Last week in Barcelona :(

So this is officially my last week in Barcelona which is kind of sad, and I cant believe how fast this month has flown by. I have done things every single day here and there is still things that I havent had the chance to do. Well to update you on the past few days...

I went to Madrid this weekend, and decided it was a cool city, but different from Barcelona and no where near as cool. It is a very big and crowded city, very modern. There were a ton of banks and financial districts, i didnt like the architecture anywhere near as much as barca, it just seemed like a really big city. One thing about it that I thought was cooler than barca was the fact that it was an extremly clean city, and also the fact that there was lots of green mixed in with the city (trees bushes parks and actually a prak with a lake in the middle that you could rent paddle boats and paddle around) We stayed in a relatively nice hotel in the city center and prob the best thing I did there was visit the Palacio Real which is the royal palace there. It was an absolutely incredible building (the inside) there were gold plated tapestries and gigantic silver chandiliers and the coolest paintings everywhere. The entire building was completely over the top decorated with wild things, gigantic carpets and every room had different themes to them. It was another place where you couldnt take pictures which was unfortunate cuz its hard to explain it but if you have ever been to hearst castle it is similar in design.

I also went into the Prado museum because it is supposedly one of the best museums in Europe or something, but I was honestly really bored. It was a bunch of paintings (mostly religous) from a long long time ago (14th to 19th century)

I also went into the photographic exhibition of Annie Leibowitz who took photos of many famous people/things (one of her popular ones was pregnant demi moore for vanity fair i believe) but it was really cool and interesting

Then I was suppossed to fly home to meet up with my dad and marlys, however I forgot my passport and they said they wouldnt allow copies. So I had to scramble around trying to find a way to get back to barca and eventually got to the train station and took a high speed train back home which took only 2.5 hours (9.5 by bus and 1.5 by plane so it was a pretty cool way to go)

Then the next day with my dad we went around the city, got a good lunch, went down to the beach, checked out a few cool sites including some old catholic churches and roman fortress (stuff ive already seen earlier) and the cool gothic quarter, then went and saw this light show at Montjuic. It is Belagio like display in the middle of one of the squares and was pretty cool.

The next day we must have walked at least 10 miles, covering the entire city from one far end to the other (using a lot of metro of course) We went up to the highest point in barcelona called Tibidabo. There is a cable car that takes you up a good portion of the mountain (which we couldnt find and ended up walking the entire thing) and then a car/tram thing that is pretty vertical jutting through the side of the mountain that takes you the rest of the way up. Up at the top there is an amusement park (i know random right?) and some bars and restaurants and this early 19th century church with a statue of Jesus looking over the city which they allow you to walk up the windy staircases and get to the base of his feet. It was an amazing 360 degree view, and I didnt realize that behind barca away from the beach are lots of green mountain/hills which are really pretty.

Then we went back to the other side of the city and got onto this gondola-like thing that was built to connect Olympic village and the new modern area to where they built the stadiums and swimming pools etc. It was another good view from the other side of barca, and went over the harbor and dropped you off right down by the beach.

Then dad and marlys took my roommates and I out to eat at this amazing restaurant right on the Marina and we got a schmorgesborg of amazing seafood. It included everything from mussels, octopus, hake and other fish I have never heard of, to my dinner platter of lobster paella, which was probably the best thing I have eaten yet in Europe. The roommates and I then went out with lots of people from our program and had a fun night.

Next on the list is my Mom, John and Kelly coming out for a visit for a few days. I have a ten min oral presentation tomorrow morning which I made a cool powerpoint for earlier today. Thursday is my final and the family coming out (which is going to really help since I am running out of money much faster than I expected out here, too bad the dollar is so weak) so it will be nice to get some good food and take them around and show them my city for a few days before Italy. I dont know how much I am going to be able to blog after my program ends, but I will try to keep up with it as best as I can. Have a good week and see you soon Mom!

David