Thursday, January 24, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Day 6
Day six of our trip was the last real touristy day and the last real day for photos. Trevor had started to come down with a cold Sunday night, and by the end of day six, both of us were pretty sick. But this was Christmas Eve, it was sunny and 60 degrees, (perfect!) so we packed it full of lots of good site-seeing!
We made our way first to Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi cathedral. It was really one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. It's very organic looking and feeling; it seems as though there was a tremendous hunk of stone in the middle of the city, and Gaudi just carved this out of it. It rises into the air in an almost gravity-defying way. The inside was unfinished (it's scheduled, I think, for another forty years of construction), but the columns were all complete, as was some of the stained glass.
Carved into the outside of the cathedral were Biblical stories (seemingly all of them, moving upwards chronologically), which was fabulous.
We left the cathedral and walked to an apartment building Gaudi had also designed. We only saw the outside--there was a block-long line to get in--but it was really interesting.
Our final Gaudi stop was to his Parc Guell, a public park he designed, much in his well known mosaic tile style. It was just perfect there, though awfully high (Trevor cajoled me to climb every stair and hill all the way to the top. I was about to collapse, but it was absolutely worth it.). There was a group of young people having a picnic at the top, which was really pleasant, and there were dogs running all over the place (both Madrid and Barcelona were dog-heavy towns. Henry would have had a ball). On our way back from Parc Guell, we stopped to pick up sandwiches, sodas, and cookies, and ate them on a bench before we took the Metro home. Quite a lovely day.
Our last day in Spain was Christmas day, and although we don't have photos, we had a nice mini-celebration. In the late morning we took sandwiches and cashews to the beach for a picnic, and were pleased to find that the beautiful weather had brought out lots of Spaniards to the beach-front. There were families and couples--just about everyone. It was great. We were going to see 'I am Legend' ('Soy Legundo'!) that evening and meet up with Trevor's cousin again for a Christmas dinner, but I was a fluish, aching mess, so we decided to hang out in the hotel. Trevor went out and picked up some dinner and deeeelicous pastries for dessert (I'm never too sick for sweets. Ever.) topped with little Santas. Fabulous.
The next morning we headed to the airport and home. It was an excellent trip, and I'm already dreaming of where we'll go next!
Day six of our trip was the last real touristy day and the last real day for photos. Trevor had started to come down with a cold Sunday night, and by the end of day six, both of us were pretty sick. But this was Christmas Eve, it was sunny and 60 degrees, (perfect!) so we packed it full of lots of good site-seeing!
We made our way first to Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi cathedral. It was really one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. It's very organic looking and feeling; it seems as though there was a tremendous hunk of stone in the middle of the city, and Gaudi just carved this out of it. It rises into the air in an almost gravity-defying way. The inside was unfinished (it's scheduled, I think, for another forty years of construction), but the columns were all complete, as was some of the stained glass.
Carved into the outside of the cathedral were Biblical stories (seemingly all of them, moving upwards chronologically), which was fabulous.
We left the cathedral and walked to an apartment building Gaudi had also designed. We only saw the outside--there was a block-long line to get in--but it was really interesting.
Our final Gaudi stop was to his Parc Guell, a public park he designed, much in his well known mosaic tile style. It was just perfect there, though awfully high (Trevor cajoled me to climb every stair and hill all the way to the top. I was about to collapse, but it was absolutely worth it.). There was a group of young people having a picnic at the top, which was really pleasant, and there were dogs running all over the place (both Madrid and Barcelona were dog-heavy towns. Henry would have had a ball). On our way back from Parc Guell, we stopped to pick up sandwiches, sodas, and cookies, and ate them on a bench before we took the Metro home. Quite a lovely day.
Our last day in Spain was Christmas day, and although we don't have photos, we had a nice mini-celebration. In the late morning we took sandwiches and cashews to the beach for a picnic, and were pleased to find that the beautiful weather had brought out lots of Spaniards to the beach-front. There were families and couples--just about everyone. It was great. We were going to see 'I am Legend' ('Soy Legundo'!) that evening and meet up with Trevor's cousin again for a Christmas dinner, but I was a fluish, aching mess, so we decided to hang out in the hotel. Trevor went out and picked up some dinner and deeeelicous pastries for dessert (I'm never too sick for sweets. Ever.) topped with little Santas. Fabulous.
The next morning we headed to the airport and home. It was an excellent trip, and I'm already dreaming of where we'll go next!
