The rain in spain really does stay mainly on the plain

Yes it's true, the weather in mountainous Barcelona was a marvelous change from the dreary slosh in Paris.  As Jim at the meat market would say, "The sun's shining, the birds are singing".  While they may speak a little faster in Spain, they take their time with everything else.  Elderly men stroll down the street, hands clasped behind their backs, as they reflect on the quality of their day.  The entire city sleeps in until around 9 or 10 in the morning.  Hardly any shops start setting out their street umbrellas until they're well rested.  And I couldn't imagine they would be able to wake up any earlier with much consistency because a normal dinner (of tapas!) in Barcelona begins around 10pm.  It is a good city.

I scheduled my wake up call from Vanessa early on Friday, around 4:30, and made my way to the Noctillion, Paris' night bus.  I found the stop and two minutes later a bus rolled up.  I traveled 15 minutes to the outskirts of the city with both those beginning their days and finishing their nights.  From there I caught another bus to the Paris-Beauvais airport -- the airport for the cheapo airlines like mine, Ryanair.

Vanessa showed up and after our flight to Barcelona we were glad that all of the buses and taxis and airplanes that morning had moved along with such ease.  We made it safely and easily to Barcelona.  Our first mission was to take to the streets to find our hostel.  We found it, handed over some cash, and made a b-line for the Segrada Familia.  If you can put an imagine in your mind of a sand castle made from mixing water and sand (you know what I'm taking about Mimi) then you can see this building without visiting it.  Although I've gotta say that it is much more impressive when you actually go there.  This cathedral has been in construction for over 100 years I believe.  At one point its construction was overseen by the Barcelona's famous artist, Gaudi.  I feel like this guy was way ahead of his time. Back in the 20s and around then he designed many buildings and a park in Barcelona in the art nouveau style.  I've included some pictures because his work is really great.  I feel like Tim Burton, the director, might have found some inspiration for much of his style from Gaudi.

So we left the cathedral and climbed uphill to Parc Güell for a picnic and some spectacular views of the city.  I put on some pictures because I thought that 1000 words would be better than the few I could come up with.

From there was rested our legs for a while at the hostel.  The Mediterranean Youth Hostel was a great first experience in a hostel.  The staff was friendly and spoke english.  The room where we stayed was in a new section of the hostel where no one had slept before.  It smelled of fresh paint and there was a little paster on the ground still.  There are far more fetid things or creatures with hundreds of legs that could have found their way beneath my feet -- or worse beneath my sheets.

Dinner number one, 9:30pm: a difficult situation mixing up french and spanish words while ordering tapas and wine.  Tapas, if you are unaware, as I was, is a filling meal for several people consisting of many different small plates of appetizers.  This restaurant had a deal that was deliciously simple.  They brought us a bottle of white wine, from the region of course, and 5 cold dishes: something like potato salad, a few slices of ham, anchovies with olives, and a couple salad-like dishes.  Then came the warm dishes.  5 more: chorizo sausage, a meat kabob, these fried cheese/chicken bites, and a couple other things I can't remember.  It was a generous amount of food for the two of us and we left feeling very content.

The following day started off early as we hustled down the street only to miss our train to the countryside.  No problemo though, we waited in the sun and took the train the following hour.  We made it to Montserrat and up the cablecar by noon.  After ascending we were able to see for miles.  The main reason for going up there was to see an abbey in the mountains, but it turned out to be far more.  We started walking up steps that led back into the hills and after a while we were on the top.  We ate lunch 15 feet from a sheer cliff surrounded by wild rosemary and sage herbs.  I picked up and stuffed it in my bag.  I always think its so exciting to see fruits and vegetables and herbs going in their natural environment, not just on a farm or something.  

The hike down was much easier and quicker than going up, but it was stilled enjoyed.  The ride back to Barcelona and the rest of the day was spend relaxing at cafes and in the hostel until it was about time for dinner.

Dinner number 2, 10:15pm: Basically the same as the night before except with Sangria instead of wine and mostly cold dishes.  It was just as delicious though.

The following morning we woke up slowly until I took a shower in the freezing water of our hostel.  There were still a few kinks to be worked out in the electricity of the new addition to the hostel.  The water heater, and many of the lights, were not functioning more often than they were.  We walked around, eating a few pastries and a baguette for breakfast.  We saw casa mila and casa batllo, both Gaudi designs, then headed toward the beach.  Sand and water was on our minds, but we wanted it to be on our feet.  Well it was, but I still had my shoes on unfortunately.  We sat on the side of the beach for about an hour probably with our feet dangling just above (and occasionally below) the water.  We did a beach walk and after a small lunch and a well sought-after ice cream cone, we found the bus station for our return up north.

It was definitely a good weekend.

Also, on a less interesting note, I started classes just yesterday.  I have Modern Art in the morning, then French Cinema and Society in the afternoon.  That is monday and wednesday and then tuesday thursday I have a French language class in the morning and a history of photography class in the afternoon.  An entire university went on strike in Paris recently so I have to find another course to take at an exterior university, as required by IU.  I'm looking at a religious studies class now and it is one of the only classes that fits with my schedule.  We'll see how that goes.

Something else that I'm excited about is the possibility to work at a boulangerie somewhere here in Paris.  It's only a though that I had recently, but I will definitely look into it.

That's about it for now.