Barcelona and the land of Gaudi
Going to Barcelona was my first experience in navigating the Spanish airports alone, to go somewhere I’ve never been and without so much as a telephone number to call once I got there. Of course, I went to Barcelona to meet my friend Leslie who is studying abroad in southern France, but, as we lived in separate countries we were unable to call each other’s cell phones very easily. I realized this only as I stood at the empty baggage claim area at 1 am with my suitcase and a worried look on my face. Thankfully though, Leslie had been waiting for me near the door of the airport, and after thinking she was going to have to spend the weekend alone, screamed as loud as I did when I saw her.
We made it into the city by cab, this was to be our first hostel experience ever and unfortunately since we booked separately, had to stay in separate rooms. We were too tired to care, but had to laugh when we woke up the next morning in a room full of strangers. There was no time to waste the next day. With only two days to explore as much of Barcelona as possible, we scooted out the door and made our way first to Parque Guell not knowing that we were embarking on a trek across the entire city to find it. After we had walked off the map that was in my guidebook, we had to ask strangers where the place was. When I say we, I mean I had to ask strangers as Leslie speaks no Spanish.
When we finally got there we realized why it is called one of Gaudi’s greatest works. It reminded me of something out of Willie Wonka or Candyland. In actuality however, the park was supposed to resemble nature in a lot of ways. There was a covered plaza full of columns with not a single one standing vertically but instead slanting in all directions. There was another part that just looked like a tunnel, but upon learning more about Gaudi’s work found out that it was supposed to mimic the inside of a wave in the ocean, which can be seen in one of my photos. Another part of the park was a huge open area surrounded by one incredibly long, curvy, twisty bench, said to be the longest in the world. From the bench and from even higher areas in the park, you can see all of Barcelona stretched out before you all the way to the ocean.
Afterwards, we made our way to the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s unfinished masterpiece. In the making since the late 1800s, the church is still uncompleted. Inside are more of Gaudi’s interesting art forms. The ceiling in my opinion is the most beautiful part. The columns that stretch to the top spread out like branches whose large ‘leafs’ form one big canopy over the whole church. Upon first glancing at it however you wouldn’t think trees or branches or leaves, you would just think it was a strange array of columns and an artsy ceiling until you read about it and look a little harder. We took the elevator to the arc that connects two of the towers of the church and got to experience more expansive views of the city.
For the rest of that day and part of the next, we explored Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s most famous street. Along the whole street there are street vendors and performers and even animals for sale like birds and rabbits and guinea pigs. We went to this huge open air market where the fruit was just picked or the fish just caught. I bought a half kilo of strawberries for only a euro. The next day we started of with Picasso. First off, we went to a place mentioned in my guidebook called Els Quatre Gats, or Four Cats, where Picasso held his first art exhibit. The building was beautiful but hard to find tucked back in a tiny little street and exists today as a small restaurant. We then made our way to the Picasso museum where we must have spent a couple of hours taking in the different periods of his work, most of which came from his earlier, teen years. The most famous work in the museum was Picassos “Las Meninas,” his version of the original by Velazquez. I managed to sneak a picture, although not without a reprimanding from the museum worker, of a poster that illustrated the faces of each person in the version by Velazquez compared to those of Picasso.
That night we went to another part of the city where there is music and a colorful fountain show for two hours on most nights. We took photos from almost every level and angle of this fountain as it changed color and size and shape, as you can see in my photos on webshots.
We managed to pack in a lot over the course of two days and walked a large portion of the city, not only hitting its finer points but allowing ourselves to stroll around in between them. 