Day 5
Today was the futbol game day, so we decided to take it relatively easy to rest up for the big match. We went back up to La Rambla and another neighborhood, Raval. It was Sunday, so a lot of shops and galleries were closed, but we found a plaza that was setting up an artist's market, and--needless to say--I was very excited about it. We got a pair of volcanic rock earrings for Trevor's boss, Susan, and I got a shawl-ish/cape-ish jacket (it's adorable, really). There was a huge "gato" in the middle of the plaza, and after I gave it a smooch for this photo, some young Spanish boys asked me (excitedly and in Spanish [Trevor had to tell me what on earth they were asking me to do...] to take a photo with one of them. I felt sort of famous and dorky--it was fun.
We took a siesta, geared up for the game in our Barcelona togs (Trevor in his new Eto'o jersey, me in our new Barcelona scarf and my team socks) and took the Metro up to Camp Nou. We couldn't sit together, but Trevor was just behind me in the next row, so it was all just fine. The weather was perfect: a bit chilly towards the later evening, but clear skies and no wind. Trevor explained to me that whistling is a "boo" instead of a "yahoo!" noise, which I was glad about since I'm an excited whistler. We did a lot of cheering, we held up a colored sheet of paper and tried to sing along with the rest of the stadium while they sang the team song, and we had a wonderful time. Barcelona lost to Real Madrid (boooooooooo!), but it was so exciting to be there, and the game was great.
We did not take this video, but it shows the "mosaic" cheer that we were able to participate in.
And this is a video of the sad yet beautiful goal that won the game for Real Madrid.
Today was the futbol game day, so we decided to take it relatively easy to rest up for the big match. We went back up to La Rambla and another neighborhood, Raval. It was Sunday, so a lot of shops and galleries were closed, but we found a plaza that was setting up an artist's market, and--needless to say--I was very excited about it. We got a pair of volcanic rock earrings for Trevor's boss, Susan, and I got a shawl-ish/cape-ish jacket (it's adorable, really). There was a huge "gato" in the middle of the plaza, and after I gave it a smooch for this photo, some young Spanish boys asked me (excitedly and in Spanish [Trevor had to tell me what on earth they were asking me to do...] to take a photo with one of them. I felt sort of famous and dorky--it was fun.
We took a siesta, geared up for the game in our Barcelona togs (Trevor in his new Eto'o jersey, me in our new Barcelona scarf and my team socks) and took the Metro up to Camp Nou. We couldn't sit together, but Trevor was just behind me in the next row, so it was all just fine. The weather was perfect: a bit chilly towards the later evening, but clear skies and no wind. Trevor explained to me that whistling is a "boo" instead of a "yahoo!" noise, which I was glad about since I'm an excited whistler. We did a lot of cheering, we held up a colored sheet of paper and tried to sing along with the rest of the stadium while they sang the team song, and we had a wonderful time. Barcelona lost to Real Madrid (boooooooooo!), but it was so exciting to be there, and the game was great.
We did not take this video, but it shows the "mosaic" cheer that we were able to participate in.
And this is a video of the sad yet beautiful goal that won the game for Real Madrid.
Day 4
Day four was our "Barcelona-wandering-and-shopping" day. The weather was just great: about 10 degrees warmer than it had been in Madrid, and it was no longer raining. We returned to the neighborhood we'd gone to for dinner and visited, among other things, the really lovely plaza of a cathedral, the Barcelona Futbol Club's official store (to get gear for the game), and an excellent toy shop, El Ingenio, that had shelves and shelves of these fabulous masks, heads, and puppets.
We stopped for lunch at La Palma, a great place we found on a little side street. We sampled our first glasses of 'cava,' which is Spanish champagne. The food was great, and there were huge kegs of wine that weren't just for show (the waiter opened one up to fill a pitcher for the table next to us).
After lunch we walked up La Rambla, a huge boulevard in a busy part of town. There were "living statues" all over the place, and one of our favorites was a Ronaldinho look-alike. There were also a number of pet stands selling fish, lizards, and birds. These little guys were very excited to pose for Trevor.
We briefly visited the Museum of Chocolate, where everything under the glass cases was made/carved out of chocolate. It was tremendously exciting, and we got to see our second Ronaldinho of the day. This guy was most likely tastier than the first. Needless to say, we were getting very excited about our game!
After the siesta, we met up with Trevor's cousin Vanessa, who's been living in Barcelona for about three months. Unfortunately we didn't take any photos with her (I have no idea why!?), but we had a great time at dinner, and then we took her to the Ginger for a drink. Vanessa works as a location scout for a television commercial production company, which is pretty neat. It was really fun to meet her (she and Trevor hadn't seen each other since they were little) and hang out. She also lives right up the street from Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi cathedral we planned to visit on Christmas Eve.
