Barcelona!

I have a whirlwind couple of days-- arriving home from Barcelona today, lots of errands tomorrow, and flying to London the next, so this is going to be an accordingly whirlwind post: all the great things Katie and I saw and did in Barcelona!

Katie and I at the beginning of the trip.

We found a ride on a French carpool site with a woman and her 13-year-old son.  Cheaper and much faster than the train, we sped across the border of Spain without so much as a slow-down.  The first leg of the drive ran parallel to the Canal du Midi, along which I rode my bike in October, so I got to see many of the places I saw then.. a stroll down memory lane... 4 1/2 hours later, we're among the hills of Barcelona; the lady drops us at the airport and we catch a bus into the center of town.

In front of the National Palace

The National Palace-- in these photos it looks like the Washington or Texas capitol building, but in actuality, it's much more Persian looking.  Sitting atop a hill, with steps, fountains, and boulevards leading to it, it reminded me of something from Aladdin.  It was surrounded by exotic Asian gardens; in front of it, this guitarist was playing:

That first night, in front of the Palace, we watched the Magic Fountain come to life! With lights and music, the orchestrated show was perhaps the most romantic thing I've seen in Europe (considering I saw Paris at Christmas.. that's something). The jubilant atmosphere of the square and the warm night air seemed like a celebration of our arrival!  Welcoming us to a magical city!

La Rambla is the main drag of Barcelona-- the strip for tourists, for strolls to the port, for eating, drinking, for the creative and persistent to make money off of tourists... There are live statues, flower kiosks, artists selling sketches or caricatures, sidewalk cafes..

Eating seafood paella on la Rambla

Most days, we'd explore until the walking and sun wore us out, then we'd take a siesta.  We saw famous Gaudi architecture, walked along the Mediterranean, wound through the narrow streets of the Gothic quarter, past Roman walls and into cathedrals; we didn't rush; we stopped to listen to side-walk musicians or to admire the boats at the port.  At a huge covered market called La Boqueria, we bought garlic-stuffed olives and fruit. It was different than the French markets I'm used to-- there was less bread and more meat-- sometimes quite crude, like tongue or skin or sheep heads with eyes and teeth intact:

Being on the sea, there was lots of fish! And instead of apples, carrots, and cabbages, there were pyramids of colorful tropical fruit:

I bought "pitaya" or dragon fruit because it looked so pretty with its magenta outside and poca-dotted inside.  Turned out to be rather flavorless, unfortunately:

Barcelona is in Spain, where, surprisingly, everyone speaks Spanish!  I never thought to actually pay attention to the little phrases in guidebooks, but we discovered that we couldn't even ask simple questions with our limited vocabulary of hola, por favor, si si, gracias, adios. A few times it was convenient to have two languages at our disposal and we did some business in French. Barcelona is such a tourist city, though, that our vocabulary of hola, por favor, si si, gracias, adios, served us adequately.  We never actually needed anything else (be thankful that you speak English; you can go anywhere!)-- it just would've been a nice touch to be able to big our waiter a good day.

On the roof of La Pedrera, a famous Gaudi building

That's me, under the palm tree

The video above is something we just happened upon in front of a cathedral-- big circles of old people doing a traditional dance that you could tell they had learned in their youth. 

Upon arrivial in Barcelona, I knew little about the city; leaving, I had learned that the mixture of exotic and European, ancient and modern, Spanish and worldly, makes it a difficult place to pin down.  I'll leave you with one of my favorite Barcelona moments:

Katie and I were catching some rays in Park Ciutadella, under a palm tree and some squawking green parakeets.  As we rested our feet, we people-watched.  A couple of guys were slack-lining between two trees; two others were practicing walking on their hands; a shirtless hippie was doing tricks with a ball while his buddy played a metal drum; on the other side of us, a group was ribbon-twirling; a little further off a man was making huge bubbles for the a group of kids; in a gazebo, two guys were hardcore tap-dancing to a friend playing a beat box... Now I've seen all of these things before, but never in the same place at the same time... We wondered if Barcelona was home to an uncommon number of talented people or if everyone's sole occupation was to entertain and awe the visitors.  It's certainly a place where people take their hobbies seriously.  The city feels like a big live circus, where fountains play music, dancers twirl fire, and there's always a spectacle to catch your eye on the street.