barcelona. (a little late)

hola,

i am so sad to be leaving barcelona. it was a lovely city with so much character. and i didn't get pick pocketed (knock on wood--i still have a long train ride).

there was a girl, renee, walking into the hostel at the same time as me so we started chatting. then we were in the same room and we decided to do some site seeing together. we cruised las ramblas, which is the busiest street in barcelona with tourists and little street performers and roosters and food. my hostel was right off of las ramblas, which was a very convenient location for getting around. we went to the market and had a cup of freshly squeezed juice. it was delicious.

then we took the metro to parque guell. it was marvelous! this is where gaudi lived and everything is designed in gaudi fashion. the idea was to have a park away from the city to escape the pollution. but only a few houses were actually built. i can barely explain the beauty of the architecture. even the trees were slanted.
i saw a school group eating lunch. i miss my students.

we went into gaudi's house and saw his bed, which was very simple--especially compared to all the furniture he designed.




then we walked to la sagrada familia, the church that gaudi designed. wow. breath taking. the whole place is covered in tiny details. most of the original church was damaged in the spanish civil war and so there will be renovations for about 100 years. quite impressive in how he created things. we paid the 10 euros to go inside, but it wasn't really worth that much money.

that night we went out for croquettas (via kelsey's suggestion) and also had some paella. it was good, but i don't understand why it is so expensive. next we went to a little bar and had some drinks and met really nice people. guillaume is from france, but has been working in barcelona for 8 months. he asked me for a date on friday.


thursday i went to the beach with these boys from my room who are from wales. they were in town for the primavera sound music festival. we bought cheese and meat and bread and took it to the beach. it was nice and hot. i managed to get another sunburn on most of my back. the spf 50 that i got must be sooooo good because the part that i could with my hands is very very white. by the time they went to the festival, i was so exhausted so i headed back to shower. then i went shopping. surprise surprise i bought more clothes.

friday i got up and ran and then went to museums. i went to the picasso museum, which was okay. it was a lot of his early work, which surprisingly looks nothing like the picasso that we know. my favorite part was all of his ceramics. really cool things.

then i went to the contemporary art museum. i don't know why i go to them because i don't usually get much out of contemporary art. but there were some cool murals like this one: a whole wall of dart boards and they had darts you could throw.



next i walked to the miro museum. it looked close on the map and then it was all the way up hill!!! i was sweating by the time arrived. but it was really really neat. i illegally took a picture of this painting. really amazing to see all of his art.

this was my favorite i think:

it was on the montjuic hill/park so i saw some really great views.

then i walked the streets of barcelona exploring and looking at all the amazing architecture. i met an old man while trying to figure out where the mailbox was and talked to him for about twenty minutes. he was telling me differences between spanish and catilan.

when i come back next time to europe i am going to photograph/document all the different 1) bathrooms and 2) mailboxes. it is amazing how many different types there are.

i went down passeing de gracia and saw the buildings by gaudi. i saw



la pedrera

and la manzana de la discordia. muy bonita.

then guill and i went out for drinks at a bar and then he took me for the "best mojito en barcelona." it was delicious and will be my new favorite mixed drink.

i must go back to barcelona and spend more time, i think. or maybe a whole other trip for all of spain. i love it here. now i am headed to marseilles to visit jord. he lives on the beach and we are going to go on his friend's boat tomorrow and lay on the beach. sounds lovely.

after marseilles i am going to berlin and then back to holland to be with vivian for a few more days! i can't believe it's almost over.

weight gain: 5 lbs.

hasta luego,
e.