Finally got to sleep in today and got up around 12:30ish! I met up with my friend Nick and his roommate, and it turns out he is the guy I sit next to every day in my history class which was pretty funny. Then we met up with a bunch of their friends and decided to head to Montjüic. It was a nice metro ride there, and then we walked up the mountain. The weather was beautiful for most of the day, probably the nicest day this week.
Montjüic literally means the "Jewish Mountain" after an important Jewish cemetery that existed during the Middle Ages. This park rises about 215 meters above the port. Montjüic was the main site for the 1992 Olympics, held on its southern slopes, and was completely transformed.
This next picture is the center point of one of Montjüic's light shows. It is Placa d'Espanya and is where the metro took us.
One of the stairways heading up to the Palau Nacional...
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This following picture is outside the Mueseu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. Although we didn't go inside, I am going there again with one of my classes. This is the main building of the 1929 International exhibition, and is Europe's finest collection of Romanesque frescoes.
These next photos are just a view from the Palau Nacional...
Montjüic is definitely a very relaxing atmosphere. Everyday they have live music and on Thursday-Sunday's during the summer, and Friday and Saturdays during the winter, there is a multi-colored music and light show. There are small bars and restaurants all over the mountain. This next picture is the man who played some good live music today.
This next picture is of me with some of the city in the background.
If you look to the left you can see the figure that resembles a needle. This is the Torre de Collserola which is located in Tibidabo. This mountain is 517 meters ( 1,695 feet) tall and home to an amusement park, which I plan to visit.
This next picture is outside of Palau Sant Jordi, which is the star of all the Olympic installations. Although I didn't get a chance to go inside any of the stadiums today, I will definitely go the next time I visit Montjüic.
These next pictures are outside of Estadi Olympic de Montjüic
The group that I was with wanted to go back, so I didn't get to see as much as I wanted to. I will definitely return because there are many more parts of Montjüic that I still want to see.
For the first time I saw a thief attempt to pick-pocket someone on the metro today coming home from Montjüic. There were about 10 of us in the group today, and we were spread out all over the train. As we approached one of the stops, a man getting off the metro snatched the wallet out of an American's back pocket. The thief picked the wrong person to rob because these two American men were probably in their 50's and each about 6 foot 5 and easily over 200 pounds. These men saw what happened and grabbed the little local man, who was probably half their size. He easily got his wallet back, and then the thief got thrown out of the metro. It was insane to witness this, and just shows how often people get robbed. This is probably only the third time I've heard of the thieves getting caught. By caught I don't mean arrested, I mean caught by the person they were trying to rob. It definitely will make me keep a better eye on my belongings.
I came home after that and have just been relaxing. I just got done eating dinner and probably will do some studying before I go out. Hopefully I will be able to go to Tibidabo tomorrow, or maybe Palau Guell.
