Barcelona Photos

Just a few more pictures for those people that have expressed an interest! I'm attempting captions but arranging it all is difficult - please leave me questions in the comments if there is ambiguity and I'll be more than happy to fill anyone in.

The coloured fountains at Montjuic - they have lights and music to spice up the watery show!

The boats at the Barcelona port. And me getting picked up by one of the infamous giants at the language school Isla!

Some photos of the huge indoor market - La Boqueria. There are some incredibly beautiful and photo worthy food displays there.

The flamenco dancer from the show we went to see. Although flamenco began and is most famous in Sevilla, it is now performed all across Spain, luckily including the region of Catalonia!

LaSagrada Famillia - Gaudi's work. This is the side that was completed after his death. Gaudi knew the entire building would not be completed in his lifetime so left detailed plans. Unfortunately these were destroyed so when building restarted, the plan-less side is distinguishable from Gaudi's original side by a more modern feel.

Another of Gaudi's building in Barcelona.

Casa Batlló, another Gaudi building.

The coke tower created and designed by us, the Spanish class at Isla. Some say it rivals Gaudi himself.

The long wavy mosaic bench that surrounds the top plateau at Parque Guell.

This is the Barcelona Cathedral. There is some beautiful architecture both on the roof, the walls and inside.

In the cloisters, in the central small garden section there are 13 geese living there. There's an old legend as to the reason for this, but there are always 13.

This is the polar bear I described in Dali's house in the last post.

The beach at Cadaques on the way to Port Lligat to see Dali's house.
Such stunning scenery.

Just a short walk from the beach, you can see views like this overlooking the small Spanish town.

The outside of the Dali museum. It used to be a theatre and it holds the majority of Dali's work inside. You can see many different mediums of art inside (Dali did everything!) including the famous painting "The Persistence of Time".

These 3 pictures are from Las Ramblas at Plaza Catalunya. After walking down the beautiful street (las ramblas) you come to the
intricate column before the port and the sea.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! I had to go through a very strict selection process to narrow down my 448!

Barcelona

I returned from my wonderful trip just on Saturday - it was not a fun transition from the sunny Barcelona skies to a rainy, windy, cold airport that left much to be desired. It was a completely amazing week, really busy, and filled with beach and Spanish architecture and embarrassing fumbles when (trying to) talk to the Spanish host. The time went so quickly as well! Dali's painting (which can be seen at his museum at Figueras just outside Barcelona) of the melting clocks symbolising how time is not constant really rings true when spending a week in Spain with 19 other friends.

It's hard to pick just one aspect of Barcelona to talk about, but then again I can't write about them all because of the volume. And I'd like to do an article on Barcelona.

Parc Guell is Gaudi's work, a park high up on a plateau away from the busy center of Barcelona. It's a hot walk up some steep hills, with very authentic looking Spanish buildings forming corridors, and some not so authentic escalators to help lazier tourists. Once you reach the top, to quiet roads suddenly open out onto this huge green view. You can see mosaic buildings (one of Gaudi's signatures) peaking through all these wiry green trees, like hands reaching for the clear blue sky. As you slowly walk down the park you see more impressive pillars, gingerbread houses by Gaudi, the famous lizard fountain of Barcelona and beautiful views. And that was just one morning of the whole week!

Another of my favourites was the day we spent at the Dali museum/theatre and then to his house at Port Ligat. It was a long coach drive by well worth it - a great pebbly shore and view out to sea awaited us. There were some swings and benches to mess about on before the house itself! It's this deceptively small white building, with all sorts of different levels and unusual architecture. Some very odd furniture too - a giant stuffed bear statue with necklaces and green leaf lips sofa in the hall, and a naked Michelangelo statue with a fencing mask in the studio!
The best bits were the outside - more spectacular views, egg sculptures and cracked head - not forgetting the questionably shaped swimming pool and telephone box out back.

All these words really don't mean much, but Barcelona is an amazing city with so many different sides to it, and interesting anecdotes and stories (that our tour guide Hattie from the ISLA language school that the trip is organised by told us). Like the Barcelona government cleared out all the red light district and rough fisherman's seafront ready for the 1992 Olympics, and added a lot of imported sand to make a wonderful golden beach, that of course we all spent a lot of time on!

So, I advise everyone to go to Barcelona, learn some Spanish and have a generally fabulous time. Woo!

Packing for a Holiday

Whether you see it as a chore, or something really fun that helps you plan your trip and fill up with excited anticipation, packing is necessary and a fair bit of work.
I'm off to Barcelona for a week with school tomorrow. I'll be back next Saturday but I'd say I've been packing since last Sunday! You begin with the clothes and then slowly remember all the necessary bits and bobs that simply have to come. There's all the errands, like phone charging, and currency and tea bags (just because). Try to take joy from your packing, you only get to do it once! (Maybe sing a song about it?)
Well, I do have a lot to do and prepare for, all ready for tomorrow. I am really excited, there's so many brilliant things planned! I'm sure I'll have lots to say about the Spanish city when I get back!

Clouds

I can just imagine glancing out of my window, perhaps whilst doing some really stressful work, and being completely distracted by the clouds. A few weeks ago, they'd likely be hanging in some sort of cold comforting blanket over the sun, but now (as Winter seems to end) the clouds would probably be leaving nice big gaps for the foreign sun to break through.

I like the wispy little clouds that looks as if someone has sprinted past really quickly, but I think my favourites have to be ginormous ones that tower up like a lumpy jelly into the sky, making you wonder when they can possibly end. I wonder what they feel like? Aside from clammy and damp that is.

I'm afraid, thanks to my lack of geographical knowledge, I can't tell you all about the different formations and all of the beautiful words that mean different ones like altocumulus or cirrocumulus (thank you national geographic, for both the amazing pictures and the posh terminology), but I do know the the clouds are very pretty and I highly suggest a quick glance and breathe as a way to destress. As exams begin to pile up, and my trip to Barcelona (woooo!) aproaches I think I'm going to be looking skyward all the more often.

What are the clouds like for you right now?

(Makes a nice change from all the materialistic easy open smiles I've been writing recently!)