Caitlin and Blake in Spain: Barcelona

February 18, 2011

Journey

(January 14-17)

It has taken a long time to write this blog. Getting really sick for a couple of weeks along with planning trips has put this one on hold once again. But, here goes.

On Friday January 14 we rose at 3:30 am grabbed our bags and made it to the bus stop at 5 minutes to 4 am. An angel that smoked a large cigar was there to tell us that our bus wasn’t coming for another 45 minutes, the one we were supposed to make must have come early. Ugh. We knew we couldn’t wait that long, so we got a taxi to the next bus stop on our route. We caught the night express to the airport just as it was leaving. We were frantically trying to decide which terminal our flight was out of. It was really confusing because there is a stop for terminals 1, 2, and 3, then another for terminal 4. When we arrived at the first stop most people got off and there was a big sign for departures, and one that said arrivals on terminal 4. We took this as the place to get off. We were wrong. And, our bus had already left. The only lady it seemed to be in the airport at 5 am told us there is a free bus outside that will take up to the next terminal. We went out… and it was not coming for 50 minutes. We needed to be boarded by then. So we asked a taxi driver. There was a line of them waiting to pick up fools like us all charging 16 euro just to take us to the next terminal! We didn’t have that much money to spend on a taxi. We stood there, decided to just wait for the bus, when suddenly another express bus like the one we came on rolled up. We showed the driver our ticket from the last bus and he let us come on his bus to take us to the next terminal 8 kilometers away. Have we mentioned that things like this happen to us every single day. Like someone is just testing us all the time. Maybe it happens to everyone, but things would just be nice if they went the way they are supposed to.

Anyway, we got to the correct terminal number 4 and went to the Vueling counter. There was no one else in the airport yet. We didn’t check any bags, so it was a quick and easy 2 minutes with the attendant. We then went to the only place open in the airport; McDonalds. We got a Sausage Egg McMuffin. It was pure bliss, those things I am convinced have addictiveness poured into them and absolutely cannot be reproduced outside of the restaurant. After we ate them however I felt sick. The same way I always feel when I don’t get my sleep. Parts of my body just don’t work that early, I literally turn into a zombie, and probably sound like one too.

We got on the plane, and less than an hour later we landed in Barcelona. It was about 8:30am. By the time we found our way out of the airport, it was 9:30. Then, we found our bus with ease and on the metro with no problem. We had to go 17 stops on our line to the area where Blake’s aunt and uncle Mark and Penny were residing, waiting for us. We took a wrong turn out of the metro station but where we ended up was so unbelievable beautiful, we could not believe we were still in the same country. It’s funny though because Barcelona is in Cataluña, and this area thinks it is its very own country anyway, with its own language and all. It’s similar to the Castellan Spanish that we know however with French and Basque influence, so we had no problems communicating. While we were lost we ran into an info. center. We got a map and figured out where to go. We weren’t far. On our way to the apartment we were looking for, we saw this amazing rock store, it had all kinds of stone beads; we knew we had to come back but we wanted to see Mark and Penny. Right when we found our street, low and behold, there was Mark! We ran right into him. He wasn’t too surprised, he kind of expected to find us wandering around. It was great. He lead us back to the apartment him and Penny had rented for their week in Barcelona. We went up a LOT of stairs to get to their place. I was not in shape to deal with these stair all weekend, and I must say that I was very sore the entire next week from them. Anyway, I finally was properly introduced to Blake’s uncle Mark, and his wife Penny. They turned out to be some of the most wonderful people I had ever met. And, I immediately realized that Mark resembled Blake in so many ways, but even stranger I found so many similarities in myself with Penny. We got along really well.

Meeting Barҫa

Our bodies were telling us to rest, but we were so excited to get out and dig the big beautiful town. We first went up on the roof to check out the view from there. I regret not ever have taken my camera up there. It was really cool. We could see the Segrada Famila, we were RIGHT next door to a cathedral which had bells that rang on the hour all day and all night. We could see all above the city. We then went back down all those stairs to explore. We first went to pick up our tickets to an FC Barcelona game that Mark and Penny treated us to. We knew this was going to be the best weekend we had so far on this trip to Spain. We walked by the ports with hundreds of sailboat, and yachts, and cruise ships. We came upon the huge statue of Christopher Columbus also known as “Colon” in Spanish. Mark and I tried to snap pictures of flying seagulls while we walked on a bridge over the water. We had a lovely time. Blake and I were trying to figure out a way we could quit our jobs in Madrid to move to this magical place. We had found a really great fresh food market too where we bought some salmon and asparagus, and potatoes. We made it all that night; it was delicious of course. We then played a dice game until we all had little slits for eye openings. We didn’t last too long before we were all pretty tired. We decided to make plans for the next day, and hit the hay.

