!Barcelona!

I spent a four day weekend in Barcelona, visiting my Spanish brother Hector. I had a fantastic time -- I loved the city and the company and would go back any day. My Spanish even improved. By the end of the 4 days, I had picked up two often used words: joder and vale. Vale means, ok or alright and is used by everyone. Joder can be translated as a 4 letter word beginning with f, but it doesn't have the same connotation-- you can use it with almost everyone, or at least in casual situations.

Since Hector is a working man, I spent parts of the days on my own in the city, doing the touristy things, and I'm proud to say that (for the most part) I found my way around without any problems, and could do basic things in Spanish. I'll put some of my pictures here, but since there are a lot, here are links to see more:
album 1
album 2

On Thursday, Hector taught me how to make Catalonian sandwiches, called pa amb tomàquet (Barcelona is in the Catalanian district of Spain, so the people speak Catalan in addition to Spanish and most locals have a strong Catalonian heritage), which involves rubbing a juicy tomato on bread, drizzling with olive oil, and then adding the normal toppings. They were delicious!


Then I went to the old downtown, where I saw tons of touristy things, and loved them all.

*in front of casa mila, also known as la pedrera (the quarry) by architect antoni gaudi*

*casa batllo by gaudi*

*la rambla, a famous street now filled mostly with tourists*

*placa reial, the most beautiful square in barcelona. the lamposts are designed by gaudi*

*video of the cathedral*

*inside the cathedral*

*monument to christopher columbus (he's pointing east though...)*

*the arc de triomf*

The next day, my touristy agenda consisted of going to the famous church La Familia Sagrada and the mountain Montjuic, which hosts a castle, museums, the olympic statium and many gardens. The church was gorgeous.

*La Sagrada Familia (the sacred family)-- this side of the church has the birth facade, telling the story of Jesus's birth. The other side of the church features the passion, the death of Christ*

*La Sagrada Familia, the Passion scene*

I couldn't find the proper train entrance to get to Montjuic, so after consulting a map I decided that it wouldn't be too hard to just walk to the mountain. In theory, I was correct, but in practice, I made a very silly decision. I ended up walking a LOT, only to find that the paths I expected to connect did not, and that the paths that would usually exist were under construction. So, I walked about halfway up the mountain, then back down, then to the train station where I finally succeeded in finding the proper train. The main issue was that I had bought new shoes, so my feet were in a ton of pain by the time I found the top of Montjuic, making it difficult to walk around and explore all that it had to offer. But what I saw I really liked, so in the end it was ok.

*view of barcelona on the way to montjuic*


*jardin miramar, on the side of montjuic*

*in the Olympic Stadium*

That night Hector had a small dinner party for his friends, so I got to meet really friendly and interesting Spaniards, who taught me about some helpful Spanish phrases, the history of the Spanish flag, typical Spanish jokes, etc.
Saturday we had lunch with Hector's family, which was one of my favorite things-- they were so lovely! His grandparents cooked delicious food, and even though communication wasn't so easy, I think we all really enjoyed each other's company.

*Hector's family: Hector, Aunt Montser, Mom Puri, Grandma Isabel, Grandpa Rate*

Later, I went to parc guell, which has a beautiful view of the city as well as more works by Gaudi.

*parc guell*

*the gaudi bench in parc guell-- the mosaic is made out of glass bottles, porcelain faces from dolls and other "trash"*


*sitting on the gaudi bench*

At night, we walked around the city, then went to a birthday party for some of his friends at a chinese restaurant. I was surprised and delighted to find out that the restaurant gives little gifts to their customers-- all of the girls got bracelets!

Sunday we woke up late and got breakfast from one of the local bakeries, then ate in the quiet and relaxing streets by the technical school.

*breakfast*

I was sad to leave, having had so much fun exploring the city and spending time with Hector. Barcelona is such a beautiful city, but I didn't find it to be too touristy or "unreal"-- it was just a historical city with some great features and a relaxing atmosphere. Altogether, my trip was the perfect combination of touristy sites and everyday life, with a Spanish brother thrown in :)