Parc de la Citadella, Poble Nou, and Vila Olimpica

We woke up on this glorious morning and went straight to the Arc de Triumph. We walked through it to the Parc de la Ciutadella. We saw La Cascada by Gaudi, la Mamuth, the Parliament building, and the Museums of Zoology and Geology (yea rocks). We walked past the zoo and checked out the Market, but its under serious renovation so didn’t get to see too much.

Our next stop was down the shore in the section of the city called Poble Nou. We walked through el Cemterio del Poble Nou which was quite the experience. It is completely walled in and mostly in the Neo-classical style. Some of the tombs are built in the gothic style, appearing to be a gothic cathedral for only one visitor. The layout of the cemetery is much like that off the city in an apartment-style. It is like a large mausoleum, where the coffins slide into the walls. The walls are about 7 coffins high, stacked horizontally. In the interior courtyards were dozens of individual and family tombs, both grand and small. It was by far the most concrete cemetery I have ever been to.

We then walked down a few blocks to La Rambla of Poble Nou. It was a lot quieter and calmer than Las Ramblas that Barcelona is famous for. There were still many shops and restaurants, but was only about 6 blocks long with nowhere near the amount of people as the city’s Las Ramblas.

We walked down to Plaza Glories and I showed Mike where our site is for our studio project. He saw the park that is inside the parking garage in the center of the plaza, the tall and out-of-place tower, and the National Theater.
We walked back to the ocean to Vila Olimpica. We stopped at the mall there and had a huge Chinese Buffet (I was in desparate need for a buffet…my 9th favorite word). We walked through the sand along the beach and then parted ways. He went up the cable car to Montjuic and I went to studio (I wonder who had more fun…). After studio we ended up having a group dinner in Aldana. We haven’t been having group dinner like we used to so it was pretty exciting. We did a pot lock and had everything from veal to fish to tacos. Twas muy delicioso.

ajuntament and Montserrat

Mike and I went to mass this morning at St. Ildefonso, which is right around the corner from studio. We then headed off to Barri Gotic to Placa de Sant Jaume. We went inside La Casa de la Ciutat (ajuntament). It is the city hall which not only held many of the city's major historical events, but also has many murals depicting the history of the city and all of Catalunya. We joined up with a Spainsh tour of the building and followed them around. It is a beautiful building with beautiful works of art inside (I highly reccomend this building if you are ever in Barcelona...take the English tour though). We went across the plaza to the Palau de la Generalitat, but we missed the English tour. I headed back to studio to finish up my project and Mike went to the Museu d'Historia de la Ciutat.
Mike met me at studio and we then hopped on the metro at Universitat around 3 00. From Placa Espanya we caught a train to Montserrat. It was about an hour long train, but we saw some amazing countryside and mountains along the way. We took the cable car up to the monastery (which was quite the ride going up so high with such a thin cable carrying the car...my ears popped on the way up). We walked down the path that lead to La Capella de la Santa Cova. It is quite the walk going down the path, but walking back up was a little rough. It was well worth it though (the statues, carvings, views,...amazing). We made it back up to the top of the mountain by 6 00 and walked around the cathedral for a while. We then listened to the renowned boys choir sing at 6 45. It was incredible to listen to them sing (they have been singing the same style since the 13th Century). We took a train down the mountain and then caught the train back to Barcelona.

We went to Meson David for a Galacian dinner near my apartment. I went to studio for a couple hours and the went to bed...exhausted.

Montjuic and La Fira

I woke up relatively early and then headed to studio in hopes of finishing my project (but knowing I would not be able to). I left studio around 1 (close to completion for what is due on Monday) in order to meet my brother at Placa Catalunya at 1 15. I was planning on meeting him at the center of the plaza but the Book Fair was going on so there was a huge tent set up in the plaza. I waited on the edge of the plaza near where the Aerobus dropped of the new arrivals from the Barcelona Airport. Mike got in around 1 45ish and then we walked through the Book Fair tent. We then walked to my apartment, stopping to show him studio on the way.
In the afternoon, we walked down to the waterfront to take the cable car up to Montjuic, getting a bird's eye view of the city. Unfortunately, the cable car was closed due to high winds so we had to walk up to Montjuic. We got to see the Olympic Diving pool (where all the local ducks hang out now) and the castle at the top of the mountain. The views of the city from the top of the mountain were incredible. On one side of the mountain we could look down on the entire city. On the other side of the mountain we could look out onto the neverending sea. We walked down the mountain through all the gardens at sunset and made our way to the Palau Nacional and the fountains of La Fira. We watched the grand fountain as it danced to the classical music and then walked down all the stairs, past the cascading waters, to Placa Espanya.

