Barcelona!

Some political building famous for when they hosted the Olympics; they had an amazing fountain show with lights on weekend nights.



Jane and I in front of a view of the city



My real Spanish friends! Astrid and Iosune



Inside the Barcelona Cathedral



A tiny part of the outside of la Sagrada Familia


March 23, 2010:

This weekend I went with a group from the university to Barcelona. My two roomies and my friends Jane and Michelle went, too, so we had a good group! We also met two ACTUAL SPANISH girls and made good friends with them. I was excited about that, because I really do spend the majority of my time here with other foreigners. Anyway, after realizing how long it took to tell my parents and Wesley about this weekend, I realize that I could probably write several pages about the weekend, and still not tell it all. But for the sake of brevity, I’m going to only mention the highlights of the trip. And one more thing, Barcelona is in the province of Catalunya, where they speak Catalán. Therefore, the signs were written all in Catalán, and the people spoke Catalán first, and Spanish second. But English was actually more prevalent in the city than Spanish, because of all the tourism. So, it really didn’t feel like I was in Spain at all!

Okay, so Friday afternoon when we arrived, we went to la Sagrada Familia, a huge cathedral designed by Gaudí over a hundred years ago, and it is still under construction. A lot of cathedrals and buildings are under construction here for renovation, but la Sagrada Familia has yet to be completed. Yeah, it’s that amazing. I’ve never seen such an intricately designed building; it was breathtaking! While we were downtown, I made a trip to Starbucks, which was definitely a high point of the day. Later, the bus driver got lost trying to find our hotel, so we hired a taxi driver to follow to the hotel. But he got lost, too! So it took us almost an hour and a half to find our hotel in northern Barcelona. I would have been annoyed, since we’d already been on the bus for half the day, but it was just so ironic, we had to laugh! I mean, we ARE in the age of GPSs aren’t we, people!?

Saturday we spent the day with our tour guide. We saw the Barcelona Cathedral, also amazing, and some Roman pillars that had been part of the foundation of the city more than 1,000 years ago! The richness of the history of these Spanish cities never ceases to amaze me. We also saw the boatyard, where there are about 10 cruise ships docked at a time. Barcelona is second only to Miami in cruise stop destinations.

Sunday we had a free day, so we spent the morning in Gaudí’s Parque Güell. Famous with good reason, this park had benches and pillars and houses, all designed with Gaudi’s distinct and intricate style. In the early afternoon, we took the metro down to the beach, but it was very cold, so I didn’t get to sunbathe as I was hoping. Before we left, I made sure to grab Starbucks one more time! I don’t even go to Starbucks THAT much at home, but it’s just more special here, because there isn’t ONE where I live. Anyway, so that’s a little bit about my trip to Barcelona. Jane and I are heading to Zaragoza this weekend, so next time I write, I’ll tell you all about it!