Blair is in Barcelona

October 20, 2008

This past weekend, we went to Barcelona, and it was absolutely beautiful. After a 10 hour bus ride, we finally arrived around 7:30 PM, eating dinner at 8:15 PM. We were about a 25 minute journey outside of the city. So after dinner, I went out with Madeline, Vanessa, and Paul to go explore the city. We waited half an hour for the bus, got on the bus (where the clock was ½ an hour ahead), waited 20 minutes on the bus, got to the train station, waited 10 minutes for the train, and took a 15 minute RENFE train into Barcelona.

We left at 9:40 – we arrived at 11:15.

We meandered down las Ramblas, looking at all the closed shops as well as the bars. We finally decided to sit down for a drink at an outside bar. We got 1.5 liters of Sangria made with Cava, and enjoyed a nice night sitting outside. We took a cab back to the hotel, and instead of being the 25 euros it should have been, it was a 40 euro cab ride.

So it goes.

The next day, Saturday, was much better.

We were up early for our panoramic bus tour, visiting first the 1992 Olympic stadium, followed by a scenic overlook of the city, la Sagrada Familia cathedral (designed by Gaudi and began construction in the late 1800s while still unfinished today) and finally, Gaudi’s Park Guell. We drove by art by Roy Lichenstein! The Sacred Family was so neat, and the concept is neat too. One side, the side created by Gaudi himself, displays the birth of Jesus and is completely curved and beautiful. The other side, created after his death, was all jagged, and portrayed the crucifixion. The final side has yet to be created. I wanted to go inside so badly, but we continued on to Park Guell, which was so unique with its mosaics everywhere.

We had lunch at a local restaurant, and I had a green salad along with grilled garlic monkfish. Afterwards, Madeline, Vanessa and I forewent the opportunity to go souvenir shopping in favor of discovering two of Gaudi’s more famous buildings, Casa Batillo and la Pedrera. Oh my god, they were so beautiful! Casa Batillo, aka the bone house, is supposed to invoke the sensation of being inside a fish or 20,000 leagues under the sea, and the walls undulated and looked like scales, with stained glass everywhere to carry light throughout the house. The balconies are reminiscent of bones, as are the upper levels, which give the sensation of walking through a whale’s skeleton. On the roof, there are figures that seem to be like a dragon’s back, and so many mosaics and beautiful views. After that, we headed to la Pedrera, an old apartment building that was renovated and reopened to the public in 1996. We headed up to the roof first, famous and featured in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which looks like faces are coming out of the chimneys. It was absolutely beautiful, and the best decision ever.



We ran back to the bus, barely catching it outside of the Hard Rock Café at 7:30, and arrived back at the hotel around 8:30. We had dinner around 9, and then I got ready to go out with Lauren and Alex to a club that others had gone out to the night before. Around 11, we called a cab, and Alex, Lauren, Ashlee, Laura, Jasmine, Avani and I left to go explore nighttime Barcelona. Lauren and I were approached by a couple guys and we chatted with them and had a drink before heading to the club. In the line at the club, we talked to a guy who ended up being Maltese! I got lost and meandered through the club, finally finding Ashlee, and we got a drink.

I don’t remember anything after that.

I woke up in Ashlee’s room still drunk. I evidently had 2 more drinks, and made Ashlee fall with me, and feel terrible about it. I certainly felt terrible the next day at the Dali exhibit as I experienced my first hangover of my life. I really enjoyed the artwork I did see. I slept most of the day, unfortunately.

I was embarrassed beyond belief. Like, words cannot describe my emotions on Sunday.

Yesterday, we spent another 11 hours on the bus ride home. I was still suffering the consequences of Saturday night. I read a bit, listened to music, and watched the 10th Kingdom.

All in all, though, Barcelona was beautiful, and our time spent there was way way way too short. I really hope to go back there someday on my own time to explore all of the museums we drove past and maybe to go to the beach! So far, if there is any place I’ve been to that is on my list to go back to, it’s Barcelona. The blend of modernism with old, ornate architecture was absolutely unique and complimentary, unlike any other place I’ve been to or any other place I will probably visit.

