!Hola!
Today has definitely been a fascinating one. I woke up around 11 and had breakfast which was the usual. Mi caffe con leche was extra strong today, or at least it tasted like it was. Last night I made a list of the sights that I wanted to see today and I did pretty well. I wanted to go down to the Eixample (Expansion) part of Barcelona which had some amazing sights, particularly the architecture of Antoni Gaudi. I hate to preach about history but for those who are unaware Antoni Gaudi was the leading exponent of Catalan Modernisme. His ideas are just genius and I didn't expect what I explored today to be as awesome and unreal as it was.
The first place that I visited was Casa Batallo. It has five stories, I believe and also an amazing view and architecture on the roof. Once I entered the Casa, my mouth literally dropped. Gaudi's integral approach to architecture can be seen in the doors and the windows as well. The outside is covered with iron balconies which are simply amazing.
The entire casa was just filled with architecture that I have never seen before, nothing that was have anywhere in America. The terrace and rear facade is the outdoor space at the back of the house that allows a view of the rear facade. It has iron doors and balconies as well which was awesome.
The stairways and doors were also very interesting. The ceramics were just incredible..I have never seen anything like it. If you ever make a trip to Barcelona, make sure that you see some of Gaudi's works because they are remarkable.
The roof might have been my favorite part of Casa Batllo mostly because of the chimneys. These are usually the unseen parts of the building, but have become Gaudi's trademark. They are tightly packed and covered in abstract patterns.
I could literally go on for hours about how much I enjoyed Casa Batllo, which was also got the nickname "House of Bones" by Salvador Dali. I took over 200 pictures today and it would take me way too long to put each of them on the blog, but I will be posting them on my facebook, and probably another website when I have some time.
Next, I walked down the street to Casa Mila, also known as La Pedrera (The Stone Quarry) which was another one of Gaudi's works. Casa Mila is Gaudi's greatest contribution to Barcelona's civic architecture and his last work before he devoted the rest of his life to the Sagrada Familia, which I will hopefully visit next weekend. The photo I have below is the front of Casa Mila and if you look towards the top you can slightly see the roof, which has been my favorite sight I've seen yet.
The inside of la Casa Mila was pretty cool, but not close to the inside of Casa Batllo. I was more interested in the roof of Casa Mila because I have seen pictures of it, and have been hearing about it since I've been in Barcelona..and today I finally got to see it.
The sculptured ducts and chimneys have such a threatening appearance they are known as espanta bruixes, or witch-scarers.
This following pictures are of me in front of these enormous sculptures. I believe that these were the chimneys, but I'm not positive. I was probably on this roof for over a hour, and the sight was just unbelievable.
So far Casa Mila has been my favorite sight in my study abroad experience. I haven't even been here for two weeks yet, and I feel like I know the city already. The metro goes EVERYWHERE which is extremely convenient and I am just starting to memorize the different lines.
The following pictures show the great view I had of the city. I could even see the Sagrada Familia from the top, but I couldn't get a decent picture of it.
This next photo is probably my favorite of the entire trip so far. I swear some of the pictures I took turned out better than the ones in my guidebooks. I literally took 50 pictures from the top of Casa Mila and only added my favorites on my blog, but there are plenty more to come.
After we left Casa Mila we stopped in a tapas bar nearby to have a quick bite to eat. It was already after 4 by now so I just had some pan con tomate, and una tortilla Espanola, which were both pretty good.
We decided to walk to Passeig de Gracia a little bit longer and then turn onto Avinguda Diagonal to check out Casa Terrades which is a six-sided apartment block by Modernista architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch. It sometimes gets its nickname "Casa de les Punxes" (House of the Points, from the spires on its six corner turners. There were some shops underneath it, but they were all closed to I just viewed the building from the outside.
We finally headed back to Maragall and then stopped in a local bar and finished watching the Real Madrid game, and they ended up winning 3-1. A lot of the locals in the bar were pretty angry but it was a good game to watch. The only type of sports I can watch out here. Although one of the sports bars off Las Ramblas is showing the football game tonight, so I might head down there with some people..but I haven't decided yet.
I had an excellent dinner tonight, arroz con gambas, salad, bread, and conejo (rabbit) which was interesting. I've never had rabbit before and I definitely would never order it...but it wasn't bad. Like I said before I am going to try every food that I can while I'm out here. I guess that conejo is a very popular dish out here, and I was surprised to hear that.
After dinner I practiced some Catalan with my senora, and she talked to us about what we liked and didn't like about Spain, and then I asked her what the Spanish thought of Americans. I really wasn't surprised to hear her answer, but I wanted her to be honest. She told me that every American she has ever met, she has loved. Not everyone dislikes us, it's more our government...but everyone is entitled to their own opinions right? It's very interesting, yet disappointing that America has gotten such a bad reputation over the years. But everyone that I have met have been nothing but nice to me, and I think that most of the people who "dislike" Americans have never met one.
Most of the people in Spain are very excited for us with Obama getting inaugurated this coming week. Maybe change will come to America, but will Americans ever change? Maybe all it takes is a trip abroad? An opportunity to experience another culture? Well that's a topic for another day....
This blog has taken me hours to put together and I need to get some sleep. What was I thinking when I signed up for 9 in the morning classes on Mondays and Wednesdays?
Oh well, I guess I'll just need to suck it up...after all, I am living the dream in Barcelona!
A domani.
