Barca...

Recently, I spent the week in Barcelona with my program. We stayed in a nice hotel in a centrally located area (right next to Plaza Cataluna and minutes from the famous Las Ramblas). My favorite part of the hotel was we had REAL breakfast for a change since Spaniards generally only eat bread and jelly in the morning. Oh, and we had this awesome elevator-like music that we could play in our room all day...which we did. It was soothing. After four days our official visit with the program was over, but the majority of us remained in the city for the weekend. It was at this point that myself, another Tyler, and Manuel went and checked into our hostel, which was called Mambo Tango. Mambo Tango was a neat place. It was run by these two hippie brothers, their mom, and one of their girlfriends. The place was super clean, we got breakfast every morning, and they bumped Bob Marley songs all day across the hostel...oh, and one of the brothers names was Toti; he had dreads and to my knowledge, did not shower or change clothes the three days we were there. Did not matter though because he was a solid guy.

While in Barca, we went to the Sagrada Familia, Parque Guell, and Casa Batllo (all of which were designed by the modernist architect, Antoni Gaudi). We also went to the Picasso Museum, dined at a special restaurant called 4Gats where he and all his intellectuals hung out at all the time, spent time in the Gothic Neighborhood, visited and took a boat tour of the Port, had a presentation from La Caixa--Spain's third largest bank--at their headquarters, got a tour of Cava Freixenet, saw the FC Barcelona Stadium, walked around on the boardwalk of the Mediterranean, went to where the 92 Olympics were held, and went to a bar that was set up like the Stock Exchange--in other words the prices would fluctuate throughout the night.

Now for my more fun observations and accounts of the trip. I was: (1) approached by a hooker (2) from a distance asked by a guy, and I quote exactly, "blah, blah, blah [pause]...cocaine?" (3) rejected with my group to enter this famous jazz bar (apparently too many people)...twice (4) walked a lot as always (5) ate better than any other trip--Barca knows how to do food (6) experienced the Mediterranean Sandwich and its delicious tuna at Pan and Company (7) found Alhambra Reserva in Corte Ingles (see previous posts on Alhambra Reserva and Corte Ingles) (8) went to a local teenage music festival on Sunday (9) watched old couples dance in the streets and (10) walked the world famous Ramblas way too many times.

I took some pictures as always:

'92

Columbus @ Sunset

*best pic i have taken thus far

the barca norm

Part of the Olympic Center

un otro parte

Spain loves mirror imaging or balance in their buildings (i.e. 3 windows on the right = 3 on the left)

museum

fc barca

eto'o!!! i miss last year's orange jersey

sizes of cavas (can't call it champagne).

aging...

we went inside.

this is a trail of caterpillars...life should be shared

parque guell

tunnel @ parque guell

parque guell una vez mas

sin una cabeza

da old port

to use a You've Got Mail Reference: "a lone reed"

buildings

near plaza de colon

casa batllo

inside casa batllo

*this was Gaudi's room
**this house was designed in the early 20th or late 19th century...i forget, but its old; look at the picture above this one again. not many buildings constructed like that today, much less 100 yrs ago.

Picasso's orginal design of the menu @ 4Gats

the entrance

barca port...building bridges (economically)

a fellow photgrapher

*notice cool snakeskin hat
**he was not taking a picture of the Sagrada Familia, but rather having a little photo session with his lady

three wisemen

Sagrada Familia

*this church has been under construction for over 100 years...still got another 20 or so before being finished

inside

no willy loman's here.

stain glass

other side

the greatest story ever told

adorable

he had a little talent...

statue.

*there is a significant story for barcelona of this guy killing the beast below him, but we had been walking a lot. i was also hungry. apologies, for not being attentive.

gothic

brown