The moment we reached Barcelona, we saw a major shift in culture. Not only were things not as proper and posh, but everything was so much cheaper. So much so that I was starting to understand why so many college students choose to study abroad in Spain and not France...this was then overridden once we hit Southern France after Barcelona. *Click to enlarge photos*
Imagine a land where chocolate is acceptable for breakfast, nachos can be a daily thing and lots of color. This land would be Spain. Churros (legit good ones) dipped in hot melted was our daily breakfast along with big cups of coffee. I don't think you understand our struggle with big cups of coffee, they don't exist in Europe. This was then followed by lots of real nachos for dinner, which I learned don't usually include nacho cheese, and soccer. But Barcelona also seemed to be the place of random discoveries.
Our first day we decided to venture through Barcelona without any guidebooks. We had agreed upon doing a circle route while looking at the maps on our phone. These maps, while so helpful, do not show any indication of altitude, and we soon found ourself walking straight up on the top of a hill/mountain thing. We seemed to have stumble upon the very touristy viewpoint/castle. We applauded ourselves for somehow finding the most popular tourist attraction without trying, while also stumbling upon another site. This time it was the base of the Catalonia National Art Museum. We saw people gathering around the pillars staring at the fountain. We quickly did our research and learned that on this day of the week there are two fountain/water and light shows. We were there 30 minutes before the start so Katie got us hot coffee and we watched a free show. We then found ourselves in a local bar witnessing a soccer game through the eyes of the local crowd. But this was just day one of our happy stumble-upons.
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| Catalonia National Art Museum |
Day two we walked through the old town to find that there was a big celebration and festival occurring. I literally can't describe this festival in words other than "human tower with children as the top". Video attachment later. Check back for it.
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| Katie with her flip flops |
Day two was Sunday, but it seemed we had missed the noon mass because it was canceled for celebration that was going on. Personally fine by me, I'm pretty sure Jesus would be all for me seeing and having adventures around the world. But see, this was now the reason why later, I had completed the hardest run of my life. Ok all, I was on Cross Country and Track and I did pretty well. But, the best I can do in Israel is try to find a cold time in the day to go for a run (that cold time doesn't exist), so I am not in the best shape. Luckily since this was the end of the trip, I had gotten a little more in shape with all the walking.
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| Run destination |
Katie decided she wanted to go on a run while I was trying to figure out my flight plans. I was supposed to fly out of Madrid in a few days, but there had been a ground strike canceling half of my flights. International calling wasn't working so I opted out for mommy dearest who actually had a working phone and decided to run with Katie. We picked a site and decided to run. Well friends, this site was 4 miles away. Wasn't really a big deal until Katie wanted to run back in time for mass. I think we maybe had 45 minutes tops...and we had to run 4 miles back. Trust me people, I tried my hardest to convince her that God understands we're exploring the world and didn't want me to throw up a lung. But no worries, I made it in time to listen to 1.5 hours of Spanish. Los sientos Jesus, yo no comprendo.
Barcelona was a relative break point. Lots of different things were happening at once. There was a lot happening with my travel plans a few days before departure, Katie and I had a bumpy moment and school was starting soon. But give it a good night's sleep and bam, we decided to cancel my planes and go to Southern France and then Rome for the pope stuff, the bumpy moment had been forgotten and my friends were going to register me for classes. We were now on our way to what was to become my very favorite part of the trip, Marseille and Nice.
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| Church that's been under construction for over 100 years |
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| same church as pictured left |
Our first day we decided to venture through Barcelona without any guidebooks. We had agreed upon doing a circle route while looking at the maps on our phone. These maps, while so helpful, do not show any indication of altitude, and we soon found ourself walking straight up on the top of a hill/mountain thing. We seemed to have stumble upon the very touristy viewpoint/castle. We applauded ourselves for somehow finding the most popular tourist attraction without trying, while also stumbling upon another site. This time it was the base of the Catalonia National Art Museum. We saw people gathering around the pillars staring at the fountain. We quickly did our research and learned that on this day of the week there are two fountain/water and light shows. We were there 30 minutes before the start so Katie got us hot coffee and we watched a free show. We then found ourselves in a local bar witnessing a soccer game through the eyes of the local crowd. But this was just day one of our happy stumble-upons.
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