Kassel Kev and Germany Gina Week

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After weeks of eagerly looking forward to my parent's visit to Barcelona, I finally got to spend a week with them in my city. My parent's visit to Barcelona came at the perfect time because they were here for Thanksgiving. Their visit was also important to me because they reminded me of how close I am to returning to the United States, and that I need to appreciate my final days in Barcelona. This blog covers a longer period of time than any other travel blog I have posted thus far so the style of this post will be a little different than my other posts.

Saturday, November 19: I greeted my parents at the Barcelona airport on Saturday afternoon. I was very excited to see them walk through the baggage claim gates after not seeing them for more than two months. I brought them to Plaza Catalonia and their hotel on La Rambla via the Aerobus. They were surprised with the electricity in the hotel, as I was in Girona when I stayed in my first Spanish hotel. They were amazed because in order to turn on the lights in the room, you need to put your hotel key into a slot reader in the wall. This prevents people from leaving the hotel lights on when they aren't in the room. Their first day in Barcelona was slow and easy after a long day of traveling. We went to Plaza Real for dinner, the place where I went for my first pub crawl. They loved Plaza Real because it reminded them of Santa Row. Afterwards, we went to my favorite bar in Barcelona: La Ovella Negra. Upon walking into the dive bar, my dad turned to me and said, "Mike, this is the biggest dive bar I've been to. It's the all-time low." This cracked me up because I knew he would love this bar. Both of my parents said it reminded them of The Hut at Santa Clara. While we were having a tertulia at one of the tables, an Australian man literally dropped into our conversation because he fell back in his chair. We talked to him for a while and shared some laughs with him. He taught us how to say "good day mate" with an Australian accent. His friends at his table literally pulled him back to their table after a while and we headed back for my parent's hotel.

Sunday, November 20: We went to the most famous Catholic pilgrimage site in Spain, Montserrat. Montserrat is a mountain and monastery, west of Barcelona, literally meaning "jagged mountain" in Catalan because of its multiple mountain peaks. The views from the mountain, the basilica, and the Black Virgin statue were all impressive. On our return to Barcelona, we shared a family joke. When I was a toddler, my mom would tell me we have ten more minutes until we need to leave. I would then reply, "and then five more minutes, and two more minutes, and one more minute." She always thought I was trying to buy more time in these increments. However, I was trying to tell her I wanted her to tell me when I had five, two, and one more minutes until we needed to leave. Anyways, the train back to Barcelona kept on getting delayed. My parents and I joked around saying the train would come in ten more minutes, and five more minutes, etc. The train finally arrived and we made it back to Barcelona. I gave my parents a tour of Sarria that evening. They were amazed that there were so many parents with their children walking around the neighborhood and through the parks at dusk because this doesn't usually happen in the United States. They enjoyed the tour and our trip to Bar Tomas that night. Afterwards, they met Fernanda and Alberto for dinner at my home stay house. We all went to mass at the church in my neighborhood and ate dinner at the house afterwards. My parents were impressed with the friendliness of Fernanda and Alberto and loved their hospitality. They learned a lot about Catalan culture, politics, and economics over dinner that night. It was an important day for Fernanda, Alberto, and the entire country of Spain because Spain elected a new president that night: Mariano Rajoy, representing the People's Party, the conservative party of Spain. Rajoy was elected by a landslide and we learned from Alberto and Fernanda that the Spanish presidential elections were moved from April 2012 to November 2011 because the debt and unemployment crisis in Spain is extremely severe right now. We had a great night with them and my parents are now friends with Fernanda on Facebook.