We went to dinner at a quaint bar/restaurant near studio. The waiter was a real nice guy and very friendly to us. The service was great and the prices were reasonable. The food was good too so I will probably visit that place again.

We came back to the apartment and talked a little bit, planning tomorrow and then headed off to bed (or couch).

guardian of my desk

I ate a delicious cheese omelette this morning for breakfast and packed myself a lunch to take to studio. I stopped at a flower shop on the way to studio and bought a cactus. I needed a guardian on my desk in studio so that no monsters come out of the hole in the wall by my desk.

I spent all day in studio and then went for a run with Tom, Ben, and Meg. We ran down to the waterfront and then back to the apartment via Las Ramblas. We checked out the apartment that Tom booked for his parents for when they come here over Easter. It looks like quite the place. It does have a good location, near Las Ramblas and the ocean.

I had dinner in the apartment and then dragged myself to studio where the night has been dragging on.

telling time and running

So we learned how to tell time this morning in Spanish class. It was, how do you say, aburrido. It's a relaxing class though so it doesn't matter too much.

After studio, Tom, Brian, and I went for a run. We ran to Placa Espanya (where La Fira is located with all the water fountains and water falls). The Barcelona Pavilion by Mies Van der Rohe is also over there, but it was late and dark so it was closed. I want to go back in the daylight and see it, and possibly go in it. We ran through Placa de Carles Buigas, up a series of stairs, through Placa del Marques de la Foronda, up a series of stairs, through Placa de les Cascudes, up a series of stairs (there were a lot of stairs), and then up the stairs to the front of the Museu Nacional D'Art de Catalunya (quite the impressive building...the Palau Nacional). We then ran through Montjuic a little bit before heading home. We are going to go back to Montjuic soon because there is so much to explore on that mountain. A lot of good running paths for sure.

Dinner time.

class at the beach

For our field trip class this morning, we went to Vila Olimpica, which is a neighborhood in Barcelona that was built when the Olympics came to town. It's down by the water and has some intriguing architecture and sculptures. For example, there is a work of modern art that is symbolic of the railroad tracks that used to run down the street. I think it is interesting how the past is remembered through modern art and architecture. We walked around the blocks and learned about the buildings and what not. Our last stop was at the beach. While we were just sitting there on a bench staring at the ocean, Brian asked me how many times I have ever had class at the beach. The two of us then went to a mall in Vila Olimpica and had some lunch. We then met everyone else at the metro and headed back to studio.

tentative backpacking plan

I talked to Frank earlier today about our journey at the end of the semester. We have a very basic plan so far. We are thinking about starting in London and then flying to Vienna. Then a day and night trip to Budapest and back to Vienna. Then we fly to Greece for a while and see the sights there. Then to Germany/Switzerland/ France (we have to work that stuff out still). Frank is flying out of London and I am flying out of Barcelona. I am going to stop by the STA Travel agency here this week some time and see if it would be possible to change my outgoing flight from Barcelona to London so that Frank and I could end in the same city. It isn't too big of a deal. It would just be more convenient if we stayed together I guess. The trip is still very tentative and will change a lot as the time draws near. We talked about finding overnight trains to travel by so that we wouldn't have to stay in hostels. We will get it figured out.

Well, I am hoping to wake up early tomorrow and go for a run before class. So goodnight.

run to the sea

Today was a pretty relaxed day. It felt good after traveling so much for 10 days. I didn't mean to stay up so late last night, but I figured I should call my parents. Plus I feel like the later it gets, the harder it is for me to go to sleep. I think studio trained me to be that way.

Well, I woke up this morning at 9 30, and just took the morning slow. I sent a few emails and worked on my blog a little bit. I split a load of laundry with Tom, took a swig of orange juice, and then laced up my running shoes and hit the pavement. I ran down to the ocean (which I have been meaning to do for some time now). It felt good to finally go for a solid run. My legs needed to be stretched out a little bit. When I made it to the waterfront, I ran down the boardwalk for a ways. There was a lot of construction and renovation type stuff going on at the beach. They must be getting ready for all the tourists. There were fences up along the beach and a bunch of construction guys wandering around.

