Barcelona

Monday morning we took an early train to Barcelona, since there weren't any on Tuesday, being Christmas and all. We spent nearly a week in Barcelona in total, and I think we covered almost everything a tourist could want.

Our first hotel, before the tour started, was by the beach, and we took a couple walks down there. I'll always remember Christmas morning, walking down the beach in Spain collecting shells. Because the shells are everywhere! They just sort of stayed in huge patches, washed up by the waves. And a number of them already had holes drilled into them too, perhaps by some sea creature who ate the animal inside.

Mom put her feet in the Mediterranean, which actually wasn't as horribly cold as I assumed it would be. Definitely not as cold as the northern California ocean during winter.

As most things were closed for Christmas, we decided that it was a good day to see Guell Park, one of the famous works by Gaudi, the architect who is well-known in Barcelona not only for the park, but for several other famous buildings inside the city (more on them later). Guadi's style is very reminiscent of Dr. Seuss to me, with the rounded curves (he wanted nothing to have straight lines). It's definitely something that needs to be seen rather than explained, so I'll add some pictures later for sure. But let's just say it was a bit like going through a mosaic-covered Whoville. And we saw the famous Dragon lizard at the front, too.

The next day had us catching the citybus tour, jumping on and off one of the red tourist buses that I like to laugh at in San Francisco. But at least they tell you what to see! We hopped off at the main city museum near the magic fountain and explored around there for a while. Another night we came back to watch the magic fountain in action. On Friday and Saturday nights, the fountain performs a show to music (sometimes to Christmas music around this time) and changes colors and sizes and streams. I took a ton of pictures, but we'll see what turns out the best. The square where the fountain is also holds the old bull ring of Barcelona, which has been converted into a shopping mall, but is still a rather iconic ring-shaped building. Barcelona actually banned bullfighting last year, so the new ring isn't in service either.

Other days, we wandered around the Ciutadella park, seeing the amazing fountain (my mom is having new thoughts about the backyard) and mammoth, as well as rambling down La Rambla, the famous market street. They had a cool street person statue of Galileo who my dad and I took a picture with. And lots of things to buy, of course. We also had lunch on one of the patios, getting giant sangrias and watching the people go by. Another time, we stopped by the famous market and saw the fresh butcher's meat hanging from the ceiling, as well as the colorful fruit and peppers.

Michael took several hyperlapses of some of the views, including the unlit Arc de Triumf and the magic fountain. He also took a number during our day trip to Montserrat, where one of the famous basilicas housing a black madonna is perched high on some oddly formed mountains. We went up on a tram and took several funiculars to different sites on the mountain, and he got some pretty cool shots from that. The views were spectacular, of course, and it was a beautifully clear if chilly day.

Another day, we took a cruise around the Mediterranean to see the skyline and to get out on the ocean, and saw a couple old styles sailing ships tied up at the dock. We also went to the Picasso museum and enjoyed watching as his style evolved in front of our eyes as he grew up and experimented.

The other highlight, once we finally started our official company sponsored tour was Gaudi's most famous piece of architecture, the Sangrada Familia Church, which is still not finished to this day. Their projected end date is in the year 2026. Like most of Gaudi's work, it's a bit bizarre, but fantastical. Again, pictures needed. Only one side of this church was actually finished by Gaudi himself, though the design today's modern architects are using to complete it is based on the plans he created. I say based on, because after Gaudi's death, his workshop was destroyed during the Spanish civil war and most of the plans for the church along with it. They reconstructed the plans based on models and discussions with the people Gaudi had worked with.

Regardless, the structure speaks for itself. The inside is amazing too. I especially liked the pillars shaped like tree branches. Gaudi meant for the building to be like a forest inside, and it kind of is. Pics to come!

Reunion

I've been trying to decide if I've been neglecting my blog or if now that some of my family is here, my stories are at a bit of an end. But as I've just sent off a bunch of pictures to Grandma with no explanation of what they are, I'm thinking that I'll go ahead and keep writing, so there's no mystery for the next few weeks before family Christmas in January. And there are more pictures to come and be added, of course!

There were lots of hugs at the airport, and I showed off my Madrid knowledge immediately by guiding us around the Metro to the hotel, which I'd scouted out earlier. After walking them down the brightly holiday lit Gran Via, Michael and I headed down to the river and Atletico's futbol stadium for the match with a couple of my Spanish friends. We agreed to root for the opposition, Celta, as my friends were fans, even though they were expected to lose. And lose they did eventually do, though it wasn't until the last 15 minutes of the game that Atletico finally scored. Which my friends thought was pretty good.

The most memorable part of the game was definitely the large guy who sat behind us yelling and swearing at the ref in Spanish for practically the entire match. I learned a lot of new words that night. The rest of the crowd was pretty fantastic though, with all their songs and calls. They're definitely more organized than any type of American fan base. Or at least they've been singing their songs for longer and make sure their children grow up knowing them.

After the game, A heard from a friend that there was a metro strike on, which meant only one train every hour or so. With the amount of fans packing the station, it wasn't likely we'd be able to get on it, so we had to hoof it back to the center of town. I went out for a drink of drowning sorrows with some of the group before heading back to the hotel. Michael was out cold, the late night walking coupled with jet lag.

The next morning we headed out for a walking tour of Madrid, covering most of the good places I've explored before heading out to Villaviciosa for lunch with my Spanish family. I think my family was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of food and drinks that kept coming, even though I tried to warn them ahead of time. The Spanish mother always says that she's not a good cook, but it was a pretty masterful meal. After, we took a stroll around the castle park before heading back into the city.

The next day was Toledo, and I again showed everyone around some of the good spots. We actually went into the cathedral this time, and it was pretty magnificent. The amount of detail they put into everything is just exquisite. No pictures from me on that, but I'm sure that my mom took plenty, and Michael took a few nice ones as well.