El fin de semana en Barcelona

At 4am Friday morning, my roommate and I got up and braced the cold sunlessness. We met up with seven of our friends at the bus stop, took the bus to the Granada airport, and a little past 10am, we  landed in Barcelona, where we were greeted by Antoni Gaudí's magnificent architecture, including his works in Park Güell, the famous Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, and Casa Batlló. As I can't capture Gaudí's unique style in words, here are two pictures (although pictures don't really do much justice either):

 

The next morning, we got up bright and early to embark on an action-packed day. We began at Plaza Catalunya, where about 1,000 pigeons flew right at us, and continued on our Merry Way to La Rambla, a famous street filled with flowers and outdoor markets. Then we headed to the Gothic district and admired 14th century architecture. I had an amazing veggie burger (who would have thought you'd find such a thing in ham-obsessed Spain?!) and then we ran into some parade that consisted of hoards of people in elaborate, paper machete costumes. We proceeded to a history museum where we were face-to-face with ancient underground Roman ruins, and I learned that ancient Romans wore lots of makeup, got their feet washed by slaves while they ate dinner, and peed on their laundry as a means of sanitation. The Picasso Museum was next on the list! I spent two hours in a daze as I looked at work spanning his life. What I especially enjoyed was seeing his crazy takes on Velásquez's "Las Meninas," which I got to see at El Prado in Madrid. These paintings look like hilarious nightmare versions of Velásquez's piece, and each was more bizarre than the last. Dinner consisted of lots of fried fish with heads and tails...I tried to eat without looking at them or thinking about them too much. They tasted good though!
 



Today, we took a peaceful walk along the harbor before returning to Granada. Now I'm in my room, still feeling like I'm on vacation and not able to process that I have to go to class in the morning. Can't wait to go on another trip!