Barcelona

Sorry for such a delay for those of you who are still reading my blog, I've been quite busy since my return to the States and now I finally have a chance to sit down and write a blog post for the final trip I took during my Semester Abroad.

First of all, I would like to thank iAudioguide.com for their great podcast of Barcelona. The content covered the major sights to see in the city and it gave great history and background of each place. From all of Gaudi's work throughout Barcelona to the Camp Nou Estadio, where the famed Football Club Barcelona plays, the iAudioguide podcast gave me much more insight and understanding of each place, allowing me to appreciate the sights of Barcelona even more. One thing I would suggest to improve the audioguide is to provide greater detail about the interior of some buildings, but other than that it was a great audioguide. There are many cities (European and American) to choose from at iAudioguide. To learn more information visit www.iAudioguide.com

Thursday: my flight left at 18:10 from Madrid so right after school I had to eat a quick lunch and then make sure I had everything ready. I got to the airport just before the plane boarded - perfect timing. We got into Barcelona and arrived at our hostel around 10ish. We got into our room and put our baggage away and decided to plan out what we wanted to do for the next few days.

Friday: We woke up at 0800 in order to take advantage of the free breakfast and get ready to go explore Barcelona. We were going to take a free tour of the city but we got lost on the way so we ended up not making it there and we decided to get back to the hostel and then go to the beach. However, on the way to the beach it started raining and instead of trying to wait it out the group decided to go back to the hostel - essentially wasting half of the day doing nothing. After adjusting our plan of action and eating lunch we headed to the Montjuic park (where most of the 1992 Olympic games took place) and got a great panoramic view of the city! After that I met up with a friend I met in Ireland who has lived in Barcelona his whole life for a drink. He suggested some places for me to see and explained some things about Barcelona that the guide books don't explain. Once I was done meeting up with my friend, I headed to the magic fountains of Montjuic to meet up with the group of people I traveled here with. The magic fountains are one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It is a huge fountain with mechanized water spouts that shoot water off synchronized with music and as the sun went down, lights began to illuminate the water - it was spectacular. We were all tired after the show so we went back to the hostel to get some sleep.

Saturday: Once again, we enjoyed our free breakfast at the hostel in the morning and then had to change rooms for our last night. After that was out of the way, we went and visited a few of the more famous places in Barcelona, most notably the Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. The Sagarada Familia (meaning Holy Family in Catalan) is the most visited construction site in the world. It started in 1882 by the famous Catalan artist Antonio Gaudi but he died before it was finished and it is still being continued today with an expected completion date of 2026 (read the Wikipedia article for more information). Parc Guell was also designed by Gaudi and has a very Dr. Suess feel to it with bright colors and strange architecture. Originally it was planned to be a neighborhood for the wealthy but that fell through because it was too far away from the city center of Barcelona. It eventually was opened as a public park and now it is a very popular tourist attraction and it even houses an elementary school. After those two famous sights, we looked at some other minor Gaudi designed buildings and then headed down to the beach (even though it was a very overcast day). We spent some time laying on the grass next to the beach (we didn't want to get all sandy, of course) and after a while we headed home so we could beat the approaching rain clouds. Dinner included sandwiches we made after buying supplies at the local grocery store (much cheaper than eating out) and we just took it easy until later. We had heard about a supposed "Stock Market" bar in Barcelona, so we ventured out to see if it existed -- and to our surprise it did! This very unique bar ("Dow Jones Bar") has a different way of selling its drinks. The prices are displayed on monitors above the bar just like stocks are and when a drink is purchased, the price will rise a few cents and when no one has bought a particular drink in a while, the price will fall. Quite an interesting concept and they even had ESPN America which was a great relief for my friends and I.

Sunday: I woke up, ate breakfast and split off from the group because I wanted to tour my church (AKA Camp Nou Estadio). It was amazing to be inside the biggest stadium in Europe, making my way from the locker rooms to field level, up through the stands, in the press box and through an amazing museum and trophy display. The stadium was absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to go back someday to watch my believed Blaugrana play a game. After spending about 3 hours at the stadium, I headed back into the city center and wandered around the main street, Las Ramblas and got a good view of some more of Gaudi's famous architecture. I met back up with the group and we eventually headed to the bus station to catch our night bus that left at 11PM and we arrived in Madrid at about 6AM. It was quite a long trip back but we all made it to class and didn't fall asleep (at least not too many times).

Barcelona is a magnificent Mediterranean coastal city, with wonderful art, architecture, beaches, and football. What more could you ask for. I would rate this in the top 5 places I've ever visited (my list isn't that long yet, so take it with a grain of salt) and I would recommend a trip for everyone if you get a chance.

--Jamie

¡Rellenos gratis! (Free Refills!) oh and some big stadium

Estadio Santiago Bernabéu album

Last Saturday I visited the northern part of Madrid with my friend Kayla (she's from Colorado State University). We were starving when we got of the subway stop at the stadium and I knew there was a Hard Rock cafe around so we asked for directions and started walking towards it. However, we ran into another American restaurant called "Foster's Hollywood" that served all the highlights of a typical menu from America. When I opened the menu I couldn't decide what I wanted because I wanted everything! I ended up getting a classic hamburger which was very good but the best thing about this restaurant was yet to come. In Spain, restaurants don't believe in free refills, so if you down that tiny Coke for 2€ you get to pay 2€ more for another drink but at American restaurants they give free refills!! I know this may seem very trivial but if you are a Coke fanatic like I am, you probably drink at least two Cokes when you eat out. Now just imagine paying 2€ (about $2.50 UD) for a 200ml (about 7 oz) bottle of coke! So these free refills (albeit Pepsi, I still took full advantage of these free drinks) we're the highlight of afternoon!

After we indulged ourselves with American food, we walked over and bought tickets for the self guided tour of Real Madrid's "Estadio Santiago Bernabéu" for 15€ and then walked into the stadium. The first stop was a panoramic view of the stadium and the pitch, then onto a mini-musem of the history of the team, after that we saw some more of the stadium from a lower view. We were also able to see the numerous amount of trophies the club has amassed in the last century. It was quite impressie and while I'm not quite a fan of the team (well really I hate the club) I do respect their stadium and history. The tour alo allowed us to get down on the pitch, onto the team benches, into the the team locker room, and then into the press room. Overall it was quite a fantastic tour and worth every bit of the 15€ I spent.

This weekend, I'll be going to a game at the stadium and then the weekend after that I'll be attending the Athletico Madrid - Barçelona game in the other big stadium in Madrid (Estadio de Vicente Calderon). I'm very excited about these opportunities and I'm sure I'll take plenty of pictures (when do I not?).

That's all for now, it's time for class!
-Jamie