Blair is Exploring: Palacio Real and Real Madrid

October 5, 2008

Exploring Madrid



I spent the weekend exploring the city, visiting the Palacio Real on Friday with Madeline, Vanessa, and Rachel. It was absolutely spectacular! We spent about half an hour goofing around taking pictures in the courtyard before heading inside. Unfortunately, there were no English guides so we just walked around the 10 or so rooms out of 2000 open to the public. And they were amazing! The palace was constructed in the 1700s, and Napolean’s brother once lived there, to the emporer’s envy. It is the 3rd most magnificent palace in Europe. My favorite room was the throne room, which had such a decorated ceiling that it looked like statues and paintings were conversing casually, an effect completed by the use of gold to separate foreground and background. However, I also really liked the overwhelming rococo room where plants seemed to take over in porcelain form as well as the porcelain room of Chinese figures. We explored the Armory (so cool! Guns! Armor! Those people used to be really small … I think I would barely fit into a suit and these were built for grown men) and the Pharmacy (a rather more cheery version of Snape’s dungeon) before eating lunch and checking out the gift shop. There, my friend Madeline found the COOLEST book about “hidden” Madrid, all the attractions that are really interesting but aren’t in many touristy guide books. So, on Friday I learned that the plethora of statues around the city were originally commissioned to be on top of the palace, but that the queen mother had a nightmare and refused for them to be placed there. Ergo, they are scattered throughout Madrid and the country, and you can still see where each statue was supposed to go on the roof. We saw the greatest statue ever of some king, because it was designed by 3 artists and balanced by Galileo, since the position that it was wanted to be in was not conventional and could easily fall over due to weight issues. It is considered to be one of the greatest statues ever. I also saw where artist Diego Velasquez may or may not be buried, as the church/cemetery where he was buried was destroyed 200 years after his death and his body was somehow lost in the process. However, they located the ruin of the church and put up a monument in his honor. We saw ruins of the Wall surrounding Madrid during the Moorish occupation, within which hid a statue of the Virgin Mary, whose location was also lost until it was remembered as a king began to tear down the walls of the city. We saw said statue as well, and it was sad that it had to be behind bars to prevent vandals and thieves from accessing it. Oh, I also found out that the bar I was thrown out of on La Noche En Blanco was Ernest Hemingway’s favorite pub! Irony, huh?

On Saturday, we met to tour this convent where the 1700 year old blood of a saint is still kept, and apparently reliquifies every 27 of July. It was kept in a room along with the bones of saints in boxes. [Look, it’s a Saint in a Box! Step one, stick the saint in the box…..step three, give her the box!] The guide was in Spanish, and we saw quite a few interesting art pieces in addition to the famous remnants and the church itself. Afterwards, we headed towards the Plaza Mayor to see the pulpit and the stairs of the Inquisition (which we had actually seen before but not realized the historical significance of) as well as the statue that ate birds. The statue that ate birds is actually a statue of a man riding a horse, and the horse’s mouth used to be open. It was not until a vandal sliced open the belly and had hundreds of bird bones fly in his face that it was realized birds would fly into the open mouth of the horse, become trapped inside, and die. The mouth was subsequently wielded shut. Oh, and the Plaza Mayor? Location of the Inquision. We then headed over to have tapas in the Plaza de Santa Ana followed by churros at the Famous San Gines, which was fabulous.

Sunday, we got up early to go to el Rastro. I had been before with Alex, but the others’ hadn’t. It isn’t as overwhelming as the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, however the sheer volume of people makes it quite a powerful experience. After the others went back to their homestays for la comida, I met Alex at the local bar for a coke and some tapas of calamares fritas. She got hit on by the bartender that neither of us could understand (and who wasn’t very cute) and now cannot go back to our local pub. Que pena!

