Coming into Los Angeles

Thursday, July 31, 2008

I got back to California last night and yes, I know I was not very devoted to updating my blog toward the end of my trip. I had an incredible time in Barcelona, though. Before my trip I really did not know much about Spain, Barcelona or Catalonia. I wanted a relaxing vacation but had no other expectations. I ended up having an unforgettable month in a beautiful city rich with culture, art and history. Being in Barcelona made me excited again about learning, experiencing other cultures, seeing different parts of the world and meeting a diverse group of people. I strongly recommend it to anyone taking a trip to Europe and I hope I will have the opportunity to visit it again in the future.

To make up for my lack of updates I am posting many, many photos with descriptions. Enjoy!

The contemporary art museum in Barcelona. We saw an exhibit on the art of feminist/political artist Nancy Spero.

The Palau de la Musica de Catalunya (Palaca of the Music of Catalonia) at night.

Jen at the fountain in Parc de la Ciutadela.

Jen and Meghan in front of our favorite ice cream shop.

In front of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (National Art Museum of Catalonia).

Jen and I affectionally called each other "Tubs" after we saw this.

This is on a door to a salon in our neighborhood. The lion is getting is hair and nails done. (I love Barcelona.)

The front of Casa Battlo, another building designed by Gaudi. His inspiration for this building was the sea and sealife.

A fireplace inside Casa Battlo, shaped like a mushroom.

The ceiling in one of the rooms of Casa Battlo.

In the backyard of Casa Battlo.

No 70's style clothing allowed.

Inside Casa Battlo. Gaudi used rippled glass for the windows to make it look as if everything was under the sea.

Jen on the roof of Casa Battlo.

A view of Montjuic castle (in the background of the photo) from the roof of Casa Battlo.

The main cathedral in Barcelona.

Geese inside the courtyard of the cathedral. The cathedral keeps geese as a symbol of purity.

At the beach in Barcelona (Jen and I are easily amused).

The beach in Barcelona and the hotel that is being built on the beach.

The beach.

Grafitti on the outer wall of a basketball court. The grafitti reads (in Spanish): "A. Gaudi (for Antoni Gaudi, the architect of all the buildings I visited) does not like gray." Hence, the colorful grafitti. :)

More grafitti.

Me and the view of Barcelona from Montjuic.

The view of Barcelona from Montjuic (the Sagrada Familia church is the large pointy building on the right side of the photo).

At the Joan Miro museum. Miro makes me giggle.

The magic fountain in front of the national art museum. It's like the fountain shows in Las Vegas, only bigger and better and with tons more people. Seriously, it was more crowded than Disneyland during the fireworks show. It was just as interesting to watch the people as it was to watch the fountain; thw whole dark mass at the bottom of the fountain is a crowd of people and you can see the two statues that people climbed up to get a better view.

The art museum during the magic fountain show.

A street in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona.

The entrance to the oldest synagogue in Europe.

The inside of the synagogue, showing the different foundations that were built over hundreds of years.

A view of Montserrat, a monastery in the mountains about 20 miles outside of Barcelona.

At Montserrat, with the mountain in the background.

"La Moreneta" (the black virgin). Legend says that this statue was found in one of the caves in the mountain. When priests tried to move the statue it would not budge, and they saw it as a sign from The Virgin to build a church there.

Jen in Montserrat.

And one last view of my neighborhood, my last night there.

Photos!

Friday, July 11, 2008

First, I wanted to say that I have enjoyed reading the comments and messages from everyone. It makes me happy to be kept up-to-date on what is going on with everyone, even when I cannot see you in person or talk to you on the phone.


Now, on to the photos. I apologize that they are out of order; this is how they uploaded and I can't for the life of me figure out how to get them back in order. I will do my best to explain them, though. Here we go!

On the rooftop of La Pedrera, an apartment building designed by Gaudi in 1912. He took his designs from nature (see the sculpture in the background).

For the Laker fans, Gasol on the side of the Corte Ingles, the giant department store in Barcelona. Barcelonians don't care that the Lakers lost the Finals. :)

Looking down into La Pedrera from the rooftop.

Meghan, Jen and me on the rooftop of La Pedrera.

Me and Meghan on the roof of La Pedrera (the roof was pretty cool).

La Sagrada Familia, a church that was also designed by Gaudi (and still isn't complete).

Barcelona grafitti.

Political grafitti in Barcelona, leading up to the Park Guell (also designed by Gaudi).

Tee hee.

Jen outside of Happy Pills, a kitschy candy store.

Finally, the apartment... this is the terrace...

...and here is the view of the Park de la Ciutadella from our terrace...

...and here is the view of Estacio de Franca (the train station with the semicircle windows) and Avinguda del Marques de l'Argentera (the street we live on) from our terrace...

...the view of Montjuic (the mountain park in the far background) from our terrace...

....and this is the view from our patio in the back.

If you made it this far, I apologize again for the disorganization in the photos. I promise to post more. :)

First Week in Barcelona

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Hello, everyone! I'm being dutiful and updating the blog, just as I said I would. The pictures will have to come a little bit later, but for now I can tell you a little bit of what I've been up to.

The apartment where we are staying is close to the beach in Barcelona. It's off a major street and is on the third floor. There is a beautiful view from the patio of the Barcelona zoo & park to the left and Montjuic, another huge park & hill, to the right. I will be here the entire month with Jen, and right now Jen's friend, Pauline, is visiting with us from Paris.

It has been very hot here since I arrived and we've been doing a lot of walking, but it has been a great way to see the city. Thankfully, Barcelona isn't quite as big as Paris was, so I am able to walk to most places. I am enjoying the atmosphere here; everyone is very casual with their clothing (flip flops, tank tops, etc.) and the afternoon siesta is very nice. Well, actually, we've tended to get a late start to our days, usually heading out at around 4 pm and coming back later at night. The city doesn't sleep at night, either, so on many of the streets there are just as much people out as there would be during the day.

I've gotten to see a few of the tourist-y places, especially Gaudi's works like the Sagrada Familia and the Park Guell. I really liked the Park Guell because I remembered seeing the mosaic bench in the film L'Auberge Espagnole and falling in love with it then.

One night we went out to a jazz cafe to listen to a live band and on the night of the Fourth of July we went to watch a showing of the film Once in a field on the side of a castle. It sounds ridiculous and fabulous when I say it like that, and it was.

I'll be updating more soon; I hope everyone is doing well, be sure to email me with what you are up to!