Today we met outside the hotel at “9.45” which was really
10.15… were not a timely group. Today
was a really fun day; we got to do a bicycle tour all through Barcelona. We started at about 11.00 and it lasted for 4
hours. I learned a lot of interesting
things about Barcelona and its culture during the tour but the most interesting
thing is the fact that there are two languages native to Barcelona. Most people think of Spain as speaking
Spanish, but actually the native tongue of Barcelona is Cataluña. The tour guide said the difference between Cataluña
and Spanish is equivalent to the difference between Spanish and Italian. You can see similarities but they are nothing
alike. We were able to see many
monuments and a good deal of Gaudi architecture. Antoni Gaudi is a famous, and I do mean
extremely famous, architect from Spain who died in the 1920’s. Barcelona is almost a shrine to this man, he
has shops, streets, hotels, coffee shops, restaurants, monuments, museums, and
so much more dedicated to his name. His
style of architecture is something I have never seen before; he has a way of
using curved surfaces that is truly amazing. You have to look at my pictures to
understand what I mean. After the bike
tour we had a little siesta for about an hour and met back down in the
lobby. We went to la Sangrada Familia
which is designed by Gaudi, it is a church.
I really can’t explain in words how tremendous this cathedral is, you
have to look for yourself at my pictures.
After this we went to the Gaudi Museum which used to be used for
residential purposes, but now is strictly… a museum. It was very interesting and it did a great
job of describing how Gaudi thought about objects while he was designing
buildings. We were done for the day
after the museum and everyone headed back to the hotel to shower and what not.
Fun Fact: Barcelonans are a rare
breed. They are a nocturnal species who work all day, go to dinner at 9-10 and
do not even think about partying until about 3.00 AM (when were used to being
finished). So this leads to some late
nights.
Today was not a good day for me in relation to food and
money. I ate at a pizza sandwich shop
for lunch and the price wasn’t bad, about 7 euros for a sandwich. Well I had gotten a beer with my meal. I walked to get a canned beer and the man
working said they had it on tap, so I went with that. The guy walked out with a about a half-gallon
sized beer mug. So I didn’t think
anything of it but when I went to pay it turns out the beer was 13 euros, about
17 American dollars. He showed it to me
on the menu so I couldn’t argue with him. He got the dumb American.
Jack, Joel, Dave, and I we to a ‘restaurant’ called Quimet
Quimet. Dad you’ll appreciate my attempt
to broaden my pallet with this one.
Quimet Quimet was featured on the food network show No Reservations with
Anthony Bourdane. This was like no meal
I have ever had before; I got the combinato de carne. It was an assortment of weird meats and meaty
foods such as artichoke hearts, chestnuts, and I have no idea what meat I
ate. It was all terrible. I didn’t know
it but they pickle their meat so it doesn’t go bad. Found out I HATE pickled meat. Anyways, we came back to the hotel and I
think I’m going to call it a night tonight, try and catch some good sleep. I’ll
post again tomorrow.
T
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