Today I got up around 11, ate breakfast and then started to plan a trip to the city to see some of Barcelona. I took the metra line down to Jaume 1 which is in the Old Town district. We decided to check out the Barcelona Cathedral which was supposed to be amazing, and it was. The only disappointment was that I couldn't have my camera flash on, so some of my pictures didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. Part of the Cathedral is currently being restored.
The Barcelona Cathedral is one of the most representative examples of Catalan and Spanish Gothic architecture. It is located in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. The church was begun in 1298, and the bell-towers weren't completed until the 20th century. They are doing a lot of work on the restoration and probably will not be completed for a couple of years.
We talked to some American girls we ran into who told us we should visit the top of the building. This was probably my favorite part of the Cathedral because the view was unbelievable. I was able to see all throughout the town which was absolutely amazing.
After the Cathedral we walked over to Las Ramblas. Las Rablas are filled with shops, tapas bars, outdoor stands, bands, guitarists, and much more. We walked down down the street for a while trying to find somewhere to eat. We stopped at a little caffe called El Cochito where I had a Spanish omelet with a Greek salad, which was delicious. We hung out there for about a hour and had a drink and just relaxed.
After the food we walked down Las Ramblas a little bit longer and ran into some break dancers and an excellent band. There were crazy mimes that were dressed up in many different costumes. These mimes are completely still until they are given money and then they all come to life. There also were numerous people break dancing outside Plaze Catalunya and also off of Las ramblas. There was a man who juggled a soccer ball for 20 minutes without dropping it. The crowd that was spectating must have went from 10 people to 50 by the time he was finished.
On the way back we stopped in a Salvador Dali museum. It was 6 Euros to get in to the museum and I usually am not into art, but Dali had some interesting work. He was definitely a very strange man, but some of his art and sculptures were pretty cool.
We were in the museum for over a hour and I was surprised about how much I enjoyed all of the different types of Dali's works. Although Dali wasn't from Barcelona, he was from Figueres, which is another country in Catalunya. So that museum had a lot of Dali's great works.
After we took the metro back home we went out to eat to a local restaurant down the street with Travis and his father. Anna and her husband came out with us too which was cool. I was the translator for the entire meal which was pretty cool. Barcelona had a futbol game tonight and the restaurant filled up quickly with locals. We ate oysters, chicken, prawns, shrimp, pan con tomate, and two different types of ham. We had an after dinner drink of wine, talked for a while and returned home. We watched the remainder of the Barca game, and they came back and won which was exciting. It's pretty interesting because Anna has lived in Catalunya her entire life, and is a die hard Barca fan (kind of like me and the CUBS) but her husband is from Extremadora, and for some reason loves the Madrid futbol team. That is amazing that they can stand each other because the Barca VS Madrid rivalry is absolutely insane. I'm happy that I watched some type of sporting activity because I'm going through ESPN withdrawals haha.
Anyways, I decided I'm going to definitely go to a Barca futbol game soon which will be exciting. I talked to a couple of people who are down to go, and I can get a good ticket for around 30 Euros which is exciting. Futbol is just so much different out here, it's nothing like the sports back at home. Futbol here in Spain is bigger than all of our sports combined in the US which is awesome.
Well tomorrow I start my Spanish classes at 10:45, and will hopefully get a caffe or something. I also have a "scavenger hunt" tomorrow at 3:45 to become more familiar with the city. I also plan to sign up for the Monsterrat Mountain trip and the Andulucia trip. I'm going to also sign up for the Spanish cooking class, and the wine tasting class which are both cheap.
Tomorrow I hope I can find a gym to join, and I think they have some type of student council that I might get involved with that are in charge of planning trips. Another thing that happened today that was very interesting! My roommates dad was visiting one of Gaudi's works and he got pick pocketed. It began to rain and the park cleared out, then he heard a squawking noise and thought that he got ddropped on by a bird. Quickly two Catalans approached him and began pretending to clean him off and pat his coat and everything. It wasn't until two hours later he realized that the people had robbed him. They took out one credit card and some Euros. Then charged 600 euros on it, and the people were just being "good Samaritans". This is a common type of robbery in Barcelona. They do not call them thieves here, but they call them artists because they are amazing doing it.
I'm considering enrolling in a local university course in Catalan. I figure since I'm here in Catalunya, it would be easy to learn the language since my senora speaks it and my RA does as well. It's definitely a very romantic language it would be really interesting to learn. Until tomorrow.
Adéu
