BARCELONA!!

I'm currently killing an hour before our flight to Paris, so I figured I should write this so I don't get really far behind. This week I was really busy with midterms. Its crazy that I am half way through the semester!
Last weekend we went to Barcelona, it seems that everything in Europe is less than 2 hours from each other. Cat and I were excited to try out our Spanish, since Ameeta is always in the know in Italy. Little did we know that the Spanish they spoke in Barcelona was only slightly like the language we learned in school. Barcelona is in Catalonia Community (like a state) and the language is quite different.


View of the city from Montjuic, a mountain on one side of the city


View from Parc Guell, park hill/mountain on the other side of the city.

Barcelona has such a rich artistic culture. It houses the work of many famous artists including Picasso, Dali, Gaudi, and Miro. We went to the Picasso museum and tried to see the Miro one but it was closed by the time we got there, if only we could have stayed another day. There is something interesting everywhere you look.


cool street graffiti


street preformers on Ramblas (a very popular street)


the first Starbucks we saw since coming to Europe was on Ramblas, and I was super excited for my iced soy chai

The big thing to see in Barcelona is the work of Gaudi and his modernist art nouveau buildings. I think the style is great considering they were done more than 100 years ago. He designed Parc Guell (where he lived), Casa Batllo, Casa Mila/La Pedera, and La Sagrada Familia, and others but these are the more popular places that we saw. He drew his inspiration from nature and you can see many similar designs in his work. I think that Dr. Seuss had to get some inspirations from Gaudi, walking around some of these places felt like we where in Whoville.


casa batllo at evening


interior of casa batllo


outside of la pedera


atrium of la pedera


roof of la pedera


me, ameeta, and cat on the roof


front of La Sagrada Famalia (the sacred family)


close up of the nativity scene


the back had the crucifixion scene...get it Jesus' beginning and end


inside, you can see that the ceiling is like a canopy


the columns are like tree, unfortunately much of the church is still under construction, when it is done i would like to go back and see it all, because what we saw was amazing


sign on the wall of Parc Guell


structure right when you walk in


famous lizard-thing


gaudi's house in parc guell, actually kind of normal looking

Well they are pretty much the highlights of the trip. I am off to Paris for the next few days then Greece for the rest of fall break. I'll be back in Rome next Saturday and will try to post everything Sunday.