The trip to Barcelona! (over spring break)

Hello everyone! I know I haven't written in awhile. When writing for the blog I like to have a lot of 
time to write, not just half an hour, so I usually wait until the weekend after I go on a trip. It's not 
the best idea since the trip isn't as fresh in my mind, but I have pictures to remind me what I 
have done and seen, so it's not too much of a problem to remember everything. 

A week ago we had our spring break. It lasted for one and a half weeks. Not too long and not too short, though I wouldn't have minded at all if it were for two weeks instead. One of my friends (Jordan) and I decided to travel to Barcelona for four days. He had been to Barcelona once before, but it would be my first time in this amazing city. 

We left early Monday morning on April 1st at 7 am on a bus. We arrived in Barcelona three 
hours later and took the metro to our hostel. It was located near Torre Agbar, one of the most 
famous buildings in all of Barcelona. It's especially spectacular at night when it lights up in blue 
and red. Jordan and I got to the hostel and went to our room. There were already three people 
staying there. From the window we could see the Torre Agbar. 

Torre Agbar

Jordan and I left the hostel after we got settled. We had a map of Barcelona, so we looked at it 
to see where we could go for the rest of the afternoon. First we ate lunch in a restaurant because we were very hungry. We hadn't eaten since that morning. We found a really nice park called el Parque de la Ciutadella. It's quite big and very green and houses the Parliament of Cataluña and the zoo. There's also a huge fountain in the center with statues of dragons spurting out water. It's really cool. Next we walked passed the Arc de Triomf, which is a famous landmark in Barcelona., and then headed towards the Chocolate Museum! I was pretty excited. We were going to see sculptures made out of chocolate! What made it even better was that our tickets were chocolate bars, so we could eat them. Inside there were displays about the history of chocolate and why everyone loves it and how it's made from the cacao beans. The sculptures themselves were very impressive. I would think that it's difficult to sculpt chocolate because it's usually soft and melts easily. Of course I'm sure there are ways to keep it more frozen and easier to mold.  

The fountain in el Parque de la Ciutadella.

The dragon statue.

A mammoth sculpture.

Arc de Triomf.

Inside the chocolate museum. Cacao beans.

Jordan with an ape. (Remember, these sculptures are
all made out of chocolate!)

Do you recognize it? It's the Arc de Triomf, chocolate style.

Chicken Little.

Home of the Smurfs.

From the Pixar movie Up.

SpongeBob, Patrick, and two other characters I don't know.

Bambi and friends.

La Sagrada Familia.

Saint George and the dragon.

That whole archway is made out of chocolate. So many
intricate details!

Next we walked towards the waterfront. It started to rain so Jordan and I ran towards the mall 
which is right on the harbor. It's a really nice location. We also walked through one of the most 
famous streets in Barcelona called La Rambla. It's really long, packed, and lined with booths 
selling flowers, food, clothes, souvenirs, etc. Near the end closer to the ocean, there are 
several "statue people," who are people that dress-up to look like statues. And they really do 
look like statues. If you didn't know that it was a real person, you would assume that they were 
statues. When you throw them coins, they move. Sometimes it's really creepy when they only 
move their head from side to side, watching everyone pass by. 

The street sign.

It's a real person. Trust me.

Alongside La Rambla is a Wax Museum. Jordan and I were interested by it, so we checked it 
out. In the first room there are two wax sculptures, one of Darth Vader and another one of a man. Both of them looked very realistic. Outside on the roof the building there was a wax sculpture of Superman, which I thought was cool. 

The front of the Wax Museum.

One of the wax figures.

Is it a bird? A plane? No, it's Supermannnnn!

We continued along La Rambla, and all of a sudden a rainbow appeared in the sky. It was one 
of the best I had ever seen. And there was not only one but two of them! The second one was 
very faint. You could barely see it. 

The fainter rainbow is to the left behind the tree.

We decided next to see the renowned Gaudí houses. The sun was setting, so when we arrived, 
one of the houses was lit up with blue and purple lights. It was really pretty. I couldn't believe 
that I was actually seeing the houses in person because they are so famous and one of the best 
examples of architecture around the world. 

Then we went to see another of Gaudí's architectural achievements: La Sagrada Familia, the 
famous cathedral. Its construction still hasn't been finished yet. It began in 1882 and will be 
finished in the first third of the 21st century. When we finally arrived it was fully dark out and bright lights were shining on the front of La Sagrada Familia. It stood out in the darkness spectacularly. Jordan and I walked to the other side of the cathedral, which is the older part. It definitely looks older and has more decorations. 

The newer part of La Sagrada Familia.

The older part.

The next morning, (Tuesday, April 2nd), Jordan and I returned to La Sagrada Familia to see it in daylight. Then we turned onto a street called Gaudí's Avenue and headed towards Parque 
Güell. It took us a good half an hour to reach it because we weren't exactly sure where it was 
and it was uphill so we walked more slowly. The park is famous because of Gaudí. Two of his 
houses are there and a sculpture of a lizard he designed is also there. The park is quite large 
and winds up and down. On the top you get a great view of Barcelona with the Mediterranean 
Sea in the background. There's also a small platform made out of rock with several crosses 
which one can climb and see the whole city. It's very beautiful. 

Gaudí's Avenue.

At the entrance of Parque Güell.

View of Barcelona from up top. You can see La
Sagrada Familia in the middle.

The rock platform which we climbed.

One of Gaudí's houses.

Jordan and I returned to the bottom of the hill and walked to the beach. It was a perfect day for it. There were quite a lot of people already there, sunbathing, surfing, and having fun. We found a little spot to sit down and stayed there for about half an hour. It was very peaceful. I could've 
fallen asleep if I had wanted to. 