Monday, November 21: My parents walked around the Barri Gotic while I was in Spanish class on Monday morning. Afterwards, we went to lunch at Cafe d'la Acedmia in the Barri Gotic. My parents really liked the old twisty streets of the Barri Gotic. The Barri Gotic is a unique place in Barcelona because its the oldest place in the city, and its narrow streets testify to this. We went to the Cathedral in Barcelona later that day. We spent an hour in there and I learned more about the Cathedral that day even though I have been there multiple times. I learned that the cathedral is dedicated to Saint Eulalia, the female patron saint of Barcelona. Her catacomb was quite impressive and can be seen in the cathedral. I also discovered that there is an atrium and fountain of Saint Eulalia adjacent to the cathedral, which were absolutely beautiful. We ate dinner in Plaza Real later that night with Christian at an Italian restaurant. They enjoyed meeting Christian and we talked about the grade changes by the computer hacker at Santa Clara.

Tuesday, November 22: We went to Tarragona on Tuesday, a beach-side city one hour south of Barcelona. Tarragona is known for its ancient Roman ruins, most notably its Roman amphitheater. We walked around the city and saw the amphitheater, Cathedral, and Roman walls. Tarragona was cool because I got to see Roman ruins, something that I hadn't yet seen in Europe. My parents and I were surprised that there were very few people on the streets in Tarragona. My friends from IES told me that the city was more active when its sunny because people like to go to the beach, but it was still odd to see so little people. We had dinner at Cien Montaditos that night. The name of the restaurant literally means 100 small sandwiches. My parents liked the concept of Cien Montaditos and had a fun time with me that night.

Wednesday, November 23: My parents went to Park Guell and La Sagrada Familia in the morning while I was in Spanish class. My parents were impressed with La Sagrada and enjoyed their tour. It was cool for my dad because he visited La Sagrada 30 years ago when he was studying abroad in Kassel, Germany. La Sagrada Family is still in the process of being built, and much of it wasn't built when he visited it 30 years ago. He said that the inside of the basilica wasn't built when he visited it. After 1992, the year of the Barcelona Olympics, the construction of the basilica sped up because Barcelona became more of a tourist destination. I brought my parents to Port Veil later that night. We wen to La Champagneria, as is custom for everyone I show around Barcelona. My mom loved it because of its authenticity and champagne. I showed my parents the beach clubs afterwards. Instead of partying, we had dinner next to the clubs in the Olympic Port. My friends Ally and Leslie met us for dinner. I ate baby squid and my dad was shocked that I was trying new foods, as well as eating tomatoes in Barcelona.

Thursday, November 24: My parents and I went to Mount Tibidabo on Thursday. We took the metro to Plaza of John F. Kennedy. My parents were reminded of JFK's speech in West Berlin when they saw the name of the plaza. They told me about his famous speech to the citizens of Berlin, "Ich bin ein Berliner." We joked around about the speech because they told me that his words, "Ich bin ein Berliner" literally meant "I am

a donut." We took the funicular up the mountain and I showed them different parts of the Barcelona skyline, including my neighborhood and Plaza Catalonia. They also liked that we could see Montserrat from the back-side of Mount Tibidabo. We spent some time looking around the two churches at Tibidabo and continued our sightseeing. My dad was afraid of heights Laberinth and got scared every time we approached the edge to look out at the city. Afterwards, we went to the Park. It was my first time in the park so it was a cool and new experience for all of us. I think the park is prettier than any other park in Barcelona, especially the gardens in the park. We went to my home stay that night for Thanksgiving Dinner. The word for "Thanksgiving" in Spanish is "El Dia de Accion de Gracias." Fernanda cooked a Thanksgiving turkey, mashed sweet potatoes, and stuffing. My mom said that it was the best turkey she has had because it wasn't as dry as her Thanksgiving turkeys. It was cool to have my parents with me in Barcelona that night because I got to spend Thanksgiving with them. I wish that Meghan could have been here too but she had fun in Massachusetts because she got to visit her friends in Georgetown for Thanksgiving.

