Barcelona Weekend

Thursday February 12, 2009 – Off to Barcelona!

After class on Thursday, I made my way via city bus to Termini train station to catch a bus to Ciampino, an airport just outside of Rome. Off to Barcelona for the weekend! I was sort of nervous about timing issues, but there was a reliable shuttle to and from the airport every 20 min or so. My friend, Lizzie, and I were visiting our friend Erica from UVM who was in a study abroad program in Barcelona. We flew Ryan Air, a low budget airline throughout Europe. A round trip ticket to Barcelona, on short notice, cost 100 euro. Travel-wise everything was very smooth. We landed in Barcelona around 10 pm. We took a metro to Erica’s apartment, located just a block from Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. This church was started by Gaudi in 1909. He worked on it until he was killed on site by a bus. Construction continues today, and is projected to finish in 2030. The church was intricate and colorful, with everything deriving from something in nature. I will post some pictures to show this new-age cathedral. Erica was kind enough to house us for the weekend, much appreciated!

Friday February 13, 2009 – Tour of the City
Friday, we did a self-guided tour of Barcelona. We toured the major street of Las Ramblas. This touristy street had many flower shops, postcard stands, souvenir shops, and lots and lots of street performers. There were scary ones, funny ones, entertaining ones, and just plain weird ones. At the end of Las Ramblas is a marina area on the water. It was very pretty with palm trees lining the streets, it felt very tropical. We also walked through the Bario Gotic region of Barcelona. For dinner, we went to a Tapas restaurant. These were little appetizers sort of, and you just sample a whole bunch of them for dinner. At this particular restaurant, your placemat was your menu, the waiter will come around and you just point to the ones you want, he brings them, then go on to round 2 to try some more. It was fun.

Saturday February 14, 2009 – Valentine’s Day in Barcelona
Happy Valentine’s Day! We got a late start on the overcast day in Barcelona. We ventured up to Mont Juic, where the 1992 Olympics were held. This spot had a beautiful view of the city, along with the major ports for imports/exports from the water. Everything in Barcelona is on a much later time table than I was used to. A group of 7 girls went out to dinner for paella, a traditional rice dish. We didn’t go to dinner until 11:30 pm! This was pretty much the norm, there was even a wait at that hour. For all of us to eat, the restaurant served the paella in the largest frying pan I have ever seen. In the picture with the empty pan, there is a standard size dinner plate in the background, and you can get a feel for just how large this dish was. We had no problem finishing it either, it was delicious! It came with every type of seafood imaginable. I also got to sample the famous drink of Barcelona, Sangria. We weren’t finished with dinner until nearly 1 am! In Barcelona the common language is Catalan, not Spanish, though nearly all are multi-lingual. After listening to natives speak, I noticed they also give themselves a sort of lisp in their language. I thought this was an interesting observation.

Sunday February 15, 2009 – Parc Guell, Last Night in Barcelona
For our last full day in Barcelona, we toured Parc Guell. This was Gaudi’s home, and holds many of his sculptures. For any of you America’s Next Top Model fans, the finale for the Caridee/Melrose season was also held here, you’ll recognize the runway in the pics! The park itself was cool, it was almost like a candy-land, with colorful buildings and different sculptures. The world’s longest, curviest bench is in the park, with a beautiful mosaic background. We also went and saw the Arc de Triomf of Barcelona. For dinner, we tried a new tapas restaurant. This one was set up more like a bar. Along the bar were all sorts of tapas, each with a toothpick in it. You go along, sample the ones you want, and collect your toothpicks, and when you’re done sampling, you count your toothpicks and that’s how you pay. Each cost about a euro. It was nice to be able to sample different things; there were lots of different seafood options.

Monday February 16, 2009 – Goodbye Barcelona, Back to Roma
I am fortunate enough to not have class until 2pm on Mondays, so we were able to come back early Monday morning, and have one last full day in Barcelona. Lizzie and I took the very first metro, at 5am, to our bus station to head to Gerona for our flight. Everything went just as smoothly on the return travel. We were back in Rome around 11am. My Art and Culture class went to the Pantheon for class. This monument was built between the years of 118-125 AD. This building is an architectural masterpiece. It has not been restored or mended, everything is original, and is still in good shape today. The name Pantheon in Greek translates to ‘ Dedicated to all Gods’. The building is a perfect shape, the same width as height, to the exact centimeter. The ruler at the time was Hadrian, who ordered the structure to be built. The architect, who hasn’t been officially identified but many think his name was Appolodonus, placed 6 of Hadrian’s most favorite Gods as sculptures in the building. There is a circular hole in the top of the building, which creates a spotlight with the sun. Through the genius design, on the birthdays of the certain Gods, because of the time of year and the positioning of the sun, the light will shine on that God. This was a 1st century creation! I was amazed. For all the visitors coming, I have many more fun facts to share, and plan on taking you on my own personally guided tour of all the things I have learned in this class. Wednesday’s class we’re going to the Colosseum and ancient ruins.

Jackie’s parents are here for the week, along with her younger brother. Tonight they invited me to join them for dinner. We went to a great very authentic Italian restaurant, where the wait staff was pleased to serve us all sorts of wonderful appetizers, a cheese platters, mozzarella, arancina, along with some different red wines. For an entrée I had cod wrapped in eggplant. All was very, very good! We of course topped it off with gelato. Be sure to read Jackie’s blog, it was our first weekend apart from each other! www.jackieinitaly.shutterfly.com