Barcelona Trip

Hola,

So last Thursday we all went to Barcelona for the weekend.  It pretty incredible.  We got most of the Tourist stuff out of the way Thursday and Friday, and then we had Saturday to do whatever wanted.  I'll give a quick description of each day.

Thurday:

Got into Barcelona around 5:00.  After getting settled into the hotel, we went to see the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished Cathedral.  We also took a walk through Las Ramblas, a long road with a walkway down the center for pedestrians.  It's home to a lot of restaurants, bars, street venders, and a shitload of tourists.  At night, drug dealers line the streets selling red cans of shitty Spanish beer as a front to their operation.  For dinner, we went to this hole int the wall Kebab place, which was really good.  I've fallen in love with Kebab.

Friday:

Woke up and had a great breakfast at the hotel.  A lot of the stuff was pastry and dessert breakfast food, but it was the first time I had more options than toast and yogurt, so I went to town.  Then we went to see La Casa Batlló and La Pedrera, two other buildings designed by Gaudí.  The Pedrera is also an exhibit, showing some of his models, furniture, and some of the things he drew inspiration from.  You could also go up onto the roof and see some great views of the city.  That was the coolest part for me.  After that we went to Parq Guell, a really cool park up on a hill that overlooks the city.  There was more Gaudí architecture here.  We took a break for lunch after this.  We got Menú del Día at a restaurant in Las Ramblas and ate outside. Menú del Día is a great deal that most restaurants offer; it's a three course meal for about 9-12 euros.  I got a salad, spinach risotto, and tiramisu - YUM.  After lunch, we went to the Picasso Museum, which was kinda of disappointing actually.  It showcased a lot of his work from when he was a student and some of his earlier stuff, but didn't really show a lot of the work he's known for.  Dinner was sushi.

Saturday: 

Woke up and went to the aquarium down by the harbor.  It's the biggest aquarium in Europe, which actually wasn't all that big.  I figure that aquariums must not be a very big thing here.  It was still a lot of fun though.  I got hit on by very nice gay man who sold me my ticket.  He first asked me old I was, which I didn't really think much of.  Then he said I was "guapo" and asked if I was seeing anybody.  I said I had a girlfriend, and he said she was very lucky (you hear that Court?).  We also saw penguins mating, which was hilarious - there was a lot of flapping involved.  We had paella and sangria for lunch - delicious.  Then we went to the beach, along with 10,000 other people.  That number may be a bit of an exageration, but it was packed.  So I decided it would be a good idea to come back at night with some wine, when there weren't as many people.  So afer getting some Kebab for dinner - yes the second time 3 days - we got some wine and headed down to the beach.  The wine ended up being aweful - just this side of communal wine.  So we made some Kalimotxo to kill the taste.  Kalimotxo is a basque drink of equal parts of red wine and coke.  It sounds weird I know, but it's actually really good.  I enjoyed myself thoroughly, perhaps too thoroughly.  Let's just say I ended up doing an impersonation of the voodoo dance from Weekend at Bernie's II on the sidewalk. Pat and Bry know what I'm talking about.  For anyone who hasn't seen this before, there's a video that I'm sure will make it's way onto Facebook soon.  So it was a pretty damn good night.  Left at noon on Sunday.  All in all a pretty awesome way to spend a weekend.

Casa Batlló

Sweet sculpture of the roof of La Pedrera

Sam and Me ontop of La Pedrera

A view of the Barcelona from Parq Guell

The Dragon in Parq Guell.  I was expecting something a little Grander.

Some sweet sea creatures in the aquarium.  I forget their name.  They're the squid like things that shoot water out their mouths to propel themselves backward.  Court do you know? Post a comment if you do.

Down at the Marina

Giant Glass of Sangria

Another shot down by the Marina

"Barcelona is on my yacht" (You had to be there)

La Playa