Berlin, Germany

Little brother. I miss you a little bit.

Berlin, Germany

Barcelona Recap:

Day One

Landing in Barcelona almost made me hate flying even more. I do a much better hand movement to describe this landing as opposed to me trying to describe it in words. But when we got off the plane the sun was out. So I stopped complaining pretty quickly.

It took us about 25 hours to get our stuff into our hotel rooms. Just kidding, but the process was painful. You try getting 30 kids into an unprepared hotel. Not so smooth. They gave us time for lunch after that. A few of us ironically found the same place we were scheduled to have breakfast at (we didn’t know this at the time) but we got some tapas, and it was delicious. And Mediterranean muscles are not like New England muscles. They are way scarier. I wish I took a photograph. It was worth documenting. They were orange, large, and looked like they had teeth. I closed my eyes and ate them anyways. They were delicious.

Near by we spotted a Gaudi building, so we did our architecture thing and all pulled our cameras. Then we met back up with the group. They took us on a walk through Las Ramblas, which is a crazy street in Barcelona. It’s mainly just for pedestrians. We stopped at a ton of street performers and they let us run into the Mercat de Boqueria. Best strawberries I have had in a long, long time.

Then we were forced to do the class thing and they made us analyze Placa Reial. Super cool little area, not fun to analyze. Actually that’s probably the downfall of most of these trips. It’s like here “I’ll take you to a city that you’ve never been to, but don’t have any fun.” I don’t really enjoy school. Have I ever mentioned that?

Then they let us go. We basically just explored. We walked down to the end of Las Ramblas to see the water. I found the other half of us via Blackberry thanks to Jill having one as well. We found 1 euro drafts, and 6 euro liter of sangria. I love sangria. Then we found food, after trying to get 8 people to agree on one place... way too much of a process.

Day Two

So this breakfast place that we all had vouchers to eat at, it was interesting. I assumed it would be good because lunch was good there yesterday. Needless to say, it was kind of disappointing. It was tiny and most of it was cold and the waitress I’m pretty sure hated us. I’m also pretty sure she was having a bad day, but who am I to judge.

Then super cool class time. We went to the Barcelona Cathedral and then Santa Caterina Market. The sun was out. I think I got a little color on my cheeks. Probably not though, it was probably just pink in my cheeks because I haven’t seen the sun in about 2 months. The Cathedral was really, really nice. It had a beautiful courtyard that I think I could live in, as long as they moved the geese out. The market was honestly kind of a disappointment. From all the images we have seen of it, I thought it would be a lot larger. It’s definitely meant as a local market, not as one geared towards the public. It was pretty cool to actually see in person though.

Then we went into Iglesia Santa Maria dle Mar and then we were told to analyze the space outside the building again. Nicht so gut. But then we all pretty much grabbed a small lunch and sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine. A few of us managed to have ice cream. It was amazing. I can’t wait for warm weather.

After lunch we had a guided tour at Edificio Forum, which was mainly like an exhibit hall. The building was designed by Herzon and de Meuron. We saw a sweet model of the entire city of Barcelona, along with a lighted little show to go with it. It was pretty cool.

We had another guided tour later in the afternoon at the Toree Agbar building. Super cool building and super cool tour guide. She also made fun of us for taking a ton of pictures. She asked if we were engineering students. We said no, architecture. She said oh that makes sense, usually the people who come in here that take tons of pictures are either engineering students, architecture students, or Japanese. Needless to say, she had a good sense of humor and she knew her stuff. The building was really neat. Jean Nouvel knew what he was doing.

On our own time we decided to go see Sangrada Familia. It was closed, but we took tons of pictures of the exterior. Then after a random bus ride and a whole lot of walking we ended up at Placa Espanya… right in time for the Magic Fountain show! It was like being Disney all over again. Coordinated music, lights, and water.. yup, right up my alley. It was really cool and all of us had a great time.

Day Three

It rained. Actually it rained a whole lot. We went to the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies Van der Rohe. We were architecture geeks. Then we went to the Museu d’art Contemporani de Barcelona. I love contemporary art. Always a good time. After that they made us analyze in the rain. My sketchbook got wet, so I got bitter and stopped sketching. It wasn’t a very productive school day.

We headed back towards the Sangrada Familia in the afternoon and we went in. Amazing. I didn’t realized how under construction this building actually was. It has been under construction since I think 1898. Don’t quote me on that, I don’t always remember things I should. It was really cool to see. It’s just amazing how unique it is and how it is actually a building and not just a model.

We did some shopping after that. Barcelona is a cool place to shop. I wish it wasn’t raining, I had more money, and I had more time. About 9 of us met up for dinner after that and it was probably my best meal in Barcelona. We sat there forever eating tapas, burgers, and dessert and drinking a whole lot of sangria. It was nice to sit down and relax.

Day Four

The morning was rainy. We went to Casa Mila by Gaudi. We got a sort of tour with it. It was pretty near. Between his roof terrace and the magic fountain Barcelona is pretty much just like Disney. Just kidding, but seriously Gaudi must have either been on some good drugs or had a whole lot of creativity pouring out of it at all times.

It stopped raining and they took us to Park Guell. Super, super cool. Although it smelled a little bit like a petting zoo. We had the afternoon off. We kind of took our time and actually slowed down for once. We finally found churros. I had been looking for them this entire trip. I assumed they were Spanish because I had them at a tapas restaurant back home, but some people were saying it might be Mexican. I don’t really know, but they were delicious. I just figured they should have a stand for churros about every 25 feet. But I guess I was inaccurate with that assumption.

For the record Google says that they originated in Spain. Why couldn't I find more??

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring some open market areas with little shops. I found my piece of jewelry there. Then naturally we found the beach. So nice. I picked up a ton of sea glass. So much fun.

But I think the highlight of my trip was my last hour before we left for the airport. 5 of us decided to get a drink and a little bit of food. We ended up eating at this place called Riko’s. It mildly resembled a Chuckie Cheese with it’s ball pit/playground in the corner. The music was American, but redone in pan flute. It was someone’s birthday so they came out with cake, but the Happy Birthday song was in English. But I’m pretty sure Spanish people sang it. It was bizarre. But I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a long time. We also all had salads with chicken nuggets in them. It was a great way to end the trip. Hahaha

The flight home was ehh. I was exhausted but naturally couldn’t sleep because I hate flying. I was hoping the small amount of sangria I had would have knocked me out, but it didn’t. It was a bummer. We landed in Berlin late at night and I slept like a baby.

And that was Barcelona. I will be back someday, with a lot more time to spend. I loved it. A truly beautiful city. ☺ (Steve says this picture is the winning picture of the trip, so I thought I would share.)