Barcelona BABY!

Our flight landed in Barcelona a little after 11 pm. I was very productive on the 3 ½ hour plane ride. I read most of a book and part of another. This was a major success, because being gone for 3 weeks during the school year I needed to accomplish some serious studying during these trips in order to be prepared for my finals when I returned. At the airport while waiting for the bus to town I met a fellow Duluthian! A guy my age named Jordan who grew up in my favorite city. What a small, small world!
We missed the last metro into the city because it was so late… so we ended up walking to where we were staying. This was a bit problematic because the directions I was given relied on the metro. We also didn’t have the best map in the world. Eventually we made it after asking a few police officers and random people along the way. Now let me tell you about where we were staying… There is this web site called couchsurfing.com. Basically you create a profile and then start contacting people from around the world that live in the places you want to visit. After sending nearly 20 messages to people living in Barcelona Colleen responded and agreed to let Calysta and I crash at her place for a couple nights. All of this is completely free! I was a bit nervous going into this because it definitely ahs the potential to be dangerous. Colleen is an American graduate student finishing her masters in Spain. She has 2 lovely Spanish roommates, Luce and Anna. I felt bad ringing their bell at 1 am but Colleen was more than happy to see us. She showed us around their small apartment and then we headed to sleep. There was a couch and a mattress. All the necessities!



In the morning the girls gave us tips on where to visit, places to shop, and things to try. Going into Spain completely clueless, they saved me! After showering we headed into the city. The weather was in the mid 70’s. For me that is a beautiful summer’s day. For the Spanish that is a winter day. I received so many strange looks for walking around in sandals and shorts as they walked around in winter coats and boots. Ha-ha.

I was so thrilled to see palm trees and a clear blue sky.
First we walked along La Rambla, the main street. Along this are all of the tourist traps, street vendors, and mimes. Because it was quite early, for Spanish standards, we were able to see the performers put on their makeup. It is an extensive process. Lots and Lots of makeup.


About halfway up the street is the market, or La Boqueria. So many delicious fruits, veggies and candies. They also sell whole pigs and cattle legs.



We each bought a fresh juice and some fruit and sat down for breakfast.

From there we took the metro to Parc Guell, the Gaudi Park.

The architecture here is absolutely beautiful and crazy. Mosaics cover everything and buildings take on unimaginable shadows.




From here we walked down towards the port. Along the way we passed the other Gaudi houses and Passieg de Gracia , the ritzy shopping district.


We stopped at the grocery store and bought a couple things to hold us out for the trip. We sat on the ports board walk and ate dinner watching the sun set over the Mediterranean.


Afterwards we went into a mall area and sat down at a café to write some post cards.

Since the area was pretty dead I put my purse and camera on the floor next to my feet. Completely absorbed in my post cards I was pretty surprised when a man next to me stood up and dropped a tea cup. I thought it was kind of an awkward reaction on his part, but went back to writing. Luckily as I looked down I noticed my camera moving… into a man coat sleeve. He was strategically seated write behind me to grab my things after his friend distracted me with the cup. I snatched my camera back from him and yelled at him. He denied taking it and just got up and left in a hurry. Man, my heart was pounding. My first close call with a pickpocket. After that I was extremely careful with my things.
Thursday Morning we woke up and took the metro to the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family). This is another one of Antoni Gaudis many masterpieces in Barcelona. This is his most famous, a stunningly ornate temple, also the symbol of Barcelona. The building was started in 1900 and still isn’t finished to this day.




The city’s goal is to have it finished by 2026, the centenary of Gaudi’s death. Unfortunately we were told by the Spanish girls that the Spanish government has decided to build a high speed train directly underneath the structure. They aren’t sure if the building with be able to support a massive tunnel beneath it. So… it may soon collapse. Hmmm. We didn’t go inside because the line was wrapping around the church and we had so many other things to see in our short trip to Barcelona.
From there we walked down through the Arc de Triomf and a park where we came across a beautiful fountain, The Cascada built in 1875.


Next stop… the Mediterranean Sea! We bought a bottle of cheap white wine and settled into the sad for a relaxing afternoon. There were people trying to sell you things all along the beach. Coconuts, beers… and massages. After about the 20th Asian woman asking me if I wanted a massage I caved. 5 euro’s buys you 20 minutes. Not bad if I do say so myself.




Sun and wine didn’t sit well for Calysta so she was quite sick the remainder of the day, but we kept walking. We returned to La Rambla where I bought some souvenirs. I found that it works in my advantage to be a young, decent looking gal. Especially for me the prices were cut in half and then in half again after I batted my pretty little lashes. Haha. If I really did my best I could get things for dirty cheap. High five! Unfortunately this was also a disadvantage in Barcelona as well. The men are extremely straight forward and will say anything that is on their mind. I had some pretty dirty things said to me. Everywhere we walked it was impossible to avoid cat calls and blatant stares. For this reason and the pickpocket issue Spain felt a little risky to me. Of all the places I’ve visited, Spain has been the most unsafe. Calysta also made me aware that being an Asian she was automatically pinned as a tourist. We had to be especially careful of pickpockets for this reason. It is well known that many Asians can’t use their cards within Europe and therefore have to carry around large sums of cash. Great… Thanks God we’re as lucky as we are.
Friday morning we walked to the highest point in Barcelona, Parc de Montjuic. This is also where the 1992 Barcelona Olympics were held. The view is breathtaking… and so is the walk up. This point sits only a few meters taller than the Sagrada Familia, because according to Christian tradition, God’s creation must be bigger than mans.

There is even a chairlift type thing that takes you to the top, but being poor students, we had to walk. Afterwards we took the bus down to do some shopping. There is a major European brand called Zara that is based in Spain. We visited their flagship store and bought a couple things.

Calysta was the big shopper. I mainly just looked. That evening we all played cards and drank wine back at the apartment. One thing that was hard to get used to in Spain was the eating times. People eat lunch at 3 and if you eat dinner before 8 it’s just plain weird. A famous Spanish expression is “I have all the time in the world”. So we didn’t leave for Tapas until 10. Tapas was great!


Basically we went to a bar and ordered 10 appetizers that we all split. It was a great way to try many different new foods. The seafood rice was probably my favorite. I was so thankful to have Anna and Colleen with us to help us order. We would have been lost without them. Many people don’t speak English very well in Spain.
Our last day we helped the girls ready the apartment for Halloween and figure out what to wear for their costumes. Anna and I went to the supermarket to buy pumpkins. Along the way she told me about some traditional Catalan holidays.
1. tío– a log character that children beat with sticks until it “poops” out presents at Christmas time.

2. Caganer – A pooping man – a lovely addition to any and every nativity scene. It comes in a variety of characters, even the pope and Obama. This has been a tradition since the 17th century!


She also showed me some special Christmas chocolates that I bought to bring home in December. It was sad to leave beautiful Barcelona; warm weather, breathtaking views, great hosts, and the value of the Euro.