I slept like a rock that night. I didn’t move once, it was the first time in my life I think I woke up in exactly the same position I fell asleep in. This also could have been because we had about 20 pounds of covers on us since we couldn’t figure out the heating that night. It was also a very inefficient very OLD place. But, it was fabulous. I should say a bit about the place we stayed. Mark and Penny found this place on a great website called www.airbnb.com. People can post their homes, apartments, or rooms on this website like bed and breakfasts and anyone can pay to come stay. It’s exactly what my mom does except it’s contracted online. We stayed in a couple’s apartment, where they themselves also lived and had extra rooms. Everything was shared. The living room, bathrooms, kitchen… we could just stay there and treat it like we all lived together. To our advantage however, for the weekend, the couple was gone and we had the entire place to ourselves. Blake and I were a little disappointed to not meet them, they must have been really cool people judging by the way their place was so incredibly decorated. We only knew that one of them was Australian and the other was German. Mark and Penny met the man that lived there later and said they were wonderful, and he was the guy that owned the yellow mini-cars that you can take tours of the city in!

Sagrada Familia

Well I should get on with the day. We decided to first go to Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. Gaudi, if you are not familiar is the best architect that ever lived according to many people, and would have to agree. His work isn’t like anything else in the entire world, if you know his style, you can pick it out anywhere. The Sagrada Famila is something everyone that has a chance should see. It is a Catholic church that commenced construction in 1882. It stands now about half way complete but is still being built. It is so huge and so complicated that after Gaudi’s death in 1926, architects and builders have progressed slowly deciding how every square inch would have been designed by Gaudi. There is speculation that it may be complete in 2026, but I highly doubt it with the financial situation of Spain. This is a place at least worth reading about if one never gets the chance to visit.

When you come to this place and see it up close, you really begin to start thinking about how in the world something like it could have ever come to be. There are no corners, no straight lines, and every single inch has intricate, organic detail. We were blown away. We saw people getting in what we thought was the right line. There seemed to be lines all over, and they went around the entire block. We chose the right line, but I think we really budged unintentionally. We passed thousands of people that we should have been behind. Well, we got in, no problem. It was also completely free; I couldn’t believe that. When we stepped inside we all couldn’t say anything for about 10 minutes. It was like we went through the doors to heaven. I think that is what Gaudi wanted it to feel like. The light that shown in through the incredibly huge stained glass windows shot beams of bright light everywhere like God was inside. There were reflections of color all over the floor and people too. The pillars must have reached 250 feet from floor to ceiling. The spires which all had spiral staircases were over 500 feet tall! When the church is complete, there will be 18 spires! 12 for the apostles, 4 evangelists, the Virgin Mary, and the tallest of all, Jesus Christ. 8 spires stand now, and I can’t fathom in my mind what it will be like if it is ever really finished.

Casa Batllo

When we left the Segrada Famila feeling like we reached God somehow though Gaudi, we wanted more. We went straight to Casa Batllo afterwards, another one of Gaudi’s most famous works. Casa Batllo was the house owned by the Batllo family in the 1800’s until this day. The Batllo’s commissioned Gaudi to remodel the house in the heart of Barcelona and the transformation was magical. The family decided that the world must see the work of Gaudi, so they let the public come through with all the proceeds from the entrance fee going straight back into the house for upkeep and restoration through the years. The house was clearly inspired by ocean life; there is a sensation of being under the sea when you are inside. There were beautifully curved banisters leading you up the stairs that you just had the urge to feel. And they really did feel amazing, as the wood had been so smoothed over the years from so many people doing the same thing. They winded up and at the top they resembled the spine of a mysterious sea dragon. There were curves everywhere, beveled colored glass that looked like water, spiral ceilings, and blues that started very light at the bottom and grew darker each level you went up in the middle if the house so that the light from the sun would filter through perfectly.

Paella Scavenger Hunt

After the couple hour house tour, we were famished. We went to a typical Spanish bar/café that served tapas, and had a late lunch. We took a detour on the way back to the apartment to check out the beach as the sun was setting and when we made it back we all were exhausted once again from a long day of fun. We went back to that fresh food market with a list of ingredients for a paella recipe Penny found in a cookbook at the flat. We had so much fun rushing around like we were on a scavenger hunt trying to find everything. One of the ingredients, sherry, we had no idea how to find. I think in total, between all of us, we went to 7 stores trying to find it. It helped when we looked online for the Spanish translation “Jerez.” In that research we also discovered that sherry wine actually comes from Spain! And, people in Andalucía love to drink it. We found that it was way too strong to drink, and I am not even sure what it does to the food other than cook off. Anyway, it was a mad search. We went back home put the findings away (for the next night), had a light dinner, and went to bed.

