Sangria, Cerveza and More...I´M BAAAAAAACK!

Hola (again) from Barcelona! I´ve fully recuperated and returned to Barcelona on May 15th - same day that my sister and friend had already originally planned to come out and see me before I jumped ship. We had a great time! They have since left and two days later my parents joined me here and were here for about a week. Had a great time with them as well. We were true tourists. I think we covered the entire city!

I started back at the school on May 19th. They put me in a class that was at the same point when I left. HOWEVER, I don´t think they remembered that I missed my entire last week as I was not feeling well and busy trying to figure out if and when I was headed back to the States. Needless to say, I missed the whole unit on future tenses, but they caught me up.

After just one week of being back in classes I had an exam in order to move to the next level. It had been 15+ years since I´ve taken an exam. I had kind of forgotten how that works. I actually tried to take it seriously and did some studying until those annoying past tenses came back into my life again. They confuse the heck out of me! Well...my studying paid off somewhat and I got an 86.5%! Woo hoo! But, the award is the next level which so far has been much harder. Soooo...I kind of played hookey yesterday and today...that´s been great. I´m thinking my last week or so here I may not return and just enjoy my vacation time. We´ll see...

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I was back. Sorry it has taken me so long to get in touch. Time flies when you´re having fun! Check out my other posts for more photos and adventures. With visits from my family and friend, I got a chance to see a bunch of stuff that I hadn´t seen the first round. And, I have some great pickpocketing stories for you, too! Well, not exactly great...more like...ANNOYING!

Stay tuned...

Last night in Barcelona...for now...

Thanks to the amazing World Wide Web, I recently reconnected with a friend of mine and her sister who I haven't seen since high school. Coincidentally, my friend's sister and her husband were traveling to Madrid and Barcelona my last week there and we got together for dinner my last night. How wild is that? We haven't seen each other in over 15 years, but we meet up for dinner in Barcelona.

We had dinner at a swanky, quirky, beautiful restaurant not far from my apartment. The restaurant included large bed-like couches you could dine on. We opted for the standard table and chairs as the thought of me trying to climb up onto that couch was just not appealing - maybe next time. We had a great dinner and a great time catching up. It was a nice (temporary) end to this amazing adventure I've been on. So, this will be my last post for a bit. I hope you've enjoyed reading it and I look forward to talking and seeing many of you soon!

Before I go...PARC GÜELL

Before I left for Barcelona, I met with a friend of mine who had studied abroad in Spain and spent quite a bit of time in Barcelona. She lent me a book of hers featuring beautiful photos of Gaudi's work. After seeing that book, one of the sites I looked most forward to seeing was the Parc Güell. The park was originally supposed to be a planned, affluent development project that Gaudi was to design. He had begun work, but the project flopped, and years later the area was officially made into a park.

Before heading back to the States I was determined to visit the park. So the evening before I was leavig, I made my way there. I saw where it was located on the map and which Metro stop I needed to get off at to reach it. Though I was not feeling well and still in a bit of pain, I made the trek anyway. I imagined that I would get off the Metro and walk a couple blocks to a beautiful, green, grassy AND FLAT park. Uh...not quite the case. When I got off the Metro I followed signs to the park. I believe one sign said it was 500 meters from the Metro - which is just 0.31 miles - not bad. BUT, a large portion of it is going up a very steep hill - equivalent to a hill you might find in San Francisco. Luckily, half way up this steep slope were sets of escalators, though the last set were not working and were followed by at least 3 to 4 flights of stairs.

As you can imagine, I was slow-moving. Several elderly men and women seemed to literally zoom past me. But I made it this far, and I was determined to see this darn park before I left. And I finally made it! It's a pretty good size park, and I didn't get a chance to see it all, but what I did see was amazing! It was so beautiful! Huge beautiful trees and more of Gaudi's signature mosaic work. I loved it! I wish I had come sooner. If I make it back, this will be the first place I return to. My photos don't do the place justice...and they just don't look like the photos from that Gaudi book. :o) But hope you enjoy!

An Unexpected Barcelona Attraction

Well, as I mentioned in my post regarding Montserrat, I wasn't feeling great the ride home, nor that night. But, I figured I could just sleep it off in time for a road trip to Valencia and Granada with my new NYC friends the following day.

Friday night I do not recall sleeping at all and come Saturday morning I was actually feeling worse. I had the worst stomach pain I've ever experienced. I finally decided that I needed to call the school emergency number to find out how I could go see a doctor. Unfortunately, my prepaid phone was out of euros. One way to add euros is via ATMs. So, I slowly made my way down 3 flights of stairs and around the block to the ATM. However, my ATM card would not work - which I have found in a number of machines.

I decided that I needed to walk up the street and find another ATM machine. It felt like I walked about 10 minutes, but probably only went about 30 feet. I finally decided I just couldn't make it and headed back to the apartment to wake up my flatmates for assistance. The lucky flatmates were C and R, married couple from Brazil. I borrowed their phone to call the school. The school advised me the fastest way to see a doctor was to go to the emergency room. I asked C if she would go with me since her Portuguese background allowed her to speak and understand Spanish very well. So, both C and R came with me. My angels!

The doctors and nurses were extremely nice and C was so helpful. I am extremely grateful to her for basically being at my bedside for nearly 8 hours and to R for patiently waiting for us in the waiting room. To make a long story short, the hospital could only give me pain medicine and suggested I get back to the U.S. to be treated.

