Barcelona might just be my happy place...

So last weekend (and by last weekend, I mean like 3 weekends ago... I've been uploading pictures) I jetted off to Barcelona (well, I went by train; so I suppose I "trained" off). The train route took me past Carcassonne (I got a glimpse of the medieval city from the train!) and into a city called Narbonne. I had about an hour before my train to Barcelona, so I explored there a bit before heading back to the train station.

The train got into Barcelona pretty late, so I headed straight to my hostel (an adorable place called Tailor's Hostel just outside the center of town). Friday morning, I headed into the center of town for a free walking tour (organized, as always, by Sandeman's New Europe Tours -- I cannot recommend them enough). Since I walk fast, I stayed near the front of the group where I chatted quite a bit with our tour guide, Leon. He was really funny, and is actually an actor and composer (he worked on Wolfboy and Monte Cristo: The Musical). I really liked him, and he was running a modernisme tour that afternoon, so I decided to do that one as well.

Actual steps walked up by Christopher Columbus

The Barcelona Cathedral -- an example of Catalan Gothic Architecture

Narrow winding street

I just love these balconies...

Another cathedral (and another example of Catalan Gothic)

The damage at the bottom of the wall of this building is actually from WWII bombings

I have no idea what this actually is; I just thought it was really beautiful

I think this is the castle...

Snack between walking tours -- Meringue

The choral tower of the Catalonian Music Palace

Probably the ugliest building in all of Barcelona -- no idea what they were thinking with the fish eyes...

Leon!

I'd love windows like this in my apartment one day

Better yet... like this! Definitely would make the room with this window my library

The guy who owned this house tried to fake his wealth -- pretending the pink columns were a really precious marble

A facade done by Gaudi

Full length shot of the facade

After like 6 straight hours of walking, I headed back to the hostel to give my feet a rest before going out to dinner at a restaurant Leon had recommended earlier in the day. The food was DELICIOUS, and affordable (a plus), and it was right across from the Palace of Catalonian Music, which is an absolutely GORGEOUS building.

Box office (... I think??) of the Palace of Catalonian Music

The facade

Detail at night

More detail

Saturday morning, I had tickets to go into La Perdrera, a home designed entirely by Gaudi (THE big moderniste architecht) which is also said to have inspired a lot of the aesthetics in Star Wars. Honestly, the best part of it was the roof. Other than that, you only get into the top two floors (the attic, and a floor that has been transformed into a sort of museum, showing what the house/furnishings might have been like). Honestly, the inside was a bit disappointing compared to the outside of the building and the roof -- relatively normal and ordinary. (At least it was normal to the untrained eye. I'm sure someone well versed in architecture and/or modernisme might see it differently.)

On the rooftop of La Perdrera

A model of La Perdrera

The apartment inside -- rather lackluster compared to the rooftop/facade

After La Perdrera, I headed up to La Sagrada Familia to try to go in. But the line was ridiculously long, so I decided to wait and buy my tickets online to avoid having to wait on the sidewalk for hours. So I headed back into town, where I was met by some sort of horse parade?? I have no idea what was going on, but there were a bunch of people on horses and they were throwing candy at the crowd.

Horse parade?? I don't know what was going on...

Silly hats

I ended up stopping for a hot chocolate at a cafe recommended by Leon; it was a little hole-in-the-wall place that you probably would never find unless you knew it was there (or were REALLY looking for it) as it's tucked away in a back alley by the wax museum. It's called "Garden of the Fairies" or "Forest Fairies" depending on the translation (El Bosc de les Fades). It's a bit like the Rainforest Café with the trees and foliage overhead, but it's less gimmicky somehow (no recorded animal noises or animatronic animals around). The trees have got faces, and there's lanterns hanging from the branches. And there's a little nook behind the bar with a little pond and waterfall. It's just gorgeous and serene with celtic music playing in the background. Absolutely lovely place to take a little break.

Best. Café. Ever. (And the hot chocolate was delicious)

Then I headed over to the Barcelona Cathedral (I think that's its name...) where they had 13 geese to honor Saint Eulalia (who was 13 years old when she was killed, and underwent 13 trials). Overall, it's a gorgeous cathedral. Her body/remains are supposedly in a sarcophagus in the crypt; they're supposed to be "perfectly preserved" but also, because she was so holy, no mortal may look upon her body. Apparently the last man who tried (a priest, or some such) was immediately struck blind as soon as he attempted to open the sarcophagus. So I'm not sure how they think the body is perfectly preserved if no one has seen it in hundreds of years.... but that's the legend.

The courtyard

Geese!

Inside the cathedral

The tomb of Saint Eulalia

On the roof of the cathedral

Biggest. Seagulls. Ever.