Playa and Picasso

Blake and had planned on waking up a 5:30 am to go back to the beach the next day to see the sunrise. Well, we didn’t wake up until 8, but we still went. When we got there, there was a huge wall cloud across the entire span of the water as far as we could see. We both had never seen anything like it. We later would learn that it is a common thing in the morning on the water. It was really cool. And, the sun was still behind it, just peaking over as we were walking on the sand. So, we got to see the sunrise after all. We collected rocks that were perfectly rounded by the sea for about an hour then headed back so we could make breakfast for Mark and Penny. After we ate, we went to the Picasso museum that was close to the flat. It was a very large collection of his work that went back all the way to when he was a very young child, about 10, when he became interested in art. By the time he was 15, he was doing remarkable professional work. He did not ever stop painting and sketching until the day he died! He did tens of thousands of works during his long life. Penny and I made our may through in no time, but Mark and Blake decided to stop and read every single panel by ever single work, so they dragged a ways behind.

Parque Guell

We then headed off to yet another Gaudi site, Park Guell. When we arrived I heard the call of the green parrots I’d been seeing all over in the previous two weeks. I looked up in the trees and there they were, sticking branches in their tails to build nests in the palm trees. The park is so big, and colorful. There are giant spiral columns the angle inward holding up a large terrace around one path that leads you to the patio with the famous mosaic benches. This place is a photographer’s paradise. There were wedding couples, models, and kids all getting their photos taken with the awesome backdrops in every corner. When we had taken in as much of the park as we could, we went back to the flat to start the paella, so we could eat before we went to the game that night.

Paella

Blake played sweet melodies on Marks guitar while the paella aroma filled the air. Since the guitar bug got back in Blake’s system, he had really been wanting to find a guitar to have all the time, but I’ll let him tell you about the search for one later. The chicken paella with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, red pepper, and leftover asparagus turned out to be the most scrumptious of all paella I have ever had. It wasn’t a typical Spanish recipie… that’s probably why it was so good- I think it may have been a Moorish dish. Whatever it was, we ate the entire pan, every last grain of rice. We were feeling really good by the time we had to leave for Camp Nou, the football (or maybe I should say soccer to not confuse you) stadium. As I seem to be on a long roll right now, I am going to let Blake but in to tell about the game.

Caitlin

Football game

Barca! Barca! Barca! What an experience this game was (at least for me!). We had the privilege to watch Lionel Messi, coming off a recent hat trick and being named “Best Player in the World” in 2010 and the majority of Spanish national team (World Champions) put on a display of why they really are the best players in the world. I was absolutely in awe of the ease and precise control of their touches as well as the movement of the team. I could continue talking about the quality of play for some time but being that this is already a lengthy blog, I will let you ask me personally if you’d like to know more. Needless to say, the level of play was incredible. FC Barcelona plays in the league called La Liga (The League) which is the main league in Spain.

So to pick up where Caitlin left off with the fantastic paella, we headed out to catch the metro and joined an increasing mass of red and blue clad fans heading to the stadium. We got off the metro and followed the masses towards the stadium passing vendors and pubs along the way. As we made our way into the stadium I became anxious with anticipation to see game ahead. All of my teachers at school (even though they are Real Madrid fans, huge rivals!) said that being inside the stadium was an unbelievable feeling. We came into the stadium and it was wonderful. I was giddy with excitement. The pitch had a slight fog over it giving the players the appearance that they were something out of this world. We found our seats, which were unfortunately separated in pairs across the aisle. We spent some time snapping photos of us in front of the field and then of each other of across the aisle. As the game became closer to start we noticed that the seats by Mark and Penny were still unoccupied so we decided to sit there until the owners of them showed up. They never did show up so we were able to enjoy the game sitting next to our enthused entourage. As the game commenced Mark and I were blown away and kept chattering back and forth about observations we had. We enjoyed every minute of the game and I think even captured Barca’s 4 goals on the camera (nice work, Mark!). FC Barcelona came out victorious over Malaga 4-1. It was an incredible experience. Thank you Mark and Penny for letting us share that with you!

-Blake

Adios Barcelona

The next morning we had a nice breakfast and one last chat about life with Mark and Penny. We then made a quick trip to that stone and bead store and stocked up on some cool beads and rocks. I discovered a new blue rock with hints of turquoise and swirls of metallic called Crisocola (I can’t find the English translation). We got some beads made from coral, wood, jade, mica, amber, and pearls with plans to start making cool jewelry. We spent more time there than we planned so we had to run back to the place to get our bags say a quick goodbye and head back out to catch our flight back to Madrid. On our way back out Blake was yearning to get an FC Barcelona inauguration ball, so we flew in and out of a store to get one on our way. We made it in plenty of time, the way home was much easier than the way there.