Day four was our "Barcelona-wandering-and-shopping" day. The weather was just great: about 10 degrees warmer than it had been in Madrid, and it was no longer raining. We returned to the neighborhood we'd gone to for dinner and visited, among other things, the really lovely plaza of a cathedral, the Barcelona Futbol Club's official store (to get gear for the game), and an excellent toy shop, El Ingenio, that had shelves and shelves of these fabulous masks, heads, and puppets.
We stopped for lunch at La Palma, a great place we found on a little side street. We sampled our first glasses of 'cava,' which is Spanish champagne. The food was great, and there were huge kegs of wine that weren't just for show (the waiter opened one up to fill a pitcher for the table next to us).
After lunch we walked up La Rambla, a huge boulevard in a busy part of town. There were "living statues" all over the place, and one of our favorites was a Ronaldinho look-alike. There were also a number of pet stands selling fish, lizards, and birds. These little guys were very excited to pose for Trevor.
We briefly visited the Museum of Chocolate, where everything under the glass cases was made/carved out of chocolate. It was tremendously exciting, and we got to see our second Ronaldinho of the day. This guy was most likely tastier than the first. Needless to say, we were getting very excited about our game!
After the siesta, we met up with Trevor's cousin Vanessa, who's been living in Barcelona for about three months. Unfortunately we didn't take any photos with her (I have no idea why!?), but we had a great time at dinner, and then we took her to the Ginger for a drink. Vanessa works as a location scout for a television commercial production company, which is pretty neat. It was really fun to meet her (she and Trevor hadn't seen each other since they were little) and hang out. She also lives right up the street from Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi cathedral we planned to visit on Christmas Eve.
Day 3
Day three was our travel day. We took the train from Madrid to Barcelona. It was a four hour ride, and quite pleasant, actually. We listened to the 'I am Legend' audiobook (quite interesting), and watched the country go by. It's also highly possible that I fell asleep for a bit.
This is the only picture of both Trevor and I. We're not sure why it's the only one we took.
Once we checked into the hotel in Barcelona, we strolled down to the beach, which was only a few blocks away. Although it was windy, it was really lovely out there, and there was hardly anyone else out there with us. We found a little bar back towards our hotel that seemed close to closing for the afternoon siesta (also a gorgeous tradition we fully embraced). There were three patrons, and only a young woman who spoke any English at all. She understood that Trevor was a "vegetariano" and helped us get some tuna sandwiches. They were perfect, hit the spot, and we heartily thanked everyone when we left.
For dinner, Trevor and I went to a restaurant/bar called Ginger, that our guidebook told us was well known among the "ex-pat" crowd. And it sure was; there was a table of rather loud Brits near us and we giggled to each other as they talked about "Americans" and people with tattoos. Ha! But the food was very good and we ended up liking it a lot.
After dinner we wandered through the neighborhood and stumbled upon a three-piece band playing music in a church plaza for about a hundred or so people. Everyone was dancing around and having a fabulous time, and we actually joined in for one slow dance before we left.
Day three was our travel day. We took the train from Madrid to Barcelona. It was a four hour ride, and quite pleasant, actually. We listened to the 'I am Legend' audiobook (quite interesting), and watched the country go by. It's also highly possible that I fell asleep for a bit.
This is the only picture of both Trevor and I. We're not sure why it's the only one we took.
Once we checked into the hotel in Barcelona, we strolled down to the beach, which was only a few blocks away. Although it was windy, it was really lovely out there, and there was hardly anyone else out there with us. We found a little bar back towards our hotel that seemed close to closing for the afternoon siesta (also a gorgeous tradition we fully embraced). There were three patrons, and only a young woman who spoke any English at all. She understood that Trevor was a "vegetariano" and helped us get some tuna sandwiches. They were perfect, hit the spot, and we heartily thanked everyone when we left.
For dinner, Trevor and I went to a restaurant/bar called Ginger, that our guidebook told us was well known among the "ex-pat" crowd. And it sure was; there was a table of rather loud Brits near us and we giggled to each other as they talked about "Americans" and people with tattoos. Ha! But the food was very good and we ended up liking it a lot.
After dinner we wandered through the neighborhood and stumbled upon a three-piece band playing music in a church plaza for about a hundred or so people. Everyone was dancing around and having a fabulous time, and we actually joined in for one slow dance before we left.
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