After we left the beach we wandered to another part of Barcelona we hadn't seen yet. We visited the Jardins Mossèn Costa i Llobera, which is like a garden and park joined together. A lot of different plants grow there, especially cacti. The garden/park was located on the side of a 
mountain, so we kept climbing because we wanted to see what was on top. What we found was Castell de Montjuic, an old military fort that played an important role in Barcelona's history. We entered the fort and got another really good view of Barcelona. We stayed for the sunset and then headed back down the mountain. 

Jardins Mossèn Costa i Llobera

Castell de Montjuic

View of Barcelona.

The Mediterranean and a canon.

Sunset.

Barcelona at night, all lit up.

We walked towards the Olympic Village. In 1992, Barcelona hosted the summer Olympics. Now the stadium is open free to the public during the day. Since it was nighttime when we saw it, we couldn't enter. But it was really cool to see the huge torch on the side of the stadium. 

The Olympic stadium and the torch is to the right.

Afterwards Jordan and I bought some food in a supermarket for dinner and returned to the 
hostel and ate it. 

The next morning, (Wednesday, April 3rd), we visited a flea market near our hostel. I guess it's 
well-known throughout Barcelona. There were a ton of people setting up their stalls or looking 
around and buying things. 

Jordan had told me that he wanted to do a free walking tour (in English) around Barcelona, so 
we went to the plaza where it would begin. The company that runs the tours is called Walking 
Bean and it's a non-profit organization. People donate money if they want to at the end of the 
tour. Our group toured the old part of Barcelona, also known as the Gothic part because there is a lot of Gothic architecture there. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic. She explained to us the history of Barcelona, how it formed, the rulers, important events, etc., and talked about certain buildings. It was really interesting. 

Afterwards Jordan and I did the Teleférico del Puerto, which in English is the Port Vell Aerial 
Tramway. Even since our first day in Barcelona we had wanted to do it because you ride in a 
small cabin and see the whole city as if you were flying slowly. We had to wait for about an hour 
to get tickets, and ten minutes later it was finally our turn. The ride is not long, also about ten 
minutes, but you get an amazing view of the city. I wish it could've gone on for longer. 

The tower where we got on the ride.

After we got off we visited the Museu Olímpic i de l'Esport Joan Antoni Samaranch which is a 
museum about the Olympics: its history, ceremonies, winners, etc. We walked down a long 
ramp that also functioned as a timeline of the Olympics. It was really cool. 

We passed by the Olympic stadium again and since it was open this time, we took the 
opportunity to look inside. It was gigantic. I don't know how many people it can hold, but I'm sure 
thousands. And for some reason there were several cats laying down on the steps. It was an 
unexpected place for them to be. 

We visited the Museum of Picasso next. We got to see his versions of Las Meninas by  Velázquez. The paintings looked completely different. I could discern the different objects and 
people, but they were painted with different colors and shapes that only resembled the original 
painting. I still like Picasso's renditions though. He was able to incorporate his style and political views in them. Afterwads, we returned to the hostel and ate dinner and went to bed. 

Early the next morning (Thursday, April 4th), Jordan and I visited another famous market on La 
Rambla. It's very big and always packed with people. Jordan bought a smoothie. 

Next we visited the Museu Nacional D'art de Catalunya (Mnac), or the National Art Museum of 
Catalonia. It's situated on a hill and faces La Plaza de España. The building is humongous and 
is very impressive. The first exhibition we saw was one of the history of currency used in Spain. 
There was some huge coins that must have weighed a lot. We also saw some very tiny coins. 
The last display was of credit cards showing the modern way of paying for things. Then we 
moved onto paintings. First we saw the section with Baroque/Renaissance paintings and then 
the one with Romanesque art. In my Art History we had already learned about Romanesque art, 
so I looked for one of the paintings that we had studied. I finally found it. It shows Jesus Christ 
surrounded by the Four Evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All of the Romanesque 
paintings were authentic. I don't know how they were moved from their original place to the 
museum. It sounds like a difficult process. Next we saw the Gothic paintings. I had also studied 
Gothic art in my class, so it was cool to see some examples in person. 

The front of the museum.

View of Barcelona from the museum.

Coins.

Sant Pau by Diego Velázquez. (Baroque)

Santa Agnes by Massimo Stanzione. (Baroque)

Romanesque piece of art.

The famous Romanesque painting I had studied in
Art History.

Gothic work of art.

After the museum Jordan and I took a bus to see Cosmo Caixa, which is a science museum. 
There were some really neat presentations like one where you pressed a pedal to create a mini 
tornado which you then could touch. Next to it was a small whirlpool and in a different part was a 
life-size model of the rain forest with real plants and animals. The science museum was 
interactive and really interesting.

Early humans.

Human skeletons.

The tornado.

The rain forest.

We only had a few hours left in Barcelona. We were leaving later that evening. We decided to 
visit the aquarium last. It specializes in Mediterranean sea life. I saw a lot of sharks and sting 
rays, some jellyfish, and many different species of fish. 

Sting ray.

Sharks.

Dory from Finding Nemo.

Belly of a sting ray.

Penguins

A different-looking sting ray.

Jellyfish.

Lizard sleeping on a log.

Afterwards Jordan and I returned to the hostel to collect our bags and took the metro to the bus 
station. We arrived back in Zaragoza late that night. 

I enjoyed this trip to Barcelona immensely. The city has so much to offer and is one of my 
favorite places in Spain. I definitely want to return to this great city in the future and learn more 
about it.