Tour of Barcelona

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¡Hola!

This is going to be a long one. Yesterday (Tuesday) morning I did a bit of exploring in Barcelona--I was interested in seeing the Olympic Village of 1992. Instead I found the Arc de Triomf of Spain (built in 1888 for the Universal Exhibition held in Barcelona) and the Parc de Ciutadella, which was originally a fortress built to allow Felipe V to control the city of Barcelona during the 1700s. It was later demolished during the revolution of 1868 and, for the Universal Exhibition, turned into a HUGE park that contains the Zoo, lots of grass, and some cool art. I took lots and lots of pictures.
As I was heading back to my hotel, I walked by a sidewalk cafe at which a few people were enjoying some pasta with pesto... I walked by, did a smell-double-take, and turned around to eat there. It was literally the best pesto I've ever had. So I took a picture of that too.
In the afternoon my program met up for a tour of the Barrio Gotico (Gothic quarter) ending at the Museo de Picasso. We saw lots and lots of old buildings, even from the Roman Empire--the tour guide laughed when she showed us 2000 year-old columns from a temple of Augustus and then said that she laughed because our country is so young that we can't really wrap our heads around this. We stopped at the Catedral of Barcelona, which is absolutely beautiful. Bonus: a group of white ducks lives in the cloister! At this point my camera ran out of batteries. We then walked to the Picasso Museum, which shows a collection his works chronologically; it is interesting to see how his art changed between ages 14 and 90. The art there was donated by Picasso, his secretary, and his second wife, and was opened in the '60s (before he died).
You may or may not have noticed I've been walking all day at this point, so I power-walked back to the hotel just so I could sit down. Sitting down led to sleeping.
Today my program met in the morning to see two of Gaudi's most famous works: La Sagrada Familia (a church that is still under construction and won't be completed for maybe 25 years) y La Pedrera (an apartment building). His thought process and ideas are interesting, but I'm not a huge fan of the actual aesthetic. Except, the inside of La Sagrada Familia was incredible: enormous white, blue and purple columns up to a very intricate ceiling with golden star-like designs.
On the way back we stopped to have tapas: I'll tell about my tapas experiences when I'm in Granada and have fewer buildings to talk about. Tonight I go to the Festival of Saint Juan on the beach--dancing and fireworks. Apparently everyone in Barcelona is going to be there! I have to meet them all before we head to Madrid tomorrow.

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Comments

[your momma]

barcelona
twas thrilling! to read what all you've seen and learned, and eaten and walked in barcelona. i hope the festival on the beach with fireworks was as fantastic as it sounds. so you're saying, you find gaudi's work gaudi? kevin sends his love too, i think. l, m