El Fin de Semana numero Uno (En Barcelona)

I always thought that when you traveled, you’d have to have someone else with you because who actually traveled alone? That’d be weird.  But I didn’t want to leave Barcelona without seeing the sights just because it wasn’t working out with the rest of my classmates and I.  So I got some advice (and a very detailed, and very helpful!) map from Mariluz and went to bed excited—to some extent.  I did make the mistake of watching Black Swan online, and that was one of the weirdest and creepiest movies I’ve seen, so I probably shouldn’t have watched it right before I was planning on going to sleep. Oh well.  But I uickly found out that

De sabado

I was your average tourist.  I had a blast though!  I walked decided to walk downtown (about a 45 minute affair where I saw…

-Casa Míla, a crazy ass apartment building Gaudí designed but it was closed so instead I went to the art exhibition inside, where I got yelled at twice for taking pictures inside.  But hey, it’s was modern art, meaning there were lots of colors and I like colors! I played the language barrier card.

-Casa Batalló.  I realllly wanted to see the inside of a Gaudí building, so I bucked up and paid the fee.  It was the strangest, craziest, wonkiest place I’d ever been to! I felt like I walked into a real-life game of Candyland meets Narnia’s boat the Dawn Treader. So, so weird, but really cool!  I had a tour of an apartment, the attic, and the roof.  The roof was the best, because not only did you get a nice view, but this was were the Candyland imagery really took off.  The place is famous for having a dragon-like thing on the roof (like the back of a sleeping dragon) with bright colors and crooked designs everywhere!  The whole house is rather reptilian, and there is barely a straight line in the building!

 -Las Ramblas, AKA the place to go to get robbed. I didn’t—I was lucky! It’s a big street with an extra wide median in the middle filled with vendors and street performers and street artists (who get frickin pissed if you take photos of them…). There are overflowing flower stands, men selling these annoying, bird-like whistles that only interest immature boys, and pets (where Barcelona kids traditionally went to buys pets).

-The monument de Colón (Columbus!) and la Mar de Mediterráneo—Barcelona’s port.  It was a giant column with good ol’ Columbus pointing out towards the horizon.  It made me feel just a little closer to home, knowing that if I followed his direction (figuratively) I’d get home eventually!

I felt a lot better, because now I finally knew where all the streets other people had been talking about were located and now people can give me directions and I can actually follow them!  (In English, por favor…) I felt really independent, finding my way on my own and everything.  Annnd I ate at a little sandwich shop, then ate ice cream in January!  (Coconut, pistachio and fudge—surprisingly really good!)

I did buy some street art (of Casa Batalló.  I liked a picture of Barrio Gotic better, but I haven’t been there yet, plus Batalló is something I’ll always remember!)—I always do, since I think street art is soooo much better, more authentic than, you know, “real” (aka expensive) art.