Back in Madrid we had a typical week and school then Mark and Penny made their way by high speed train to the not as wonderful city.

Caitlin

In Madrid

For Mark and Penny’s last leg of the trip they came to the city where we have been living for the last few months, Madrid. We had an incredible time in Barcelona and absolutely loved the city, a much different feel than what we have in Madrid. We were curious to see if Mark and Penny held the same beliefs once they explored Madrid a bit.

We were to meet up with them Thursday after we finished with our classes and explore a little bit during the evening. It has been some time since all of these events took place but I believe this was the night when we had an apartment malfunction. As we were preparing to leave to go exploring, Penny stopped in the bathroom quickly before we left. As Mark and I chatted Caitlin noticed that it sounded like Penny was having trouble with the door. It wouldn’t open. We tried from the outside and still had no luck. For some reason, the lock on the inside had gone bad and was not allowing the latch to release. Oh boy. We grabbed what tools we had and got to work. We spent the next hour or so working the door to free Penny from her captivity. It was a ridiculous ordeal. We did free Penny with minimal damage to the door but the latch was done for. No more shutting the bathroom door! We still headed out for a little bit and we walked around Sol and the Gran Via area and showed them the cool areas we had found, which seemed unimpressive compared to the great sights we found in Barcelona.

The next day we received some bad news that our Aunt Charlotte had passed away and it took us all by surprise. I took off work that day because I knew that Mark and Penny would not have gotten the message since they had no internet. So I went to their place in the morning bearing the bad news and bringing my laptop for them to communicate with the family back home. This was a hard part of the visit.

Later that day Caitlin and I stopped back to go find tapas with them but Penny had come down with a bad migraine and wasn’t feeling up for going out. We left Penny to rest and took Mark out to find the perfect tapas restaurant around Plaza Mayor. We didn’t find them. We walked around in the cold with no luck finding the perfect place until we were cold enough to get pulled in to a restaurant by a guy promoting it on the street. It was a good deal and a variety of tapas but the tapas were mediocre and not what we had hoped for. We still had nice conversation and I was a pleased to get to spend time with Mark and Caitlin. After the tapas, we took Mark to our favorite little cinema where they were showing Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It was the best part of the evening and a fitting movie for our recent visit to Barcelona.

The following day we met up again for a day in Retiro Park followed by a dinner at our apartment. I met up Mark and Penny first while Caitlin prepped some food at the apartment for the dinner later on. It was a cold, sunny day but we enjoyed seeing people out and strolled around for a few hours. Caitlin also met up with us at the Park after a while. We departed and met up again a couple hours later for dinner at our place. We made a salad with a homemade vinigarette by Caitlin, apples, pears, walnuts, raisins, cranberries, blue cheese, and brie. We the made an arrangement of vegetables called Pisto which included eggplant, onions, zucchini and tomatoes with red wine vinegar topped with Manchego cheese. It was delicious. We also made langoustines and a pesto pasta. It was all delicious. It was also a great time cooking and eating our own version of tapas, which in my opinion are better than the majority we ate out! We also had a great Chapman mini project after dinner when Mark noticed that our fridge door opened the wrong way. We all got involved and had food out everywhere and where unscrewing and flipping plastic pieces left and right. It actually took longer than the first estimate but let me tell you…the benefit of having the fridge door open the right way has been tremendous. It’s a wonder how you can spend so much time with something working so inefficiently.

On Sunday, we took them to El Rastro which is a huge flea market in the area of La Latina. We had a good time discovering Spanish flea market goods and observing mobs of older women around a 5 euro fur coat bargain bin. After we got our fill of overpriced junk and found a few good souvenirs we explored the area for afternoon tapas. This time we had better luck with a restaurant that served better quality of food and was not a tourist destination. We went down in the cave-like basement of a restaurant and had a wonderful variety of tapas from wine cooked chorizo to extremely strong cheese to baguettes topped with delicious salmon. It was a very nice afternoon. That evening Caitlin and I came back over with our Christmas present from home, the ingredients to make Chocolate Chip Cookies. Since we don’t have an oven we seized the opportunity at Mark and Penny’s place. They were delicious. We also made home made croquettas (croquettes), which also turned out nicely. We had a great last night together talking, cooking, playing guitar/bouzouki and practicing our juggling skills. It really was a treat having Mark and Penny visit.

Blake

Mark and Penny