Friday, November 25: Friday was Idaho Day in Barcelona because we met up with two of my friends from Idaho, Amy and Tricia. First, we had lunch with my friend Amy from Santa Clara. I met AMy during my sophomore year at Santa Clara because we both went to New Orleans for a service trip during Christmas break. She's from Sun Valley, Idaho and is studying abroad in Freiburg, Germany. My parents studied in Frieburg when they were my age in the same program as Amy. It was cool for them to talk to Amy because they all experienced the same study abroad program. My mom also liked talking to Amy because both of them were from Idaho. Afterwards, we visited the Arch of Triumph in Barcelona. The Arch of Triumph was built for the world exposition in the early 1900s. We also visited the Parc de la Cuitadella, meaning "The Park of the City" in Catalan, which was also built for the world exposition. I brought my parents to the various points of interest in the park: the Catalan Parliament Building, the mammoth statue, and Guadi's Fountains. I showed my parents the entrance of the Barcelona Zoo in the park, to which my dad replied, "this is the only place in Barcelona where you can see the bulls fight and the flamingos dance in Barcelona." The Later that day, we went to the Guadi House, Casa Batllo, on Passeig de Gracia. It was my first time in this house and I was blown away with the architecture. The house was built for a family in Barcelona in the early 1900s and displays Guadi's style of architecture. I was impressed with the way Guadi used color and light in the house. For example, in the main stairwell, the tiles on the walls were darker towards the top because the sunlight from the ceiling was more intense at the top. We met Tricia that night for dinner. Tricia goes to school with my cousin Sarah at Gonzaga and is studying abroad in Florence, Italy. She also went to Bishop Kelly High School in Boise, the same high school as my mom. At the restaurant, my dad told our waiter that my name is "Senor Miguel." The waiter cracked up at this and we joked around with him the entire night. Afterwards, we all went to Chupitos. My mom and Tricia liked Chupitos because of the fire performances at the bar. Next we went to Le Cyranos, "the mythical place." We were having a tertulia when a man at the table next to us reached over to our table and grabbed some of our popcorn. We starting talking to him, Alexander, and learned that he spoke German. My parents loved talking to him in German because they got to utilize their "second language." I repeatedly whispered to my dad, "tell him you're a donut, tell him you're a croissant" because of the JFK Berlin speech my parents told me about. After giving Alexander some context of the JFK speech, he finally told him "I'm a donut" in German.

Saturday, November 26: We went to Montjuic and Plaza Espanya on the final day of Parents Week. Montjuic literally means "the mountain of Jews" in Catalan. The Barcelonans outcasted the Jewish people to Montjuic and this is how the mountain obtained its name. We walked around the MNAC palace and Olympic Stadium on the mountain. It was cool to fun to see the track where the opening ceremonies occurred for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. During the opening ceremonies of the '92 olympics, an archer shot a lit arrow into a torch bowl to light the torch. My mom took a picture of my dad and I posing as if we were archers shooting an arrow into the torch bowl. We continued to walk up the mountain and arrived at the Montjuic Gondola. We rode up the gondola with a view all over Barcelona. At the top, we walked around the Castle of Montjuic. This is officially my favorite place to visit in Barcelona. You can see for miles up there: the mountains, the ports, the sea, and the city of Barcelona. We watched the sun set towards the south and then headed down the mountain. When we reached Plaza Espanya we went inside the Arena of Barcelona. It was once a bullfighting ring but now it is a mall and tourist attraction. The people who renovated it into a mall also lifted the entire bullring one story off the ground to make room for more stores in the mall. We watched the fountain light show before dinner. It was a very beautiful sight because the row leading up to the MNAC Palace was lit up and fountains were spurting water. After dinner we went to Plaza Catalonia for the grand finale before my parents left. The fountains in Plaza Catalonia were also lit up and on display. It was a great end to our week of sightseeing in Barcelona. We took our last picture and I walked my parents back to their hotel before saying goodbye to them.

I loved seeing my parents and showing them my city this week. I got to see them and many parts of Barcelona that I had never seen before. I'm extremely grateful for having two loving and amazing parents and I'm looking forward to seeing them again in Denver.

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