I stopped running when I got to the Port Olimpic. There are 2 tall towers there and some other interesting buildings. There is also a famous fish sculpture down there which a lot of people are interested in. I took off my shoes and socks and waded out into the water. The water was a little cold, but I went out really, really far. I went so far into the sea that when I looked down, my feet were completely covered! Alright, so I didn't go in too far. I just wanted to be able to say that I was in el Mar Mediterrania. Well, I chilled out in the water a little bit, and then walked around in the sand until my feet dried off. I stuck my little zapatos back on my feet and then ran back down the boardwalk.

When I was waiting to cross the street near the tall Columbus statue, a man walked up to me and asked me for directions in Spanish to the Picasso Museum. I wasn't exactly sure where it was and then I said too myself, but out loud, "I wish I had a map." Then he said, "O, thank God you speak English." Then he pulled out his map and I pointed him in the right direction. I guess I look Spanish when I run down the street.

I got back to the apartment and showered. I hung up my clothes from the washing machine on our drying lines out our window and then headed off to studio. I worked on my blog more at studio, updating it from our wild German adventures.

We got our new assignments for the next phase in our studio project. This phase is all individual work so it will hopefully go a little smoother than the group projects. The group projects turned out all right but we disagreed quite a bit. It all worked out though, I guess, in the end.

We stayed in studio kind of late just working on our blog. I caught up on a lot of my emails to people. It feels good to contact people. My friend Ben from high school is in northern Spain and we are trying to figure out a way where we can see each other. I don't know if we will be able to, but I really want to. I'm going to miss him by a couple days in London I think. Hopefully I will be able to meet up with him sometime.

We came back to Aldana and Meg made some delicious French toast, eggs, and sausage for Tom and me for dinner. It really hit the spot. We watched a slide show of pictures from Germany before we went to bed. It is hard to believe that we did so much in so short a time over spring break.

MUNICH to BARCELONA

We woke up Sunday morning and packed up our stuff. We thanked Rachel for letting us stay with her. We drove to the airport and filled up the tank with gas along the way. We returned our Ford Fiesta and walked to the check-in. We had no problems checking in or going through security. We got some breakfast and then boarded the plane.

I wrote my postcards on the plane ride (yes, Mike, I wrote you one this time). They are going to have Spanish stamps on them, but the postcards are really from Germany. Did I mention that they didn't give us peanuts on the plane ride? They gave us pieces of cheese cake instead. Tom and Meg slept through it, but I let them know it was good. I was thinking about saving mine for mt brother since he always saves me the peanuts from his flights. I didn't though (he is getting a postcard instead). We made it back to Barcelona safe and sound, but had a litte difficulty getting Tom's and Meg's bags that they checked. We accidentally went to baggage claim B instead of A. We had to go back through security in order to get their bags but we finally got them so it all worked out in the end.

We got on the Aerobus and it dropped us off near the Gran Via apartment and then we had to walk 7 blocks to our apartment. It felt like we had been gone for so long because we had done so much in the past week. We have no idea how Barcelona survived a week without us. We will get this city back on its feet tomorrow after we get a good nights rest.

The weather was in the 70s and sunny here today. It felt so good to finally lose that little black rain cloud that followed us through Germany. Tom and I split a load of laundry this afternoon and I took a half hour nap on the couch in our living room. I then hung up our clothes to dry and came to studio. It was good to see Brian, Ben, and Rob again. It was that same feeling on the first day of school after not seeing your friends all summer. They had good breaks as well. We all have a lot of stories to tell each other, so it will keep us busy for the next week or so probably. We also have to see everybody's pictures.

