Barcelona... part 2

So, this will probably turn out to be one of those entries that just jumps all over the place because I have done and seen so much in the last week that I have everything in the world about which to write.

Let me start off by saying that Barcelona is having a little sewer problem so it smells like piss all over the place. This being said, I really did enjoy it and I´m glad I saw it even if I don´t really have too much of a drive to return any time soon. It was nice but I have many other places on the list before I spend the time and money to go back.

After buying our bus tickets for that night going back to Madrid and stowing our luggage at the bus station, Lauren and I played tourists all day. This was the day after the night of the last blog, which admittedly has many errors. I attribute this to that fact that every keyboard I use in Europe is slightly different than the last. I am trying but it´s not easy. And then I go to hostel in Lisbon and use American keyboards again and it´s the hardest thing ever. I need to type more on my own computer I suppose.

ANYWAY... We began by visiting La Sagrada Familia, Gaudí´s most famous project and Spain´s most visited attraction. Let me just say that it really is worth the hype... on the outside at least.

They have been building it for over a hundred years and aren´t anywhere close to finished. I didn´t appreciate how much more work it needs until I saw it in its current state of construction. The inside is still all scaffolding and construction stuff... TOTALLY not worth the 8€ they charged us to go in. You can go up in an elevator inside 2 of the tower deals but it costs extra and you have to wait in line for over 2 hours. I was pissed about this.

The outside is pretty amazing though. the Nativity Facade that Gaudí designed and built himself is the coolest side (obviously). You should Google Image it because it is truly breathtaking. I use that word more often than I should, but it really really is. On this side he had the pointed towers straight and 90º to the street to produce the effect that they are going to fall on you. He was successful. I really felt like my life was in danger, like that whole cathedral was going to fall right on me.

I loved the scenes of this facade, especially the portrayal of King Herod (I´m pretty sure although it´s been a while since I studied my Bible history) throwing babies at the ground to kill them. I don´t know why I have this morbid fascination with killing babies but it can´t be too strange because obviously the Spanish have it too (reference Saturn eating babies paintings in the Prado by Goya and Rubens... ok, well Rubens was from Flanders but still). It just is so dark. I really think this is significant to the human psyche that we have invented all these stories about killing babies throughout our history. And they weren´t all bad guys, go figure. I wonder what it means. Some psychology student out there needs to work on that and get back to me. But seriously, Gaudí put a couple dead babies on the ground around him and one in his hand screaming as he is about to chuck it. Yikes...

The other completed facade, the Passion Facade, depicts the last days of Christ. Now, these statues I really liked as well even though they were very different. They were designed and built by some dude after Gaudí died and they are all post-modern angular expressionistic deals. Most people from Barcelona, and from Spain, hate them. I say that it´s interesting to have statues/decorations different from all the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo stuff that adorns every other cathedral in the world.

This was a beautiful day in Barcelona, too, not like the previous one when it rained all day and was completely freezing. So we took plenty of pictures and headed off for Gaudí´s other work of art in Barcelona, the Park Güell. This was his venture into landscape design and it is very unique. Kinda like La Sagrada Familia in park form. I shall explain.

First, we decided to walk to see more of the city and because the weather was so nice. Little did we know that this park sits on top of a miniature mountain (otherwise known as a hill but I feel like the hike up was so hard that I deserve credit for climbing a little mountain) and it took us about an hour to get there. We did get to see the Barcelona bullfighting ring, though, which was cool. I have now seen the bullring in every city I have visited (even Lisboa, but I will get to that later).

So we walked and walked and walked. At more than one point we thought we were going the wrong way because it´s not very walking friendly. This is because nobody does it because it´s a stupid idea. As I stated previously, miniature mountain.

So we finally arrived and walked all throughout the park. This, right now, is when I wish I could upload photos from my computer onto my blog. I felt like I was in Disneyland in this park. Place yourself in the imagination of Lewis Carroll (or as close as you mortals can) and think of a park he would create. That is Park Güell. I think you should Google Image this as well because there is no way to describe it otherwise. At the end of that hike, valía la pena (it was worth the pain).

After this we marched ourselves down into the city again (the walk down was much easier!) and headed for the Barrio Gotíc. It´s cool. Not amazing. I have seen cooler European neighborhoods. It really wasn´t anything to write home about.

Went to Port Vell which is the newly remodeled and stylish pier section off Las Ramblas. This is the place where we saw IMAX 3-D Dinosaurios Vividos and my old jeans ripped right across the butt when I stood from sitting on the pier at one point. The first thing was more fun than the second.

So now I have seen T-Rexes in 3-D (something I have been wanting to go see at the Madrid IMAX) and I am now down to 1 pair of jeans. As it turns out, all my jeans were too old to make it through 5 months living here. Well, I guess it´s only been 3 months. They have all jumped ship and are tired of me. This sucks. AND I can´t buy any here because they don´t make jeans long enough. As aforementioned at some point, I am the tallest girl in this whole country. This is depressing.

OK, so I walked around for about an hour 90s style with my red stripey sweatshirt tied around my waist until I decided that I didn´t give two shits if people saw the hole. Lauren assured me they couldn´t, but every time I stood for the rest of the day I felt the breeze :)

So before we had to catch our bus we wanted to go visit the rest of Gaudí´s slightly lesser known architectural beauties and we walked through the really trendy designer clothing districts to the Casa Batlló and the Casa Milà (yes I do realize that these accents are in 2 different directions... I don´t understand why because it´s in Catalan which it turns out that I don´t speak or understand very well). As long as you´re on Google Image, don´t leave these 2 out, they are pretty cool.

And since it was by this time dark and nighttime, we were the only ones out at these famous tourist sights and snapped all the solo pictures we wanted, even though they probably would have been better in the daylight.

During this day at some point we also walked by La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de something something which was a cathedral in the middle of the old city, and the palace. I don´t know who lived in this palace but it was probably the royal family of Catalunya. I will have to do more research because I don´t too much about this city. Only that my jeans didn´t like being there.

OH, and the day before all this we visited the Museo Picasso, Spain´s national Picasso museum, which is in Barcelona. Paris has a national Picasso museum that is much better which I don´t understand... Picasso was Spanish. But it´s all good because we got to visit the Paris museum´s collection because it is at the Museo Reina Sofía on Saturday evening.

I really enjoy mordern art, and I especially enjoy Picasso. The great thing about Picasso is that he changed his style all throughout his lifetime. Visiting a collection of his is like visiting that of twenty different artists combined. Seriously, if you didn´t know all those paintings were his you wouldn´t believe it. Plus, there´s nothing better than going to a museum and learning all about an artist whose art you have enjoyed. It is refeshing.

They had some gorgeous Blue Period paintings and all of his Las Meninas collection. This was the collection he did on the theme of Velazquez´s (and arguably Spain´s) most famous painting that now is the shining star of the Prado, Las Meninas. It was cool to have seen Las Meninas so many times going to the Prado and then seeing all of Picasso´s variations. I appreciated this.

The library lady is giving me the eye and I think she is going to assign someone to my computer right about now. I really hate her. I am finished being nice to her! Those days are long gone, ever since she yelled at me across the library.

I´ll update more later about Lisboa, coolest city ever maybe.