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Published: September 26th 2012
Barcelona's Glory
The famous and spectacular SAGRADA FAMILIA church designed by architect GAUDI, and still unfinished.The Barcelona Symphony
Last night- our first (and on a holiday weekend) in this Spanish metropolis-we were serenaded by the Barcelona Symphony...every town and city has it's own unique soundtrack, it's musical background that amuses, tempts, frustrates, lulls, frazzles.
The music of la noche...the low throbbing bass beat of a rock band floats from the monumental concrete Forum park across the way on the warm, humid, mediterranean beachfront...the slightly higher-pitched squeal of the steel wheels of the modern electric tram whizzing past..the humming buzz of the many scooters and small motorcycles that zip by, their sounds crescendo and decrescendo as they come and go. Alongside this constant background beat are the punctuations of the mainly male voices. Loud, somewhat inebriated sounding, but non-threatening, they play their part in the musical symphony. Occasionally a quieter female voice slips through. At about 5 am, the music winds down to a whisper and is almost gone. Our fitful sleep that rises and falls with the outside world, settles deeper while the humid air cools too.
Barcelona, Day 1.
A 30 minute train journey from the airport to the city centre under overcast skies ends
THE WAIT
Maureen stands patiently waiting for the train from the airport into central Barcelona after the flight from Canada. Note the lack of Tim's coffee!! up becoming a 2 hr sojourn. We mis-read the directions in the school's
"Welcome to Barcelona" package that says to get off at
Paissez de Gracia station and instead carry on to the end of the line at "
Gran Centre". Gran Centre sounds like the right place to offload, doesn't it? We discuss our taxi needs with a driver outside the terminal, he looks at our destination address written on a little white card, and says in Spanish,
-- "Oh, you want to go into Barcelona?".
--Wait,
aren't we IN Barcelona? (we say in perfect espanol!!)
--No, it's back there, but I can take you there for 50 Euros.
--Muy caro!!---(very expensive)
He consults with his cabby buddies, and returns to tell us we could get back on the train returning to Barcelona and get off at
Sant Andreu, in the middle of Barcelona.
We shake his hand, thank him for his assistance and head back into the train depot where we pay another 3 Euros (about $4) only each, and sit back down for the return trip.
Success!...we get off in central Barcelona, and hit the streets to grab a cab to
Our newest and BEST friend!
The Barcelona Metro takes us to and from our school and just about anywhere else we might want to go throughout the city. Less than $1.50 CAN per trip... our shared apartment in the Forum district, about a 10 minute cab ride through frenzied inner-street traffic.
The taxi driver pulls over in front of a 5 or 6 floor small apartment block, he says it's the one listed on our address card. Our suitcases unloaded, the cab departed, we look up at the building from the curb. Where is the front door, we ponder? Could be one of three glassy doorways...hmm. Like a game show...which to choose? We meander around the edifice and finally decide on the one in the middle of the building. The outside entryway has an intercom but no names attached...just the apartment numbers. Maureen presses the buzzer of the apartment that should be ours...no answer. A lady approaches from inside and opens the glass door...is this the landlady?
Nope, she walks out and carries on her way, but we grab the open door and continue our trek. The dark narrow area inside opens up to an elevator. We climb aboard a small,
tiny small, closet-like elevator that can JUST contain us and our 2 suitcases. 3rd floor up, just like the directions say. The elevator opens into a vestibule area about twice the
SUNRISE from our kitchen window
Looking towards the Mediterranean which is only a 5 minute walk away. size of the elevator...now this would make a decent size elevator. Two clean-line wooden apartment doors open from this double-sized closet, #1 and #2. Knock knock on number 1 ...nothing. Ring the doorbell...a moment later, a quiet,
--Hola --Hola, are you expecting some students who will be staying here for the next 3 weeks? - Si... The door unlocks and a short, white haired, almost senior-aged lady appears. We are home!
Barcelona- Day 3.
First day of Spanish classes in Barcelona. We leave an hour early from our tiny, but modern, shared apartment. The air is fresh and breezy and cool- a nice change from the humid warmth -
and NASTY mosquitoes- of our flat. The Metro subway station we need to take to the centre of the city is just about a 5 or 6 minute stroll away. I coerce Maureen into letting us take a 1 minute detour past a lovely little
hole-in-the-wall pastisseria (fresh bread store) we uncovered yesterday. We pick up a couple of fragrantly warm and fresh croissants to snack on at morning break from the smiley, friendly lady.
We descend down the stairs deep
ANYBODY home??
The front entrance to Babylon-Idioma school...4 hrs a day Monday to Friday...mas espanol por favor! into the rush of air pushing upwards from the train tracks submerged beneath the city. No waiting today. We did a test run on the route to get to our school yesterday and know that the trip will take about 22 minutes.
The Metro is actually less crowded today than yesterday, a local holiday. We expect to see many business-types on the subway but are surprised that everyone is dressed casually...lots of jeans, sandals, t-shirts but no business suit attire on either men or women. Actually, there are quite a few individual parents with babies or toddlers heading out to start their day.
Ten stops along, we hop off the subway train and re-emerge upwards into the central area of Barcelona. The blocks of nearly identical 7 or 8 storey buildings, each about 130 years old are uniformly laid out into perfectly square city blocks. At each street corner the buildings are angled off so that there is a fairly sizable opening into the street corner. Spanish national flags hang from many of the balconies perched over the streets...a remnant from yesterday's fiesta holiday?
Barely one and a quarter blocks away is the entrance to
Babylon-Idioma Spanish Cafe Latte Starts Each Day
Spanish lessons are always easier after a jolt of caffeine at one of our many local cafes. School. A few of the dozens of little stores and cafes between the Metro and our school are beginning to wake up and bits of activity are rising. The smell of espresso permeates the air of each cafe we pass. Soon we arrive in front of the huge pair of wooden doors that house the small school within.
The inner courtyard is quite dark, and we're feeling unsure of where the actual school is inside here. A dark-haired lady flows past us but we grab her and inquire about the school's location.
Arriba, she says...and so up a set of unlit, narrow marble stairs we follow. Sound and light emerge from a room at the top of one flight, and turning left, we find ourselves right where we set out for 3 days and thousands of kilometres earlier.
10 minutes and a smatter of paperwork later, and we're perched in plastic-seated chairs around a sizable boardroom-style table. The room is big, cavernous really. The ceilings are 12 feet high, antique white-plastered, a dusty sort of smell that tells us it's old, with lovely crown moulding and intricate borders. There are 2 sets of 10 foot high windows whose
HOT CROISSANTS!
Larry's Favourite Stop en route to school each morning double glass-paned doors fling open onto the Barcelona street scene below.
Initially, we are the only ones there, but soon the room comes bit by bit to life. One young woman, then a pair of young women, then a few more until there are 8 of us. Larry, the only man. A hum of mostly German chatter sets up until a curly, dark-haired, 35'ish year-old lady enters. The chattering halts. Our instructor Natalia introduces herself to the group. Most of the young people and the instructor appear to be familiar with each other. We quickly find out that we two and a bookishly-pretty Italian, Leah, are the only new members of the group.
And then the first lesson begins.
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Lisa
non-member comment
Envious!
Looks like a great adventure so far, Larry and Maureen! I spent only a few days in Barcelona during University and absolutely loved it! I can't wait to go back one day. Enjoy your time there and good luck with the past tense ;)