Seventy Degree Weather!

In between my aforementioned trips to Germany, everyone at the Castle had their equivalent of Thanksgiving Break - five free days after Berlin! Kate and Jenna and I had been planning our extended travel break since the summer, and we chose Barcelona as our destination. I guess we could have tried to go a bunch of different places, but we really wanted the chance to settle in and get to know a city. All the traveling that we do every weekend is certainly nice, but it means we usually only get three days per city. The three of us had our hearts set on Barcelona, so we felt no need to try to cram a bunch of other stuff in. Instead of getting a hostel, we decided to rent an apartment so that we could have our own place and not have to deal with other people or terrible beds or dirty showers. The apartment we ended up getting was very nice and very clean and a lot more modern than we expected. The location was great - right near MACBA (the museum of contemporary art) and a few minutes' walk from La Rambla.We loved it because it wasn't in a tourist area - instead it was a mix between residential and small-time commercial. For a glorious five days, Paloma Street was our home! Here is the view from our balcony:

Since we were all so exhausted from Berlin, the first thing we did was nap. Majorly. Like, for a few hours. Then we dragged ourselves out of bed to get food before going and sleeping some more. So the second day we woke up finally rested and ready to do things! Mostly we explored the city, checked out La Rambla, and went to La Bocaria for food. The Bocaria was the most intense food-shopping experience I have ever had! It's a giant market that's known for its variety of food, plus it's cheap. We spent a good two hours there wandering around buying anything that looked good. I'm so glad the apartment had a kitchen - I had missed making food for myself. 

The next place we wanted to make sure we saw was Gaudi's Park Guell. It was incredible - one of the wackiest places I've ever been, for sure. But it was also very beautiful, and had a great view of the city. Of course that meant the walk up was a bit of an effort, but it was worth it. It was very crowded though, even in the off season, so I can hardly imagine what it must be like in the summer. 

Unfortunately, La Sagrada Familia is still under construction, and will be for the next 20 years or so I think? But we at least saw it. 

On another day, we spent a while walking around the city, and we were in the gothic quarter for a while. It wasn't too far from where we were staying, but since it was on the other side of La Rambla it seemed like a whole new place. Whereas our neighborhood was very residential, "real" Barcelona, the gothic quarter is the old, beautiful, more grand part. 

At night, we would often go to our favorite pizza place down the street, Pizza Original. The food was PERFECT - so simple and delicious and cheap. I still remember how the cheese and white corn empinadas taste, and it is a goal of my life to learn to how make them one day. Obviously the pizza was great too. And the guys who work there also happen to be some of the most beautiful men I have ever seen? But that was totally not why we went there almost every night!

We also checked out the famous absinthe bar, Marsella, where Picasso and his buddies would hang out. It was so crowded and so hot but it was fun. We met some really interesting people, and obviously tried absinthe for the first time. Tastes like licorice, just like everyone says. There was a coffee place down the street from the apartment that we got to know pretty well too - we deemed it "the revolutionary coffee place" beacuse it was filled with the type of people who sit around, drink their coffee, and talk about music, art, politics and love. I have now officially been a participant in the Bohemian revolution!

On our last day, we went over to Parc du Monjuic, which was actually a backup plan that ended up being one of the most amazing things I've done. Originally we wanted to take a day trip out of the city, but we realized that it would have been so expensive and that there were still parts of the city we hadn't seen. The train person suggested that we just take the tram to the Parc, and then the funicular takes you up the side, and you get out at the top and there it is - the entirety of Barcelona stretched out under you. The Pyranese are straight ahead, and you can see all the way to the ocean. Incredible. 

One side of the mountain had been turned into a terraced garden, which was right near the Barcelona Castle. While we were walking down the hillside through the garden, we had a perfect view of the castle, and it was amazing. The sun was going down and the sky turned some colors that I never would have imagined. The three of us sat in that garden for a long, long time just watching all the plants around us, the sky, and the silhouette of the castle. The weather was perfect - just the kind of warm night you'd expect in Spain. 

Leaving was terrible - we had come to feel so at home in our little place on Paloma. I know that there's a lot of Barcelona I didn't see, so I'm excited for the day when I can go back and finish exploring. I'll end with some of my favorite snapshots from around the city:

Right now I'm in the midst of studying for finals, so I can't promise the next post will be up before the end of the weekend. But I do have my last trip, Prague, to tell you about, and I promise it is a story for the ages. We leave THIS WEDNESDAY, which is unthinkable. Everyone is so sad, but at the same time I think most of us are ready to go home. I'm torn - I love it here, but I also miss a lot of things (food, horses, friends, cat, etc.) from home. I'll try my hardest to post before I leave though!