El Born

We went on another field trip with class today! We walked down Via Laietana and around the area of the city called El Born. We walked passed the Palau de la Musica, the Picasso Museum, Santa Maria del Mar, and the Passieg del Born. I liked this tour better, because we went down all the little streets. Our professor gave us all detailed maps of the El Born/Barri Gotic/El Raval neighborhoods of the city, all of which have super tiny little streets and alleys. That will definitely be helpful.

I went back to IES and got my 100 points on my Cultural Passport! The woman who was checking the pictures thought they were really funny. For getting 100 points I got a free Art Ticket, which is valid for 6 months and gets me into any of 7 museums for free. These include the Picasso Museum, the MACBA, and La Pedrera. Totally worth it!

Tina and I came home and made some lunch. SALAD was so good. Finally. I put some chicken in it from the other night and it was wonderful. Then I hung around and did some travel research/planning. I was really tired today for some reason and I wanted to save up some energy for this weekend! I made some dinner of tortellini with pesto sauce. It was yummy--I'm getting better!

After dinner I organized my life a little bit, did some laundry, and packed for Valencia. I did my first load of laundry since I've been here, and let me tell you, I am fascinated by the washing machine. It takes 1 hour and 45 minutes to wash clothes. Does that seem odd to anyone else? It's a front loader with a clear door, so it's kind of cool to watch it. But it spins for a few minutes, then stops. Then spins the other way. And stops. And again. FOREVER. Thankfully, the boys have a dryer that works, so we can be spoiled and go use it. :-) Then we played Scrabble in Spanish. Harder than it sounds, for real. John and I were a team but we lost. Oh well, third place. :-) Then I packed for VALENCIA!

So here are some more pictures:

This is an odd one. Apparently, there used to be a legend that a giant lived outside of Barcelona. I think he was supposed to be either protecting the city, or just a representation of the city. Recently, he met a giantess. These statues were in the building downstairs from the Che exhibit.
La Palau de la Musica! An amazing building.
Each column is decorated differently. They look amazing all together.
Along the side of the Palau.
Santa Maria del Mar---where the wedding was!
Candied fruit in La Boqueria! It is a huge covered market with all kinds of treats.
Down one of the aisles in the Boqueria.
Bread, and lots of it.
So many chilies!
Carne. Do you see all the JAMON?

I'm going to be away from my computer this weekend, as I am leaving for Valencia tomorrow at 8:45 am! Wahoo! It's about a 4.5 hour bus ride. Fun fun. I'm really excited. At some point, either on the way down or the way home, we will also be going to Tarragona, which is about an hour south of Barcelona. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and I'll let you know all about it on Sunday night!

To my ChiOs back at home, have a fantastic start to Recruitment! It's going to be amazing and I can't wait until we have a new group of girls! :-) KEEP ME POSTED!

Besos