After the church, I headed over to Parc Guell (buildings and park designed, once again, by Gaudi). I had a bit of a language mix up trying to figure out where to buy tickets (the sign said "pick up your online tickets here" but since I hadn't bought tickets online, I tried to find out where I had to go to just buy tickets; the man spoke absolutely no English, but it turned out it was all the same place, the sign just confused me.) The parc itself is quite beautiful. The homes in the parc are pretty too -- they look almost like Gingerbread houses!

Gingerbread houses!

Apparently Gaudi was famous for this Gecko

Majestic staircase up to the rest of the parc

The front of the house from across the street

Saturday night, I went on a "tapas tour" which is essentially like a pub crawl, but with more focus on food. We went to three different restaurants, and then a bar afterward, and the food was extremely delicious. At the second place, we learned about the traditional Catalan wine pitcher, called a porron, which is essentially a communal wine pitcher that everyone drinks out of. It's quite tricky to get the hang of it (especially with red wine!) but quite a bit of fun, and does save on dishes since you don't need glasses.

On the tapas tour, I met a girl from California who is currently working as an au pair in Spain. She was really nice, and we spent most of the evening talking. We also started talking to a Spanish guy on the tour who took us out salsa dancing until the early hours of the morning. That was quite a bit of fun, though I had absolutely zero salsa experience (other than Zumba, which I'm sure doesn't actually count). It was interesting just watching the other couples dancing, and getting to dance a bit myself.

Sunday, I took things easy and headed down to the beach, where I layed around for a good hour or so. The weather was absolutely beautiful. If I'd have had the foresight to wear my bathing suit, I really would have gone for a dip in the Mediterranean, even though it was January.

Barcelonetta

I went swimming accidentally again. I think this is a theme...

After the beach, I headed over to La Sagrada Familia (having purchased tickets Saturday afternoon when I nipped back to the hostel before the tapas tour). To be honest, it's not my style of church. I mean, I know the architect is Gaudi (pronounced, as far as I can tell -- "Gow - dee"), but it's just really gaudy. The outside especially is overly intricate. I mean, there's a point of "attention to detail" but that can easily be taken too far. And I think this takes it too far. There's just too much going on. The inside at least looks simpler. It doesn't hurt my eyes looking around, anyway. The pillars are all made to look like trees, and the coolest thing is the way the light plays through the stained glass windows and actually throws colors all over the room. That bit is quite beautiful. But the rest is just really too much.

Detail on the facade

Facade created by modern architects (not Gaudi) that depicts the Passion

More of the Passion facade

Gaudi was inspired by nature, and I'm 99% sure that chandelier was inspired by a jellyfish...

"Trees"

Light coming in through stained-glass windows

Windows

The lights playing off the pipe organ

Attempted panorama shot of the inside

After that, I pretty much headed back to my hostel to pack and get some rest before my early train on Monday morning. When I got back to Dax on Monday, it was basically like re-entering a disaster area. I went from sunny and warm Barcelona to rainy, cold Dax. But apparently it had been raining non-stop for a while, causing some pretty bad flooding in the entirety of the region.

Tuesday morning, when I went out to wait for the bus (so I could get the train to go to school) the bus never came (causing me to miss work). When I went out to do some grocery shopping later in the day, two more buses never showed up. Wednesday morning, I walked all the way to the center of town (where I have to go to catch the bus that early).  Eventually, a man from the transportation department comes around and tells us "No buses today. At all." I called a cab and JUST made it to the train station (where the tunnels between platforms have started flooding) in time for the train to school.

On the way home from school Wednesday afternoon, I saw more flooding up near the train station (the tracks were partially covered). And so on and so forth. It's been raining pretty consistently all week. The river water level got so high that the city decided to divert some of the water down a couple main roads -- residents of those roads have been offered rooms at a local hotel, and the streets are obviously closed to traffic. The buses are now out of commission indefinitely, though they've restored the free shuttle service around town. As for the weather forecast, it's supposed to keep raining for at least another week or more, though we might get a bit of a reprieve on Tuesday.

I thought about maybe going on a day trip this weekend or next weekend, but seeing as how I can't get to the train station (without paying an arm and a leg) I decided to stay in. Maybe if things are better, I'll go somewhere next weekend. (I didn't go anywhere this weekend -- I've been packing/cleaning/etc.)

It's almost time for our third break, which means I'll be heading back to MI for a visit. My suitcase is already packed with all sorts of extraneous items that I'm moving home sooner rather than later to alleviate what is sure to be a difficult move home in May.

(I'm working at uploading pictures -- I've been uploading them backwards, so I'll add more as I can, but I figure I should probably publish this since I wrote it about 2 weeks ago...)