MUNICH to FUSSEN and back again

Saturday was by far the best day of this amazing road trip. Tom, Meg, Rachel, her roommate, and myself piled into the car and drove south, towards Austria. Our hopes were set on seeing the most famous castle of Bavaria that the Walt Disney castle is said to be modeled after. The drive there was a little tough with some very strong rain and the temperatures dropping. We made it to the castle and realized that the other castle was very close (about a half hour walk apart up the mountain). We bought tickets to have tours of each castle and went to the smaller castle first (Hohenschwangau Castle). The views were amazing from the castle, looking down on a small town and a lake with large snow-covered mountains as a backdrop. We were unfortunately unable to take pictures of the insides of either castle. The rooms were gorgeous and filled with beautiful murals, furniture, and anything you expect to find in a castle. After the tour, we walked down the small mountain and headed to a restaurant to warm up a bit. The rain started to let up a little bit so Tom and I decided to walk up the other mountain to the main castle. It was a great decision. The road was steep and made me realize how out of shape I am (I am planning on going for a run tomorrow morning...I am keeping my fingers crossed that I remember/ force myself to do this). It took us about half an hour to walk up the path to the Marien Brucke, which is a bridge that is hundreds of feet above a waterfall and rushing rapids. The view of the Neuschwanstein Castle was...wow...I cannot describe it. The wind was almost blowing us off the bridge. We couldn't breathe when we faced the wind and hard rain was pelting us as we stood there. It made standing at the bottom of Niagara Falls seem like nothing. It was hard to keep our lenses clean but we were still able to get some amazing pictures (the pictures look like paintings or movie sets. I am having a hard time believeing that these pictures are real). We walked across the bridge but the path faded off into the mountain. We decided to go up higher on the mountain and see if we could look down on the castle. Well, after walking through the mud, stepping over roots and logs, and climbing up the rocks, we came upon a clearing on the edge of the mountain. I heard Tom yell about a rainbow and I went running over to see it. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The sun was shining on the castle and lit it up just for us. A powerful rainbow then burst from within the castle and reached toward the blue sky. We were so captivated by the perfection of what was in front of us that we lost track of what was beneath us. We were a few feet from the edge of a cliff that dropped hundreds of feet into the gorge. We quickly stepped back and caught our breath. We didnt know what to say to each other. We were standing on a muddy cliff, looking at a huge castle with a colorful rainbow, and green and white mountains in the background. I think it was the most powerful experience of my life.

We then had to hurry back down the mountain so we wouldn't be late for the tour. We met the girls at the entrance of the castle and took the tour. The group was a lot bigger than the first castle and the tour guide didn't have a sense of humor (the guide from the first castle made a lot of jokes...mostly bad and corney...but I thought he was funny. I can't pronounce his name but he had a cool coat).

After the tour, all five of us walked up to the bridge. On the walk down, we asked a gentleman to take a picture of us with the castle and mountains in the background. He told us not to ask people in Italy to take pictures because they will run off with your camera. He was a funny guy (he told his 8 year old daughter that he would race her down the mountain but she said she wasn't in the mood). I am glad that my old track coach never found this mountain, because it makes the hills we used to run seem like flat plains.

We then drove off to take the scenic way home, through Austria. We drove along a lake that provided some of the most beautiful works of nature I have ever seen. It was sunset when we reached the lake and there was a full moon over the mountains by the time we reached the end of the lake. It seemed too perfect. We stopped in the very small town of Plansee, Austria to have dinner. We ate at Hotel Forelle, which was right on the lake. We couldn't get a window seat but it was a perfect meal (I had wiener schnitzel...I'm gonna miss it).

MUNICH all day

Well, today was an interesting day. We met a man named Michael at Marienplatz at 10 am. Michael's relation to us first needs to be explained. Mike (the man we stayed with in Rottendorf) has been in the military for a while and has been in Germany for almost 20 years so he has some connections. He told us he had a friend in Munich who owed him a favor and called him up to see if he could give us a tour of the governmental buildings and of the city itself. His friend said yes but then had to go out of town so he had some one else fill his spot. This is where Micheal comes in. He is wrapped up in politics in Munich somehow and he had access to a lot of the governmental buildings in the city. He was an English and politics teacher in Munich, but is originally from Warzburg. We met him in the morning and he walked us around the city. He was very knowledgable and told us a lot about Munich. We went to the Viktualienmarkt, which is a large food market with a lot of different shops and stands selling all kinds of food. We saw the new synogogue, the opera house, and the national theater. He also showed us the Residenz and told us all about the politics of the city. We then walked through the Hofgarten which is the royal garden. At the end of the garden is the former military museum. It has now been added onto and converted into the Bayerische Staatskanzlei, the main government building which was designed to represent the new democracy of the country. He showed us the offices of all the important political people in Germany. It was incredible to walk though that building and learn so much about the government. I still feel like I know nothing about German politics but Michael tried to explain it to us as best he could. We also stopped at Marienplatz again to watch the famous Glockenspiel. When the bells chimed for the new hour, the plaza was filled with people watching. There were 32 figures of almost life sized people that moved around and danced a little bit for us (some even jousted), giving us a five minute or so show. It was awesome to see and I videotaped it with my camera (but something is wrong with the sound recorder on my camera and it isnt picking up sound for some reason). We then went out to lunch with Michael to a Bavarian restaurant that served very traditional Bavarian food. It was delicious. I enjoyed everything I ate in Germany. Twas tastiness. We paid for his lunch as a thank you for giving us such a wonderful tour.

