BARCELONA!!

 The past three days (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) were spent in Barcelona with an awesome group of girls.  There were eight of us total and we had a blast traveling and exploring Barcelona together.  I think for most of us it was our first flight with Ryanair (a company that has very strict luggage/carry-on requirements, but offers extremely good deals on European flights).  All of us packed in backpacks or small duffel bags so we didn't have any problems with our carry-ons.  From the moment that we landed in Barcelona we knew that we were out of Andalucia (aka where Sevilla is located and the accent is ridiculously difficult to understand).  I was a little worried that it would be difficult to get around Barcelona since their main language is not castellano (the Spanish that we speak/know how to understand) but instead is catalan. However, most everyone spoke castellano and a lot of people spoke English so we had no trouble at all.  The main difference was that we were finally able to understand the clear, beautiful Spanish spoken by the people of Barcelona (without the accent of sevillanos).  On the taxi ride from the airport to our hostal, we made small talk with the taxi driver who was really nice and pointed out landmarks, sites to see, things to do, etc.  We arrived at our hostel which was extremely nice.  We shared a room with 2 girls from Japan who were veryyy nice and courteous.  The light in the bathroom was motion operated and pretty annoying when it went off when I was in the shower.  The water in the shower was controlled by continually (every 15 seconds or so) pushing the button (like the annoying sinks in some public bathrooms where you have to keep pushing the top of the faucet to get the water).  It wasn't horrible and I was happy to have tons of hot water. :)

After dropping our luggage off at the hostel, we headed to the Sagrada Familia.  If you don't know what I'm referring to, here's a quick run-down of the site: Sagrada Familia.  The pope was scheduled to visit on Sunday so only parts of the Sagrada Familia were open on Saturday due to the police installing security measures.  We took lots of pictures of the outside (I only included one, above) and planned to come back on Monday when the entire site would be available. 

 Then we ventured down to the metro system.  We bought 10 pass cards which made trips on the metro only cost $0.70.  The metro was pretty much a lifesaver for the weekend saving us time and energy.  Our first stop on the metro: the Arc de Triumf.  It was in a perfect location, a park, and the trees were gorgeous lining the sides of the park in all their colorful-fall-leaf-glory.  Camilla and I used our awesome map skillzzz to navigate our way to our next stop: La Rambla.  On the way, we stopped at a great Italian restaurant where we had a tropical pizza that was great as well as cheap! :)

 This is a picture of one of the many street performers in La Rambla.  He was probably my favorite because not only was he great at looking just like a statue, but if anyone put money in his jar, he did some kind of awesome little "mini-performance."

 Ahhhhhh.  One of my absolute favorite parts of the weekend was this market.  La Boqueria.  Not only did it include any type of food item that you could possibly want, but it had an awesome atmosphere.  Before coming to Spain, I had DVR'ed an episode of some show on the travel channel that was about Barcelona.  They spent a good amount of time talking about this market, and I knew that when I came to Spain I had to make a stop at this market. 

 Here is one of the many pictures that I have of the market.  This one shows the wide variety of fruits that one vendor was selling.  I discovered this weekend that I absolutely love figs!  I'm not sure that I had ever had a fresh one before, but I bought a small container of fruit (for ONE euro) and there was a couple in the package.  It also contained pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, and grapes.  Delicious!!

 Here's a picture of all the chocolate at one of the stands.  Mom, you would have loved it!  I did wind up caving in and buying some chocolate when we went back to the market on Monday.  It was a little expensive, but Camilla and I decided that since we would probably only be there once in our lives we should get some.  I got about 10 pieces.  Most of it was white chocolate (aka the only kind of chocolate that I really like) but I got one piece that looked like a peanut butter cup.  Turns out it was definitely not a peanut butter cup but was certainly the best piece of chocolate I had ever had (and just because Amanda and Jessica won't believe that, Camilla agreed with me :P).  It had a hard shell on the outside and the inside was filled with a rich, creamy chocolate.  It was insanely delicious!

 After the market we headed to Montjuic.  It's a large hill that overlooks the city and provides stunning views of Barcelona.  This is a picture from the pedestrian bridge that we used to cross the street over to Montjuic.

 Here's a picture of me with the MNAC (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya) in the background.  I think it used to be a palace; it was beautiful.  :)

 Although this picture is a little dark, this little section reminded me a little of home with all the leaves and fall colors in the background.

