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Published: September 17th 2008
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Stockholm Old Town Well I was still making up my mind the last time I wrote here. But on Saturday afternoon in Stockholm I found a cheap flight to Barcelona, so I bought it. Never before have I bought a flight to another country and less than 24 hours later been on the plane.
First I should quickly explain my one full day of touring Stockholm. It's a very interesting city and has a very beautiful old town. It is set up on small islands, and there is so much to see. For the most part I did my usual walking without a map and seeing what I stumbled upon. I ended up finding the Nobel Museum, like the Nobel Peace Prizes, so I went in for a look. There were lists of all the winners in each category, medicine, physics, peace etc. along with short movies explaining the achievements each winner had made. It was one of the most interesting museums I have been to. I then continued walking around looking at the historical buildings of old town. After a good tour of the city it was back to my hosts for one last night.
Fast forward to Sunday afternoon and
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Barcelona Fruit Market I was getting on a plane for a 3 hour flight to Barcelona. I was met at the airport by my photographer friend (David) that I had met in Norway. We drove from the airport, through Barcelona to his home on the north side of the city, in a different district. He live's here with his wife, mother and 2 and a half year old son. Sunday night I got to meet them all and settle into my room at his awesome house. (300 meters from the beach) Monday I woke up and had breakfast with his family. It makes for some interesting moments. His mother and wife speak no english at all. His wife and I do pretty good at communicating merely by pointing and smiling, and using the very few words of each others language that we know. After breakfast David and I went by train to Barcelona, which took about 10 minutes. We walked the city and I had the luxury of having a tour guide to myself. David has grown up his entire life here, so he knows the city very well. His wife met us for lunch and some more exploring. Apparently a very famous
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Christopher Colombus Monument architecht, Gaudi, that I had never heard of, did all of his famous work in Barcelona. So there are many buildings which are "Gaudi" buildings. His style is very new age, with the use of many shapes and ideas from nature. Gaudi died many years ago, but his works are still considered very distinct.
The most famous of Gaudi's buildings is La Sagrada Familia, which is a church that Gaudi was the project leader for. It get's interesting now though. Construction of the church was begun in 1882. And it's still not finished. You read that right. Over 120 years of construction, and it's still not finished. So you know it's not just a small project. Estimates are that it may take up to another 100 years to finish the church. It is very complex and unique, and of course huge. When Gaudi died he left blueprints for the completion of the church and to this day engineers are working on finishing it. The entire project has and is completely funded only by donations. It's a very odd feeling being in a building that has some parts which are over 100 years old, yet there is scaffolding and workers
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La Sagrada Familia still adding to it. The sight of the building from the outside is overwhelming, and the uniqueness of every square inch make it truly mind blowing. I'll put some pictures which don't do it justice on here.
Today, Tuesday was a fairly relaxing day. It was cloudy so I didn't go lie on the beach, but instead went to another close town with David and walked around. Then we went to the supermarket, so I could get food to make David and his wife some "Canadian" food. Not knowing what to make, I went with the only thing I know that is distinctly Canadian. Poutine. It's actually French-Canadian, but still Canadian. With it I made hamburgers (from scratch), and overall, considering I have never made poutine, it went well. After lunch it was time for a siesta (nap). When I woke up I looked at an atlas with David's wife and showed her where I lived, and answered any questions she had about Canada. It was probably the hardest conversation ever, with or complete lack of words from each others language, but with some of David's help we made it through.
Tonight, I went to the FC Barcelona
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Constuction in progress inside La Sagrada Familia game with David. For those of you who don't know FC Barcelona is a huge name in European soccer, and seeing a game is something I never thought I would have had the chance to do. We arrived at the stadium and I bought a team scarf so I could support Barcelona. Then we went into the stadium. It is one of the newest stadiums in Europe, and it is the biggest stadium I have ever been in. The building seats somewhere around 100 000 people and makes Edmontons Commonwealth seem tiny. The game was against a team from Lisbon, Portugal and was the first major game of the season. There were probably about 70 000 people at the game and the atmosphere was another awesome experience for me. Europeans are as crazy about soccer as Canadians are about hockey, but it has a completely different feel. The game went good for Barcelona, and thankfully there were goals scored, as it ended 3-1 for the home team. It was definitely another high for me on this trip which still has 3 months to go.
Considering Spain is somewhere I have never really thought of visiting, I am absolutely thrilled
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Backside of the church. Built in 1900s with the way it has gone. It also adds to the sentiment that I regarded to in a previous post, about the kindness that people have shown. It's continues to blow my mind. I think I will be in Spain for 2 more days and then make my way to France, where I will undoubtedly see and do more amazing things....
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