Barcelona

We arrived at Barcelona Sants train station an hour later than we had told Albert, but we were just glad that we made it on Thursday period (after the whole train jumping fiasco). We found Albert (well, Albert found us) after wandering around the train station for a bit. For those who don´t know, Albert stayed with my family for a month last year to study in the US at Brebeuf. Albert took us to his apartment and showed us around the place. We were going to be sleeping in jordi´s bedroom (Albert´s younger brother). Albert´s family wasn´t home at the moment, and Albert had to study for his upcoming selectivity exam (basically a monstrous, 3 day, 8 hours each day exam that will determine his entire future success in life). We decided that we just wanted to relax because we had done so much hiking in cinque terre, so we went to the beaches of Barceloneta. We just laid on the beach for a while, jumped in the water once (it was cold), and after getting a little sunburned we went back to Albert´s to update the blog and to meet the rest of Albert´s family. We went up to the computer room to use the internet for a while when my ma called reminding me that it was my birthday. After using the internet for a while we were called down for dinner. We had keish as the first course, then pasta with red wine, then fruit, then gelato with candles for my birthday. I guess even Catalonian families think its hilarious to use trick candles in people's cakes.



It took me a while to catch on, but I figured it out and put them out with my finger (only got a little burnt). After dinner we went to the palace of Montjuic and on the way we came across a free reggae concert and an incredible fountain show. The fountains were amazing.



The water was lit by lights of various colors and the whole show was coordinated to music. After the fountains we went the rest of the way up to the palace, took a few pictures and then headed back to Albert's.



The next day we took the metro to the Sagrada Familia cathedral. The Sagrada Familia is a cathedral designed by the famous architect, Gaudi. It is the most unique cathedral I've ever seen. It has been under construction since the late 1800's and while probably be finished in about fifteen years. Anyway, we got to the cathedral and then realized that I forgot the battery for my camera in the charger, so we decided to swing back by Albert's to pick it up stopping by the trainstation along the way (Greg forgot his toiletry bag on the train). After finding out that his bag was probably taking a free tour of the european continent, Greg bought some toothpaste and the like, and we went back to Sagrada Familia and paid to go inside. It was really cool to see the cathedral being built.



The design of the cathedral ceiling was made to look like a kind of stone forest on the inside with the pillars being trees and the ceiling being a forest canopy. The coolest part was going up the giant front towers. I felt like Quasimodo.



After Sagrada Familia we went to Pans and Company (a restraunt chain in Europe) and got some sandwiches. Then I went to the Barcelona cathedral, while Greg waited outside (he'd already seen it and he didn't want to pay the entrance restoration donation. He missed out though, the cathedral was awesome. It was really gothic and had this great cloister (courtyard) with palm trees and fountains. In the center of the cathedral was an arrangement of old wooden chairs facing each other in a kind of meeting place. The chairs were used by the knights of the golden fleece.



There was even a plaque that identified the crest of each knight and where they once sat. After the cathedral, I met Greg outside and we went to St. Antoni's market for a bit and then back to Alberts. Albert's father came back from work and took us to Montserrat. On the way Mr. Caubet told us all about the mountain's Catalunian history. Barcelona is in Catalunya, now a region of Spain. A lot of catalunyians view Spain as an occupier and would rather be independent (Catalunyans were persecuted during the Spanish civil war and at various other points in Spanish history). Montserrat is a really unique mountain because it is made of a really unique sort of stone that no other surrounding mountain contains.



At the top of Montserrat there is a Benedictine monastery where St. Ignatius experienced his conversion after serving as a soldier (kind of important for the Jesuit order, which St. Ignatius founded). Montserratserrant is a really holy and special place for Catalunyans partly because it was a sort of refuge for Catalunyan culture during the persecution of the Spanish civil war. Lots of Catalunyan's get married there and have their first communion there.



When we got up the mountain we went to the monastery and listened to the monks sing their evening prayers, which was awesome. After the monk's song we walked around the mountain for a bit and then went back home to Albert's. We ate another excellent dinner and then made a few plans for our next stop on our trip before going to bed.

The next morning we went to Albert's taekwondo exhibition where Albert earned his blue belt. It was hilarious to watch some little kids performing their ninja moves for the audience. One girl that was probably around 3 or 4 kept almost falling over when she kicked or punched or did anything. They also had to give there little ninja criesle crys during the routine and she would always yell after everyone else had finished and were quiet. We met Marta, Albert's girlfriend who sat with us during the exhibition.



After all the students finished there tests, there was an exhibition with the black belts that was pretty cool. The used numchucks (sp) and bow staffs to break boards and smash apples. Albert had the honor of holding a board and Marta was a little tense for a while. After the black belts did there thing, the sense/master cut cucumbers on the black belt's stomachs using one of those sweet swords (forget the fancy ninja name for them). After the exhibition, Greg and I went ahead and broke a few bricks to show off our ninja skills.





After taekwondo we went to La Rambla again and had pans and company again. Then we went to the Olympic village (on the way stopping at pizza hut for some more food). Then we took the metro over towards the palace of Montjuic, because apparently there is a castle somewhere above the palace in the mountains. On the way we ran into some Leftist protest. There were all kinds of protesters from gay rights groups to communist revolutionaries.



There were Iraq flags, socialist flags, communist flags, gay flags, and some other flags I didn't understand. We were standing right next to the protesters when we realized that maybe these guys weren't so fond of Americans. We decided to skip the castle and head back to Albert's early so trying to look as nonamerican as we could, we walked through the protest and headed back home. We got to Albert's and changed real quick and then headed to a nearby church for vigil mass. After mass we had dinner at Albert's and then headed back down la Rambla to experience the Barcelona night life. We ended up back over at the Olympic village where we tried to get into a fancy casino. We got rejected, because we didn't have our passports on us, so instead we sat at a bar and each tried a corona. We walked down the Olympic village strip and passed by a lot of dance clubs that seemed to be only for people 30 and over. Afterwards we just went back to Albert's for the night.



The next day we went with Albert's family to their apartment in Costa Brava. Albert had to stay at home and study (sorry pal). Costa Brava was amazing. We rented kayaks with Mr. Caubet, Laura, and Jordi (albert's sister and brother). It took a while for Greg and I to get the hang of it (the Caubets were smoking us), but we gradually caught up and splashed them. We kayaked away from the crowded beach and found a great place with some sweet rock islands. We docked the kayaks and swam around for a bit, then found a few good rocks to jump off of. Laura found one that was at least 4 meters high (12 feet) and after she jumped in, Greg and I of course had to try it. We escaped with only few cuts (from climbing back up the rocks) and then we headed back to the rental place on the beach. We laid around the beach for a while and then headed up to the apartment for lunch. We had authentic Catalunyan Paella, which was an amazing seafood dish with shellfish and rice.



We had some traditional wine/champagne with the lunch. and then some ice cream for desert. After lunch we went back home, where we got a picture with the family, and then packed up our stuff real quick and headed to the train station.



We ended up paying a lot to get a night train to Zurich (59 euros€) but it was our only choice at that point (we got to the train station twenty minutes before the train left). The train was nice though (it had better be) and we met two Wyoming guys Jesse and Dan. We tried to teach them Euchre without too much success and then a flamboyant train attendant came and put our beds down and we went to sleep. Hope everything is going well for whoever reads this, leave a comment or two. cya soon.