After lunch, we headed back to the apartment, but Rachel was still at work so we took naps in the car. When Rachel came back from work, we hung out in her apartment for a while and then got some pizza for dinner. We went over to her co-workers apartment and met her friends in Germany. They all work for Kraft (she is a packaging major at Michigan State interning at Kraft). They were interesting people and it was fun to hear all these people speaking to each other in so many langauages.

ROTTENDORF to ROTHENBURG to DACHAU to MUNICH

I woke up this morning on the air mattress and I had quite the surprise. Tom had turned into a dog and was sticking his nose in my face. Actually, Tom had climbed onto the small couch in the middle of the night (I hope I wasn't kicking him). So Mike's big dog decided to take Tom's place on the mattress. He just plopped down next to me and rubbed his nose in my face and laid on top of me. I guess it was better than waking up to an annoying alarm clock going "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!" or better than the way Mike woke up Meg by banging a spoon on a pot. That was a little loud, but it got her up. We got ready and said goodbye to Mike.

Our first stop of the day was in Rothenburg. It is a small city, but it was worth the stop because it still has the old city walls completely surrounding the city. We parked just outside one of the city gates and then walked up to the top of the city wall and walked along the platform on top of the wall. We then stopped at a bakery on our way to the city center and had some donuts. Walking through the city really felt like walking back in time. There was an old covered bridge for one of the entrances to the city. When we left the city, we walked out of the main gate and then walked along the city wall back to our car. It was a good stop.

We then continued on our journey and stopped for lunch at a diner just off the Autobahn. It was called Bonny's and was basically the same as Denny's. We were hoping for German food but instead we had the choice of a cheeseburger or a sloppy joe. Tom got the cheeseburger and I got a sloppy joe (it was not sloppy and was made up of solid chunks of meat instead of ground beef like a real sloppy joe). It still satisfied us.

After lunch we drove to Dachau, the first concentration camp. It was cold and rainy while we were walking through there which only added to the experience. It was not easy to walk through those buildings and read about the site. The photographs and first hand accounts they had on display were very powerful. We walked through the entrance building (where most of the offices were), the maintenance building (where the prisoners began the registration process for the camp), the roll call ground (where all the prisoners had to assemble every morning and stand for hours to make sure everyone was there), and through the barracks (where all the bunks were located and which became very overpopulated by the end of WWII). One thing which captivated my sense of being there was looking at the trees in the old photographs and walking along the same line of trees along the dirt road to the roll call ground. We were a little rushed while we were there because they closed at 5pm. We were chilled after the walk through the camp so we sat in the car for a little bit afterwards. We then pulled out, glad that we were able to stop and experience history first hand.

Our next stop was Munich. We first had to find Rachel Greene's apartment (She went to Sacred Heart with Meg and was letting us stay with her while we were in Munich). We found her street and luckily found a parking spot a minute away from her door. Meg tried calling her to let her know we were standing outside her apartment but for some reason she couldn't get a hold of her. So Tom and I went to the front door of the apartment and decided to just try ringing one of the apartment doorbells and hope we got Rachel. I pushed the first buzzer and no one responded. Then that apartment unlocked the front door for us and let us into the apartment. Once we were inside the apartment, we had to figure out what floor she was on. We saw the apartment's mailboxes and saw her name on one of them. We were then able to figure out where she lived and she welcomed us into her humble abode. We set down our stuff, got a tour of her apartment, and then headed out for a quick tour of the city. It was about 7 and was a little dark and rainy, but not too bad. We went to Marienplatz, which is a main plaza in the city. We saw the Neues Rathaus mit Glockenspiel (the new town hall with the famous carillon which is a 260 foot tower that has a clock on it with the people who come out and dance on the hour when the clock chimes). We also saw the Atles Rathaus (the old city hall) and St. Peter's Church. We wandered around for a little while and then stopped at a nice restaurant for some schnitzel. I ordered cold meat loaf (I like meat loaf...hot meat loaf). I don't think I will do that again though. It was alright, but ketchup can only do so much.