All in all, weekend=success, and we cannot wait to take the magic book out for another spin in Madrid!

October 9, 2008

Wedding Crashing

We had tapas for dinner with MariCarmen (soooo much food!) and met the business kids from another program. However, after the tapas/dinner, we were forced to crash a wedding. Like, seriously, the brother of the groom just started handing out glasses to us as we were leaving and gave us champagne. I was like, what is going on here?!?!

We went out for more drinks thereafter. And 2 days later, I saw the recently married couple on the street as I walked with Laura, Lindsey, and Jasmine from the Prado to school.
It’s a small world after all?


Written some time ago but never posted due to my laziness....

Blair is: Thinking of October

Ten Things I Do Miss about October in the US



10. Bonfires and Hayrides.
9. Apple picking.
8. Pumpkin Carving.
7. Halloween Movies aka 13 nights of halloween(a. Hocus Pocus. b. Double Double Toil and Trouble. c. Sleepy Hollow. d. Nightmare Before Christmas. e. Casper)
6. Apple Cider. Pumpkin Coffee.
5. The smell of smoke in the air.
4. Candy Corn.
3. Halloween Music. Which I DO have with me...
2. Haunted Houses.
1. The changing of the leaves.

The Trade? I do get Dia de los Muertos....



Until next year!

Blair is: Liking Madrid

One quick entry and then I'm off to bed...

TOP 10 THINGS ABOUT MADRID
[AKA strange things that I love and adore ... all realizations of the past week]


10. The Metro. Even though I hate the metro because I feel like I am in it all the time, I must say, it is rather convenient. A metro stop is never too too far away, and you [usually] never hafta wait more than 7 minutes for a train. While it does close at 130 am and I have a rather lengthy commute to school, you must open the doors yourself, which is quite amusing to me as a lazy American.

9. You can dig to build a metro or parking garage and find ruins of civilization. Case in point: the metro in Athens took FOREVER to build because of all the ruins under the city, and near the Palacio Real they were building a parking complex and found the foundation of the church where Diego Velazquez was buried ... although his body remained MIA. More on this in a later blog entry...

8. Madrid has random monuments with secret meanings. Like the monument to Velasquez commemorates where he was buried, but not where his body may be. It was lost in the test of time when some monarch decided there were too many churches and demanded some be torn down! Velazquez was lost. Also, around the city are a lot of ugly statues - that is because they were not meant to be seen close up, but rather were to be placed on top of the Palacio Real. The Queen Mother of the time had nightmares of dying in an earthquake and being crushed, ergo these statues are all around the country!

7. Tapas and Sangria and Tinto Verano and Churros and Chocolate. Nuff Said.

6. Aladdin pants. Everywhere you go you can see men and women wearing them! They must be really comfortable, because like I said, so many people wear them I feel like I should start singing Arabian Nights and looking for the Cave of Wonders.

5. Vespas, scooters, motos and smartcars prevail. Epic Win.

4. Wedding crashing. We were out for tapas on Tuesday night, and on the way out half of our program totally crashed a wedding! They gave us champagne, we talked with many of them, a couple girls stole cake ... it was so fun! The best part? Seeing that same, newlywed couple on the street only 2 days later!

3. It's a "walking city." Seriously, I was able to walk halfway across town and from the bottom almost to the top in relatively short periods of time. Quite remarkable, actually. Bring your walking shoes!

2. Coca Cola and Fanta taste fantastic. Maybe it's the lack of artificial corn syrup and the use of real sugar, but the taste is phenomenal and the bottles are so cool I feel like a 1950s throwback kid.

1. Architecture. Seriously? Fountains? Arches? Beautiful awe inspiring Baroque and Gothic architecture alongside modern skyscraper like buildings? Gotta love it. SO much more interesting than the US, and so much older! Dress it up for festivals, and you've got yourself one crazy party.


To summarize: Madrid = Wicked Awesome & Epic. Your Should Go.