Ruth and I enjoyed our day in Salamanca. We saw the the astronaut on the cathedral, meandered around the University, and spent more time on the Plaza. Then we were back to Madrid to catch our night train to Barcelona.
The night train was an experience, for sure. Ruth and I were on the top bunks, where it was about 4237890395 degrees. We did manage to sleep a little, but all the next day we felt the rocking of the train, even when we were wandering around Barcelona.
Barcelona is an interesting city. We got in really early in the morning, so we had a long day on Thursday to explore. We walked on the major shopping/tourist street, called the Ramblas, and managed to see about 100 living statues, a huge open market where you could buy whatever you wanted ever in life, two very naked men just kind of walking around, and a huge march in protest of the elimination of 150 jobs somewhere. (I´ll leave it to you all to determine what was good, bad, or ugly...) It was quite the happening place.
We ended up at the Mediterranean, at another monument to Columbus. We spent the afternoon at the Picasso Museum, which was very interesting, as it had many of his earlier works, and not many of his later works. It gave a very interesting glimpse into the evolution of his work over time, as well as some very traditional works that I wouldn´t usually associate with Picasso. We were close to the beach, so we went to dip our feet in the Mediterranean. Dipping our feet in was really all we did, since the beach was so crowded. We were also way too fully-clothed to be on the beach, since we were wearing our clothes. Most of the women on the beach weren´t even wearing tops, which was slightly unexpected. I think the North Shore spoils me, but I really like having more space on the beach, where you´re not sitting on top of your neighbor. Despite that, the sea was beautiful, cool, and refreshing.
Yesterday was a Gaudi-rific day, as we spent most of our day seeing the major Gaudi sights in Barcelona. We saw the Block of Discord, the Casa Mila, and the Sagrada Familia. The Sagrada Familia is a huge church that has been abuilding since the 1880s, and it is estimated that it
won´t be finished for another 50 years. It is truly a work of massive proportions. The interior of the cathedral that is finish is very lovely and impressive. It has modern, clean lines that are based on things in nature. For example, the columns are modeled after tree trunks, and the
stairways are modeled after the curly interior of sea shells. We got to go up in two of the towers at the top of the church, and the view of Barcelona was amazing. I really enjoy Gaudi´s architecture; it is so interesting and beautiful.In the evening we went to Park Guell, which is a failed gated community that Gaudi designed. We got a little lost on our way there and ended up wandering in to a club for male senior citizens on accident. (That´s one thing about Barcelona- they speak Catalan, which is a related language to Spanish, but not close enough for us to be able to read signs or understand really at all. Hence, the detour into the males-only club...) We quickly realized our mistake and found our way to the park, which had very interested landscaping, the longest (and prettiest, with mosaics everywhere) park bench in the world, great views over Barcelona, a few houses by Gaudi, and the famous lizard fountain. It was a gorgeous park. I´ve decided that I´m going to build a house in the Gaudi style, because I just like it that much.
And thus, our adventures in Spain end. It´s hard to believe that it´s been only two weeks, because we´ve done so much. My time is up, so I´d better go. More later, from Rome!
