Adventures with Andrew and Emma

Thursday morning we ate a crappy breakfast at the hostel and headed out to check out some Gaudi. First we went to his park, I think it was called Parc Guell but I am probably spelling it wrong. It was massive. We to the metro from the hostel and then had to walk up a GIANT hill. There were actually 4 or 5 escalators that take you up because it’s that steep and I think a lot of tourists complained. I was thankful because intensive hiking and red wine hangovers do not mix well. We got up to the top and could see the whole city. It was really overwhelming. We walked around the park, through nature trails, a playground, a game court, a wide open area with some really interesting architecture and some really cool houses that he designed. There were musicians spread out everywhere. One guy sat playing a type of drum I had never seen before. It had the most beautiful sound, so peaceful.

After that we went to Sagrada Familia (also probably spelled wrong…my apologies). It’s the gigantic church Gaudi designed. They began building it in 1886 and it is scheduled to be finished in 19 years. I was thinking about how strange it would be to come back for my 40th birthday and see it completed and look back on my time here this semester. It’s a scary thought but if I have the money I think I’ll do it. Anyway, the church is so intricate you could study it for years. It’s the most beautiful building I have ever seen. We went inside and we happened to go at a really good time of day. The light was exploding through the stained glass and making the most amazing colors on the scaffolding inside the church. Downstairs there is a museum with Gaudi’s sketches, photographs of progress through the years, models,, etc. It was really cool. We spent our entire day checking out Gaudi and it was all incredible. We headed back to the hostel around 5 pm and I checked out and we dropped my stuff off at my final hostel for fall break, Centre-Rambla Barcelona. It was better than the White Tulip in Amsterdam but that doesn’t really say a lot. The food was complete crap, the computers were constantly broken and the staff wasn’t very nice. Plus it wasn’t really a youth hostel, there were a lot of people staying there that were much much older.

After I locked my stuff up in my room we walked around Las Rambla, the main street. This road has it all: little souvenier stands, pet stands, artists, musicians, beer vendors, prostitutes, drug dealers and street performers. We stuck to the artists, musicians and street performers. I actually hate this road and will be happy if I never see it again. Every five feet a tourist is stopping to look at something or take a picture. You move to keep walking and run into someone pushing beer in your face or trying to steal your purse or sell you sex or drugs…ahhh so stressful! I loved Barcelona but I wish someone would blow that street off the face of the earth! Anywho…

We stopped to watch a Michael Jackson impersonator because he had quite a crowd going. We waited for about 30 minutes while he ordered people to pay him immediately or he wouldn’t dance. He was such a jerk. At one point he walked around with his hat and shoved it in people’s faces, one in particular…mine. I told him no (mind you he hadn’t even done anything yet). I guess he preferred it when people avoided his gaze and felt ashamed that they didn’t pay him to my response because he stormed off “Incroyable!” What a jerk. Finally, after he had walked around to everyone and shoved his hat in their faces he started his dance, which was terrible. When his mother shoved his hat in my face we decided we’d wasted enough time there and left.

Next we watched an Australian guy who was more of a comedian than anything but also did some acrobatics on a pole he had set up that was about 25-30 ft tall. He was really really funny and Andrew, Emma and I were standing front row. When he backed up to take a running start at the pole he backed into the giant camera Andrew had slung around his neck. He played it up like someone pinched his butt and turned around flirtatiously pointing back and forth between Andrew and a girl next to him. Emma and I immediately threw Andrew to the wolves, like any true friend would. The Aussie turned to Andrew and said, “In Barcelona it’s customary for a man to kiss another man on the cheek when you meet.” He stuck out his cheeck for Andrew to kiss. After a little hestitation and some encouragement from Emma and I, Andrew leaned in to peck him on the cheek. All of a sudden Aussie turned and planted one right on Andrew’s mouth. God I wish I had a camera because his face was priceless. None of us were expecting it. The whole rest of the show Aussie kept turning around to blow kisses at Andrew and wink at him. It was great.

After that we walked around, had a beer at an Irish pub, and explored the Gothic Quarter. We sat down in the Place de Rei and talked and listened to a man play an amped up spanish guitar until abour 11 when we decided to grab dinner. It’s actually completely normal to eat dinner at 11 at night, some even consider that early. Even most of the stores are open until around 11 at night. So we sat down at a nice restaurant off Las Rambla and ordered a few different plates of Tapas. We ordered a bottle of wine and had eggplant with tomatoe and goat cheese, smoked salmon stuffed with seafood, potato stuffed with cheese and kind prawns and an egg and potato omlette. It was sooooo delicious! It was the first time I have had eggs in probably years and it was really really good. The meal was absolutely incredible. To end the evening we took a long walk down the pier to look at the yatchs and then Emma and Andrew walked me back to my hostel.

The next morning I met back up with Andrew and Emma and we headed out to see the Picasso museum. The exhibit was 85% early work and 5% porn and 10% cubism. I really didn’t care for it at all. I hope to see more Picasso in Paris when we go next week and maybe I will change my mind but right now I don’t really care for his work at all. By the time we were done it was 4 o’clock and time for Andrew and Emma to head to the train station to go to Brussels. We parted ways and I headed back to my hostel for a much needed nap. I’d been getting an average of about 5-6 hours of sleep since I arrived, except when I stayed at Anna’s, so I was pretty exhausted come Friday evening.