High School Reunions in Foreign Countries 3: Worship at the Altar of Gaudì

Two weeks ago (from the day I’m writing this. It will be bit later when it actually goes on the internet) I was the sickest I’ve been in a long time.

Two weeks ago I was taking my Italian final.

Two weeks ago I was about to leave for Barcelona, to finally make it to Spain! That final and that cold weren’t about to stop me.

So I finished my final, popped a few Ibuprofen and headed for Orio Al Serio airport to hop on my flight to Barcelona! I took a quick nap at my gate (I really felt horrible) and then we were off. It was my first flight with Ryan Air, along with the most uncomfortable I have ever been while on a plane. Thanks, sickness and budget airlines aka the most dastardly duo this side of Team Rocket (not counting Meowth). Luckily I survived my flight and made it to Barcelona, grabbed my bus to downtown and I wish this were the end of this story. Unfortunately in my drug/sickness-induced stupor I got off of the bus quite a few stops too early (for some reason I thought the bus said it was at my stop…) and had to wait an extra 20 minutes for my bus. Fortunately I didn’t get mugged or anything while I was waiting, so that was good. After the wait I got on my bus and went straight to Plaça Catanlunya, main square in Barcelona and, according to my hostel, just a 5-minute walk away from said hostel. I managed to turn that 5-minute walk in to an hour and a half long ramble through the streets around the plaça and those nowhere near the plaça. It was a long night. Eventually I found my way, got checked in to my hostel, laid down in my bed and got a glorious nights sleep.

The next morning I got up and met my Barcelona travel buddy, Charlotte! She had come in from Madrid the day before with her friend Sasha from her program there. We headed out for the day and got me some nice and strong Spanish aspirin, a bite to eat and lots of Vitamin C. We met up with Sasha on the Rumbla off of Plaça Catalunya, and I had a PTSD-induced flashback to getting lost there the night before. After I came back to, we grabbed the bus up to Parc Güell, the park Gaudì designed, in the north of Barcelona. The park itself was beautiful, and Gaudì’s architecture just blows my mind. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

Church or something

Downtown Barcelona. La Sagrada Familia is just off center to the left

Guardhouse

Gaudì's famous dragon

We spent a good two hours in the park, wandering around and seeing all there was to see. After we had our fill we grabbed the bus back to town and got lunch at a place near la Sagrada Familia, our next stop. I don’t have a picture of the main course, but I do have a picture of the ridiculously amazing Flan I had for dessert:

So amazing

We left the restaurant and made our way over to la Sagrada Familia, which was AMAZING. It is the most amazing church I have ever seen in my life. It completely blew me away. Look:

The stained glass was INCREDIBLE

Light shining in from the Stained Glass

We climbed to the roof as well, and this is what we saw:

Barcelona's copy of the London Egg

Looks delicious

 Twisty

Then we headed home to take siestas before we headed out again that night. We planned on heading out around 7 or 8 to see the Ramblas and then go to Montjuic (the eastern neighborhood) but all ended up sleeping longer than intended (especially me. I didn’t get up till 9. Whoops). Anyway we finally got underway and went straight to Plaça Espanya, in the center of Montjuic. We made our way over to Magic Fountain (our main destination) to watch a 10 minute, amazing/mind-blowing water and light show. Here is a quick video:

Not the same as real life

Next we headed to dinner and got some tapas to share (no pictures, but they were fantastic) and then went to the shore, where all the clubs in Barcelona are. We went to a club called Catwalk (really early, around midnight. People in Spain don’t go out until 1:30 or 2). So we hung out there for a bit and then decided to check out the upstairs, which was a LOT more awesome than downstairs. We stayed out till around 4, until I started falling asleep on the dance floor, and headed home. I slept nice and late the next morning (till around 10) and had to see Charlotte off before her train back to Madrid left (because she was leaving for Ohio the next day). I was sad to see her go but I’ll see her again in a month! That meant for Saturday I was all on my own. My first (and only stop, really) was Casa Milà, an apartment complex Gaudì designed. It is primarily famous for its roof, which undulates in weird, hypnotizing ways.

Casa Milà

Statues on the roof

The view

Wavy weirdness

More decorations

I also toured the Attic of the building, which was a Gaudì museum, with many of his models:

But I only took a picture of one

And then saw one of the Apartments in the building, furnished to the period when people lived in the building, before it became a museum/UNESCO heritage site.

So fancy

Back in the 30's people didn't eat real fruit, just the plastic display kind

Toulouse!

After my tour of the Casa Milà I had two hours before I had to leave for the airport so I just walked around downtown Barcelona to see what it had to offer. I saw Casa Batllò, another Gaudì, and got lunch from a bar down the street from my hostel (Rick Steves told me it was a traditional Catalunyan sandwich)

Casa Batllò

Plaça Espanya

Finally, I grabbed the bus back to the Airport (got off at the right place this time) and headed back home once more, sad to leave the ridiculously beautiful city of Barcelona behind, but happy to go home and sleep, and sleep, and sleep until I was finally not sick anymore.