natural elements. I LOVE GAUDI!!! I'll be honest... I first I secretly called him "Gaudy Gaudi," but now I want my house to be exactly like his Casa Batllo with its mask-like balconies or Casa Mila that doesn't contain a single straight line. As a "Modernist" architect, Gaudi borrowed elements from many previous architectural styles such as the Gothic arch, but improved it with nature-inspired honeycomb ornamentation. The inside of the Sagrada Familia is like a forrest canopy with pilars inspired by trees with gnots and branches and an entire canopy for its roof.

We bought some cheese, sausage, bread, and fruit and picniced in Guell Park, another great site of Gaudi architecture! His ceramic tiles, fruit-like chimneys, and obvious respect for nature and asymmetry are sites to behold. I seriously cannot rave about him enough, and will definitely post pictures soon so you can see what I mean! After that, we had been planning to see the Picasso Museum, but... :( I had my days confused thinking yesterday was was Saturday instead of Sunday. Turns out, the Picasso Museum is closed on Monday, which saddens me IMMENSELY! Seriously, SO sad about it. Instead, we went to the Chocolate Museum, which was fun and delicious! Apparently, Barcelona was a #1 importer of cacao from Mexico, and it traced the history of chocolate from its Mayan and Aztec healing powers to its symbol of status in early Europe to its tastey treat for everyone today! I made Mike try some Spanish hot chocolate... he was not a fan.

Traveling with Mike, btw, is awesome. Whereas I often allow myself to stress about everything and plan too much and rely overly upon Rick Steves, he pulls the book out of my hands and says "You're missing Barcelona!" He is the ying to my neurotic, over-prepared yang, and since he has been here I have not been nervous or homesick or scared once, which is rather nice. Tomorrow we have a long train ride ahead of us to Nice, but we are both excited and ready to get to Italy. Tired from the past two days too, so a long, scenic train ride is just what the doctor ordered!