SUNDAY FUNDAY IN BCN

We started our day with another amazing breakfast and then we headed to La Sagrada Familia. I stole some more jelly from breakfast and some rolls for later. This is a cathedral designed by Guardi. Guadi started building the cathedral in 1898 and it is still not completed. This was by far the most unique cathedral I have ever seen. Typically cathedrals are massive towering monuments built hundreds and hundreds of years ago. These cathedrals have turrets and spirals and are built in gothic styles, but the cathedral was completey different. Each side was unique. One side had was designed by a different architect who used the cubism style to depict the passion of Christ on the front of the cathedral. This side has had a square with numbers in it. Each of the sides added up to 33 to represent the 33 years of Jesus’ life. The other side of the cathedral was designed by Gaudi and had an ocean theme. The religious figures were craved on the front of the cathedral in kind of an ocean scene. I really loved looking and comparing both these interpretations.

After viewing the different sides of the exterior, we headed inside the cathedral where we saw all the construction. As I mentioned above, the cathedral has been in the works for over a hundred years. Jesus’ said that it should be completed with in twenty years, but I seriously doubt that judging from all the construction on the inside. Our tour of the inside also included an elevator ride up to the top of the turrets. The view of the city from the top of La Sagrada Familia was amazing. I could see the entire city laid out in front of me, and I could really appreciate the unique architure of the cathedral. We had to take a really windy, twisty staircase back down to the ground level, but we took lots of fun pictures on the way down. If La Sagrada Familia is ever completed, I would love to come back to Barcelona and see the final product.

After our tour we loaded up the bus and were of to another famous building designed by Gaudi. At this point I was beginging to wonder why they didn’t just rename Barcelona Guadiville or something. The building was called La Casa Mila or Padrera. This was an apartment complex designed by Gaudi. Part of the apartment was the museum and a model of an apartment the rest of the building actually had residents who were living in the complex. How cool would that be if you lived in a building designed by Guadi? We got to take a tour of the interior of the model apartments and also the roof of the complex. The model apartment was huge. There were so many rooms, bathrooms and dinning halls. I was ready to move in after our tour. We climbed up to the roof next. This had to be the coolest roof ever. The roof had several chimenies that were designed to look like heads of soldiers. Also there more mosaic sculpture things. It was by far the coolest roof I have ever seen.

We had free time after our tours, so a group of us decided we were going to find a place to rent bikes. We headed down by the bay again and walked to a Park called Parque Citadel. Before renting the bike we eat our packed lunches. I had a scrumptious peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich, only the best combination ever. We were all enjoying our packed lunches when a pidgeon decided to poop on Hannah’s sandwich. At first she did not realize that it was bird poop so she was kept eating it. Then she figured it out when she saw the same color green glob on her bag. Yuck! It was fine though the pidgeon only got a little corner of the sandwich, which se tour of and threw at the dirty birds.

Once we were done with lunch we found a place to rent bikes right outside the park. It was five euros for an hour and it was totally worth it. I am typically afraid of bikes, but for some reason my sense of adventure was on over drive. We got on bikes and headed to the park. We bike around the park for a bit and then headed for the beach ares. We had to weave in and out of pedestrians on the street and pay attention to the traffic signals on the road. I think I almost got hit by a crazy Spanish driver like five times, but we all made it to the ocean safely. We stopped to take pictures along the shoreline and then we continued peddling along the coast. We biked through some of the Olympic village before heading back to the park to return our bikes. That was one of the most exciting and freeing hours of my life. I think I am official over my fear of bikes too! If I can bike in Barcelona then I can bike anywhere!

After returning our bikes, some of us headed back to the beach to walk around while others decided they would catch the JMU bus back to the hotel. Allie, Angela, Kelsey, Julian and I decided to walk around on the beach for a bit before returning to the hotel. We sat by the ocean for a bit and talked and then walked back by the bay and through Las Ramblas to the metro stop that would take us back to our hotel.

Back at the hotel I took an amazing bath complete with bubbles and all. Then I had a lovely dinner of peanut butter and apple sandwiches with Jeanie. We ended our last night in Barcelona with a giant PJ party. Everyone was camped out in the boys room. People were either drinking and playing cards or just falling asleep on the beds. I was one of the people falling asleep on the beds. I never did get to drink my 79 cent bottle of wine I had bought the night before.

Every excursion I have been on has been absolutely amazing, but the Barcelona trip was my favorite by far. The city was so much different than any other part of Spain I have seen so far. It was much more modern, and there was so many more English speakers. I also really enjoyed hanging out with group of girls I spent my free time with this weekend. It might have taken me a bit of time, but I feel like these people are my friends now instead of just other students I am taking classes with in Spain. I am so excited that I get to show my parents this city. I can’t wait to be their personal tour guide.

The Bus ride back to Salamanca was endless, but we finally made it back to Manc. We watched bootleg versions of Happy Feet and Superman on the way back. The movies were really bad quality and had horrible dubbing, but it gave us something to do to pass the time. I am so glad that when I come back to Barcelona with my parents in 8 days we are flying from Madrid. One eleven-hour bus ride was enough for me.