Monday, November 28, 2005
Barcelona Weekend
Ecola, Katie, Lynn, Niki and took off for a weekend in Barcelona, a city of even later nights and earlier mornings than Paris (and that is saying a lot). Upon arrival, there were immediate problems as we had arrived too late to take the public transit into the city, and too early to move into the chosen hostel. However, we were lucky enough to find a Hostel off of the famous and lively Las Ramblas. After dropping off our stuff we headed out to an apartment/bar, hidden away in Barri Gøtic. Lynn doesn’t believe this, but it was Sherlock Holmes themed and was very intricately and caringly decorated. Lynn and Katie were in dire need of sleep, so they left earlier but promptly got lost. This was not a good thing: they did not have a phone and did not know the city. Luckily, they found their way back, and all was well (except for the creepy man who was intent on coming through the wall to attack Katie and bunk bedding above the kick happy Ecola). We all survived the night, except for Lynn who could not wake up and just switched beds to avoid attacks. We moved to the new Hostel, which was livelier and cleaner, and met up with a bunch of UofC students from other study abroad programs including Bex, Anita, Annie Margret, Tim, and Rico.
Ecola, Lynn, Tim, Rico and I split off and formed our own tour group of the city. Ecola was alpha dog, and served as guide. First, we found our way to the Picasso Museum that specializes in his earlier works, which is a perfect before going to the Paris Picasso Museum that specializes in his cubist works. The highlight here was his crazy sketches from his childhood and his study of the Vélåazquez’s Las Meninas Ecola was an ideal guide for this museum, being an artist herself. She corrected me in pointing out that it is actually the shadowy figure of José Nieto that is the focus of Picasso’s interpretation of this painting.
After Picasso, we headed to a tapas lunch and the Cathedral de Barcelona (photos on the website). We then went to The Arc de Triomf (present in many photos) and the Parc de la Ciutadella where we met the Godfather of Ducks, and a duck who would rather fall down a ledge than fly (there were an unusual amount of flightless birds in Barcelona). We explored this area for a while: played soccer with the local kids, found hollow bushes and told far too many Mitch Hedberg jokes. That night we went to this crazy circus style bar called La Fire. There were creepy old signs; a giant devil and most importantly there were swings.
The last day in Barcelona was our designated Goudi day, but we ended up only going to Sagrada Familia. The exterior looks like it is the result of an ADD architect who never actually drew a plan. There are huge spires in front of gigantic stained glass with tiny knights dotting the perimeter. Overall, this building can be described by one adjective: Gaudy.
We spent the rest of the evening walking around that area of the city, watching a bit of a soccer game, going to the bull fight ring, sending off Rico and Tim and of course, and once again far too many Mitch Hedberg jokes. Working our way back to the Arc de Trompf, we met Katie and Niki who were in tears after sending off Annie Margaret, Anita and Bex. They were joyous to later find that Annie Margret had missed her bus, so they joined us for dinner. Ecola, Lynn and I did some quick emergency shopping (I had no long sleeve shirts and they required them all over this city). We then had yet another awesome tapas dinner, only interrupted by a bunch of hero costumed British guys. We then decided to stay up until our early morning flight. Only Ecola and I made it, thanks to some Sangria and Lynn’s Mitch Hedberg mp3s.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hello sage, been looking for the latest info on notenetwork and found Barcelona Weekend. Though not exactly what I was searching for, it did get my attention. Interesting post, thanks for a great read.
Post a Comment