Who gets to say they visited Barcelona and spent the day at one of their hospitals? I was really just trying to see the city in its entirety and truly experience Barcelona. One highlight of the day...a very cute doctor! C and I both felt like we were on an episode of Grey's Anatomy. The doctors and nurses were all gorgeous!

So, yes, I've had to cut my dream trip short and I am back in the U.S. Sorry, I know many of you are living vicariously through me, and I've tried to keep it going as long as I could. I believe everything happens for a reason. Perhaps I needed to come back to win the lottery or watch new episodes of Ugly Betty now that the writers' strike is over. Who knows! I have to have surgery on Thur., April 3rd, but hope that I'll make it back to Barcelona some time in May - if not to complete the school program, at least to enjoy some fun with family and friends who have booked trips to visit me.

Since I successfully sublet my apartment, I'm currently freeloading at my parents. Having a mom who cooks dinner and a dad who does the dishes each night ain't a bad gig! Plus, I'll be partaking in McDonald's nights on Tuesdays and pizza nights on Friday. Thank goodness for family!

MONTSERRAT

Montserrat is a mountain in Catalonia, just outside of Barcelona, and is known for its monastery and beautiful views of Catalonia. It's also a popular spot because of La Morenata, the statue of the Black Virgin. My NYC friends and I headed up there on a Friday morning and got a package deal - train ticket, furnicular tickets (cable-like car you take up the mountain) and lunch.

Getting there was a bit odd, and getting back...uh...horrible. First, getting there -we were the last few to get on the train, thus, no seats. So we had to stand the entire 50-minute ride up there - which actually wasn't too bad. But, once we got closer to Montserrat, everyone had to get off the train, but then get back on. Since directions were all being made in Spanish, we're not quite sure what happened there.

Once we finally arrived, we headed straight to the beautiful Basilica church to see the boys choir sing. It was very beautiful. Apparently, there's a boys choir boarding school there (okay...no priest jokes, folks...). After, we stood in line for at least an hour and a half to see La Morenata. She's behind glass for protection, but you can touch her orb for a blessing, say a prayer, or whatever you feel is the thing to do at that point.

We grabbed a great lunch in the cafeteria - not like any lunches I've seen at other museums or touristic sites. They had roasted chicken, pasta, calamari, salads, chocolate mousse, etc., etc. We were happy we went with the package deal. We were finally ready to take the furnicular to another portion of the mountain. We decided to head towards Santa Cova (holy cave). It has several hiking paths you can take up the mountain, and one path included amazing statues created by various designers and architects (including Gaudi, of course). Each statue or scene represented different stages in the life of Christ. Very beautiful!

There was another portion of the mountain we could have gone up to, but it was getting late and we didn't want to miss the last train back to Barcelona, so we decided to head back. Plus, I wasn't feeling very well so I was definitely ready to go.

But, let me tell you about that ride home....horrendous! The last train was at 6:15pm, so we intelligently decided to take the 5:15pm train because the last train would probably be incredibly crowded. We get on the 5:15pm train (I make that sound effortlessly, but not so much. There's really no order here, you just push your way onto the train to fight for a seat). We luckily grab three seats and are extremely excited to be able to finally rest. However, that ride only lasts about 5 or 10 minutes. We forgot that we had to get on another train. So, everyone is herded off the train where we wait for at least 45 minutes. In the meantime, at least 2 or 3 more trains have dumped herds of other folks.

Our train finally arrives, and it's like stuffing a pig into a jelly jar! Seriously! What were these people thinking? So, unless you were willing to be ruthless and push grandma or the family of six out of the way, you most likely were not going to get a seat. Again, we must stand for the 50-minute ride home...even though we're exhausted...even though I'm not feeling 100%...and even though we are packed like sardines. It was so crowded...it reminded me of riding home on the Metro after the fireworks on the 4th of July. AND...to make it worse...the train had to make stops and kept picking up and piling on more people!

So, if any of you visit Montserrat...I recommend going as early as possible and heading back as early as possible. Or, better yet, find a bus tour that's headed there so you can avoid the train altogether.

Sites & Scenes of Barcelona

So here's just a hodge podge of some photos I took during my walks about the city. Enjoy!

One of my favorite parts of the city are the narrow, back alley ways filled with shops, restaurants and bars. There are so many of these little side streets that you can easily come across a store or restaurant and never see it again. I began sketching little maps of shops or restaurants I wanted to return to so that I could find them again.

La Rambla is a street full of many shops, restaurants, bars, and theatrical performances and artistic performers, such as below. It's always bustling with people and is an area also known for its share of pick-pocketers.

Thought I'd throw in some photos of my apartment as well which was located in walking distance to the port and the beach. Great location!

My apartment building

Supermarket near my apartment. It's so pretty!

CASA BATLLÒ & LA PEDRERA

On Thursday, March 20th, my New YAWKer friend V and I went to check out some more of architect Gaudi's work. We first went to the Casa Batllò located on the Passeig de Gracià, a street of upscale shopping. Also along Passeig de Gracià are a number of works by other architects, in addition to Gaudi, who were part of the Modernisme movement.

Casa Batllò is a building that was renovated by Gaudi. It seems Gaudi's goal was to avoid having any straight lines in the house. A lot of curvy handrails, stainglass windows and doors - quite whimsical. And apparently, when he designed the facade and roof of the building (which look like scales and the curving back of a dragon) he was basing this work on a legendary dragon-slaying story. My favorite part of the building were the beautiful mosaics made of broken ceramic tiles.














Just a few blocks up from the Casa Batllò is La Pedrera, an avant-garde apartment building also designed by Gaudi. Another stunning building!