Today I got some nice sleep, and woke up around 11. I had my normal breakfast and then decided to see some sights today. I have made a list of all the places I want to see in Barcelona before I start traveling to other parts of Spain and other countries. The tourist books that I invested in turned out to be a great idea, and they have really helped me find some awesome sights. I have decided that every weekend I am going to see 2-3 different sights in Barcelona.
Today I planned to go down towards the beach and see a museum and a park since they were close to each other. At about 1:30 I headed down to Barceloneta and went to the Museu d'Historia de Catalunya which is enormous. There are four floors and each one went in chronological order. There were definitely some interesting parts of the museum but it was a bit overwhelming. It took about two hours to go through the entire museum and most of the writing was in Catalan. Only about half was in Castelleano, and less that that in English.
It definitely was interesting to learn a little bit more about the history of Catalunya. My senora was telling me today that by the time I left I would probably know more about Catalunya that she does, which I thought was funny. Catalans are very passionate about their culture and history and they all know it. But many of them haven't visited all of the museums, from what Anna was telling me. She said that a lot of people don't go because they are huge tourist attractions.
After we left the museum we decided to grab a bite to eat. There was a small Irish pub right on Port Veil, which was close to the museum. The local bars and restaurants around there were ridiculously expensive (usually there are more tourists by the beach) so I had a chicken sandwich which was decent. The view on Port Veil was amazing, and there were a ton of boats. Apparently that entire area is always busy during the warmer months, which doesn't surprise me. There were many tourists that I saw as I was eating my lunch at the pub.
I have heard that it is much nicer down here in the warmer months, so I will definitely be returning.
After lunch we decided to head towards the Parc de la Ciutadella which was designed by Josep Fontsere and Antoni Gaudi. Unfortunately some of the park is being restored, so it took a little bit out of the park. It seems like everything out here is being restored, but I'm sure once everything is completed they will look beautiful.
The park is huge and I only saw a small part of it today. There is a magnificent entrance to the park called the Arc del Triomf which I will take a picture of the next time I am over that way. The park also has two different types of zoos which I also want to see when I return there. Parc de la Ciutadella was beautiful and was filled with trees, statues, and even the Catalan Parliament. Once all of the trees bloom the park will be much more interesting.
The Catalan Parliament:
After we left the park we had some time to kill so we headed to the Museu Picasso, which was not far from the park. Picasso was from a small town in Andulucia but spent some time in Barcelona. Many of his early works were dedicated to the museum I was at. The Picasso museum had three different floors, and was only about 6 Euros to get in, with my student discount. There was security everywhere, and I wasn't allowed to take pictures which was dissappointing. There were different rooms everywhere holding some 3,000 Picasso works. This museum opened in 1963 and all of his works were donated by friends, or left in his well. I usually am not into art, but Picasso's works were quite interesting and very weird. I have been to more art museums in the last week than I have seen in my life. The picture below was a self-portrait Picasso drew of himself, definitely a very interesting man.
After the museum I headed back home for la cena. I had a tortilla Espanola, a soup with chorizo and beans, salad, bread, yogurt, and fruit. Then I enjoyed watching the rest of the Barca game, and of course they won 5-0. I have just been relaxing since I ate and hopefully will head out for the city in a little bit. Midnight is still early here and I have figured out that 2 in the morning is when people start going out.
Spain loves Obama and it's interesting because I had a conversation about him with a local Catalan which was cool. There is a group called Spanish Democrats or something and they are all getting together for the inauguration. I've been keeping myself updated on CNN.com because there aren't any American T.V. stations out here. I'm dying not watching ESPN and college basketball, but at least I have futbol...but it's still not the same.
Tomorrow I hope to do some more exploring and hopefully walk all the way down Las Ramblas. Definitely not looking forward to classes on Monday, but oh well I guess I need to suck it up..after all I'm in Barcelona.
And did I heard that it was -35 at home in Chicago? Hmm...I might just stay out here for the winters from now on?
Ciao
