Amy.Alive.Abroad: little victories

that's how i'd describe my trip to barcelona!

1. i realized this was my first trip that i did just for me.

i mean... i made the plans, i flew there alone. i figured it all out.

not gonna lie, i was pretty proud of myself... kinda adult-like.

2. kaitlin holl! i think this was the first "big hug tight" i've had since i've been here.

you don't realize how much that physical touch really means until you're kinda without it for a while.

3. speaking spanish because if i didn't, we'd be up the creek.

i was nervous at first because catalan is not spanish, it's its own language!

so i thought i would have trouble getting by, but everyone was very nice and helpful!

i realize now why it's harder to learn spanish in andalucia (southern spain)... they REALLY do smush their words together. i knew that already, but comparing it to hearing the people speak in barcelona... shoot.

4. seeing the 'free walking tour' flyer at the front desk in the hostel.

this made our day. we walked for about 3 hours and learned SO MUCH about barcelona. then we learned about a cooking class... so we could eat paella and

and now for a multitude of pictures!

tapas on our first night..

the beginning of our walking tour...

this is what's left of the aquaducts.

this building doesn't really fit in, right?

it's function? the barcelona's school of architecture.

it was actually designed by picasso, who drew those characters around the bottom to spite his rival.

these blocks were taken from the jewish quarters... see the hebrew written in the stone?

our lovely, swedish tour guide - massar!

the bridge that connects the bishops house to the government buidling.

during the plague, the heaps of bodies were taken out of the city under this bridge so that the bishop could bless them from the window above.

now you're supposed to walk backwards under it and make a wish.

space invader!

wax leftover from candles that were placed in this plaza as a memorial.

many died here because of franco and the bomb that he dropped

(catalunya was franco's biggest opposition during spain's civil war. franco enlisted his friend, hitler)

also, soldiers were lined up along this wall and shot, point blank.

see the damage, not only from the bomb, but also the bullet holes?

and can you see where franco repaired this building? he did so so that he'd look less guilty in court.

this used to be a building for childcare...until the bombing.

kaitlin & me

aaaaaalmost touching both walls.

this is in the jewish quarters. they were only given a limited amount of room to build...

so they built in the shape of a cone, getting wider as it got higher.

the taller people in the group could touch both sides with ease.

i got pretty enamored by the graffiti here. you'll see more farther down...

these are some of the palm trees that were brought to barcelona from hawaii! they did this to restore and refine barcelona before the '92 olympics! apparently no one knew of barcelona or could tell you in which country it was until 1992 when the olympics were held there. they made beaches for the olympics, too! there were no beaches but now there are 7 man made beaches. from where did the sand come? the sahara desert!

again with the graffiti...

salvador dali's lobster

loving rick steve's & my bocadillo (like a sandwich on a long roll. we eat them all the time in sevilla)

THIS is the sagrada familia - the cathedral which Gaudi started. he dedicated the end of his life to this project. so much so that he began sleeping there! not that i really had a favorite architect before, but now it's antonio gaudi. this facade is the one that he saw through all the way before he died. it's called the nativity facade.

and this is the opposite facade...the bottom is not gaudi for his plans were ruined. but this is another architect's version. it's the passion facade.

it's full of symbolism. the numbers in this grid add up to 33, jesus' age when he died.

jesus' hair is composed of pages of this book, symbolizing the pages of the bible.

this is a representation of what gaudi's desk looked like when he died. see the bag hanging up? inside was toast with honey on it. it's like i'm paying my respects every morning when i eat breakfast!

the inside of the nave. beautiful. eventually all the windows will be stained glass...

rick steve's said:

"part of gaudi's religious vision was a love for nature. he said 'nothing is invented; it is written in nature.' his columns blossom with life, and little windows let light filter in like the canopy of a rain forest, giving both privacy and an intimate connection with God."

we rode an elevator to the top of the nativity facade...and here's barcelona from the top!

the stairs on the way down? pretty intimidating.

this is what we found on our way back through the barri gotica... a community project. you were to pick up a marker and write why you love barcelona! i wanted to check it out more... but we were late for our cooking class!