Barce... alone... a

Last weekend's travels brought me to the incredibly beautiful Catalonian city of Barcelona, Spain for my first (and probably only) weekend of traveling alone. I arrived on Friday evening and walked to my hostel which was located in a very central spot in the city. After checking in and calling my old friend Talia L. who is studying in Barcelona right now I decided to do some walking around. I went to the famous merchant street La Rambla and back. On the way there I passed by two Antoni Gaudí designed apartment buildings which were both incredible to see in person. For those who aren't farmiliar with this early 20th century architect, google image the name Gaudí and check out some pictures of the most unique building design I've ever seen. Gaudí designed many buildings with nature and fantasy influence, mostly in the city of Barcelona. La Rambla wasn't that cool. But there was a bunch of parrot and rooster vendors on the street, which was cool, but very loud. After that I took a little nap and met up with ol' Talia for what I intended to be some Barcelonan night life, but then I got tired so I ate a falafel and went to bed.

Saturday was my only full day in the city so I tried to see as much as I could. In the morning I walked over to the cathedral that Gaudí designed, the Sagrada Familia, and walked around the ouside. It is by far the most beautiful church I've seen in my life. Incidentally, its name is really fun to say out loud. Do it. In a Spanish accent. I was just repeating it over and over in my head as I circled it, "Sagrada Familia, Sagrada Familia, Sagrada Familia..." just rolls off the tongue. Anyway, after that I intended to meet up with Talia and her parents who were also visiting over that weekend. I did meet up with Talia but Mark and Linda never showed up. This was slightly concerning but we decided to head up Monjuïc, a hill near the city where many of the Olympic stadiums from 1992 are located. After that I split up with Talia so she could figure out what in god's name happened to Mark and Linda (turns out regardless of the fact that they rarely sleep more than seven hours in any given night, they miraculously slept for like eighteen that night and didn't wake up until about the time Talia reached them). I went to the park that was designed by Gaudí, Park Guell, to walk around and eat ice cream (both of which I did). This was also (somewhat predictably) incredibly beautiful. I walked from Park Guell back down to the Sagrada Familia to take a tour of the very unfinished inside portion. This building has been being built for more than 100 years and they don't expect to finish for another 20-40. Shit's crazy.

That night I was contacted by Mark and Linda who wanted to take me out to dinner to make up for their absence in the morning. I really found it more funny than anything that they slept for so long, but I'm always down for a free meal so I accepted their invitation. We went out for some delicious tapas, discussed short films and NPR, and drank a surprisingly large number of pitchers of sangria. It was awesome.

Sunday I left in the afternoon, but before I went home I got up early to go to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. Pablo Picasso spent a large amount of time in Barcelona and this museum had a very impressive collection of his paintings as well as a good biographic chronological presentation in their exhibit. I learned things. I had fun. I'm in Europe.

Europe, I've got to hand it to you- your Antoni Gaudí designed some of the most impressive feats of humanity that I've ever seen. Your score's rounding out to be about 274. Which is good- seriously. But it's true, David B. Weaver's score is... what? 275 (?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!)