España sin español

Barcelona was gorgeous and relaxing and...

(Interjection: I could use a variety of fun Spanish phrases here, ones I thought I'd be using during my weekend-trip, but that would be about as useless as my skills turned out to be. Apparently Barcelona speaks Catalan, which is really nothing like Spanish with all the j's turned into a lovely tg-combo and x's appearing out of nowhere. I'm still pondering how to pronounce so much of what we saw.)

I loved it. The weekend was really fabulous, with the exception of the 3am wake-up call (I've got to stop with the early-early morning flights), and despite the slight language barrier, I enjoyed myself immensely. People pretty much spoke either some English or Spanish (though the signs favored Catalan) so Meg and I handled it all well.

There's not too much detail to go into since our plan was kind of the anti-plan, better known as stumble around blindly until you come across something interesting and get as much relaxation in as possible. I must say, I'm a big fan of siesta time. We had our fair share of paella and sangria and hamberguesas (they're Spanish, I swear!) and wandered a lot. Las Ramblas and the market just off of them was a personal favorite, full of shopping and too much yummy food to pass up. I now have some jewelry to remember Barcelona by from a few of the sellers. On Saturday, the weather was gorgeous so Meg and I got all summer-y, stocked up on food from el mercado - grapes, strawberries, kiwi, melon, cheese, and bread - and went to spend a few hours on the beach. It was sunny and warm and lovely.

Sunday was organized sight-seeing day, since most shopping and restaurants were closed, but we were sure to go about it at a leisurely pace. We went to the Arc de Triomf via the Barcelona Cathedral. From there we gawked at the outside of the stadium where the Spaniards bull-fight, and I was surprised I still retained some information about it from Spanish class. Finally, we visited La Segrada Familia, a hugely fantastic cathedral that has been in the works since 1882 (I know this because we were there for the 125th anniversary) and still isn't finished, but it promises to be an absolute masterpiece one day. Finally, we hiked up a mountain to Park Güell which was designed by the genius Gaudí, who I should probably mention designed La Segrada Familia and another dozen or so amazing buildings throughout Barcelona. It was a fun place to wander around in, especially on such a nice day. I love Gaudí so much.

And now, well I'm back in London and happy to be here since it seems I barely am, considering the past couple of weeks. Bye bye beach. Hello snow?!?!