At first I was a little hesitant to ride the bus, because I think it may be the most touristy thing I've ever done. But it was really good to see where everything is in relation to each other and to my apartment. And I learned a few things too. Did you know that Barcelona has more motorcycles per capita than any other European city? Or that Barcelona has hundreds of kilometers of bike paths? The things you learn on a Bus.
We came back to the apartment and met up with the rest of our roommates. We decided to go down to Barceloneta for lunch. After strolling for a little bit we decided on a place called Foc, which means "fire" in Catalan. The five of us got to sit in this half-circle velvet booth, and there were tv screens everywhere playing a video of a fire burning in a fireplace. A little odd but hey. I had a club sandwich with patatas fritas---I KNOW, that is American, but I needed some chicken and it was the closest thing to it. It was yummy too. We walked a little further to see the beach, but it was cold so we didn't stay long. Then we got some gelato (mine was canela [cinnammon] and coffee) and it was SO good. We hopped back on the metro and while some of the girls went to Corte Ingles, Holly and I came home and took naps. Then I spent some time putting up the pictures you will see below. :-)
We all ended up staying in again---I could barely keep my eyes open all afternoon. I had some pasta and we watched "Legally Blonde 2" in Spanish.
Finally, here are some pictures!
This is one of the lampposts in my area. I just thought it was pretty and we were up close to it. (I'm working on figuring out how to flip pictures!)
Holly and I on the Bus! It was a little windy, so our hair was blowing everywhere. They give you headphones when you get on, and you plug them into the seat. You get information about each stop and background music in between.
Casa Mila, or La Pedrera!
I wonder how Santa Eulalia feels about that one, Dad and Pam. :-)
The "House of Spikes." I'd never heard of it but it was really pretty.
This is the detail in the middle. I am pretty sure that is a mosaic in the middle but I'm not sure exactly what the scene is depicting.
One of the spires. This house takes up an entire triangular block.
La Sagrada Familia! More has been done to it even since I was here last in June 2006.
The bus was telling us about how much more they have to do. More towers, and a third facade. So amazing.
This is a building called the Rotunda, close to the bottom of Tibidabo. It looks like a carousel to me.
The University of Barcelona! Or part of it, at least.
The Caixa building, one of (maybe the?) biggest banks in Spain. The symbol and the words "La Caixa" rotate around the top of the building. The little star icon was designed by Joan Miro, and some say that it is actually a figure dropping a coin into a coin box.
Here is a sign on the side of El Corte Ingles advertising las rebaixes (catalan) I mentioned yesterday.
This building has plants coming out of all of the balconies!
This is in the Plaza Francesc Macia-Diagonal, close to my apartment.
IT'S EVERYWHERE. This is too close to my apartment for comfort. And I saw another one close to IES today. I promised myself I would not go there while I'm here (only if I've had a really really bad day!).
This building is under construction, but instead of just putting up an ugly sheet, they made it look like the rest of the building! Smart thinking.
The beach at Port Vell. Pretty but chilllllly today!
This is a picture of my roommates and I from the first night we went out to Shoko. It's in our dining room. From the left they are Tina, Holly, Gaby, me :-), Christen, and our RA Cristina (Cris).xoxo
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