 We went to the Olympic Stadium as the sun was setting.  The view couldn't have been any more perfect.  The sunset was amazing and as the pink, oranges, and purples slowly took over the sky, we all enjoyed amazing views of Barcelona below us.  It was chilly and growing dark (even though it was only a little after 6) so we headed back to the hostel.  On the way, we stopped at a grocery store to get pasta, sauce, meat, and Coke (of course!) to cook for dinner.  We wound up each paying a euro a piece for an amazing dinner.  We all cooked and ate together and then wound down by playing spades! :)

On Sunday we headed to the Cathedral, but didn't get to go inside because it was closed due to the Pope being in town (not sure why since he was at Sagrada Familia).  We did get to see the outside and then went to the nearby Museum of History.  We only went because it was free, but it turned out being a lot cooler than we expected.  We got to go down to the basement where there were ruins from when the Romans occupied Spain.  It was presented in such a way that we were able to walk through them just like we were walking through the actually Roman city.  I suggest anyone who is visiting Barcelona to stop by.  We then ventured to the nearby Picasso Museum, but due to it being free on Sundays, the line was ridiculously long.  We decided to go get lunch (Camilla and I bought sandwiches from a deli, cokes and 1 euro twix bars - with 30% more free - from a grocery store) and go back to the museum later.  When we did return the line was still long, but after a 45 minute wait, we got to see the museum.  I'm not an art person, but it was still really cool to see.  After lunch we headed to Parc Guell - another Gaudi work.  The above picture is a view from the way up to the park (which was up a hugeeee hill).

 This structure was pretty scary to be on top of due to the wind and the absence of any sort of railings, etc.  But it offered great views of the city.

 Me on top of the "cliff."

 Paola and I on the benches in Parc Guell.  :)

 Me on the benches!  They were sooooo pretty!

 One of my favorite pictures of the day: bench at the bottom with awesome ceramic tile work and pretty arches in the background.

 On the way back to the Picasso museum we stopped for snacks.  I got this delicious piece of bread thinking that it was like a soft pretzel.  It turned out being sweet and topped with sugar, but it was delicious nonetheless.  Mom, you would have loveddd it!

 After the museum, Camilla, Paola, and I went back to Sagrada Familia to see it at night.  It's amazing to see at any time of day, but I think I liked the nighttime views the best.

 Here's a close up of a very moving scene.  I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with emotion at just about every turn at the Sagrada Familia.  It was so breath taking. 

We then had the longest walk home with our feet screaming at us the entire way.  We made pasta for dinner again and enjoyed another "family" dinner. 

 Monday morning we were up early to head to Sagrada Familia.  We wanted to leave earlier than we did, but weren't exactly able to.  So we had to wait in a pretty long line, about 40 minutes, to get in.  But it was definitely worth it.  I have to say that Sagrada Familia was the most awe-inspiring thing I've ever seen.  This picture was taken from right outside the main door of the basilica.  It stopped me right in my tracks and made me completely aware of how awesome it was to be hear and to see the place that Gaudi had created to show God's glory.

 Inside Sagrada Familia.  The altar is in the background and the lit up portion right above my head is a representation of Jesus on the cross. 

 The most amazing stained glass windows that I've ever seen.  They covered most of the back of the church and I think I took a picture of each one of them (or maybe several pictures of each one...). 

 Ahhh...probably my favorite thing in the Sagrada Familia.  The organ pipes were situated right in front of the stained glass windows.  The light coming in the windows was reflected off the pipes and provided an awe-inspiring view.  I think I took at least 50 pictures of these, but this is one of my favorites.

 On the top of the stained glass windows there were different names for Jesus.  This one said "O Emmanuel" but there were several other ones that said different names. 

 We went downstairs to the museum for the Sagrada Familia.  It was really interesting and helped describe the background, work, and progress of the basilica - that's expected to be completed in the year 2026.  Here's a picture of a couple of the workers working on models for the basilica.

After 2 hours in Sagrada Familia, we ventured to the block of discord, where several houses created by Gaudi were located.  This is Casa Mila, one of his most famous.

This is another, Casa Batllo.

All in all, it was a successful weekend spent with amazing friends and full of fun, laughter, and amazing sites.  I can't wait for our reunion visit around 2030!! :)