barcelona.

Barcelona, or Bar-ceth-lona, if you want to say it the correct way, which invovles pretending you have a lisp, is quite a wondeful city. Home to Picasso and the outlandish architecture of Gaudi, there is lots to see just by walking around. My friends and I seem to have a knack for getting lost, which meant we spent most of our time trying to find our way back, stumbling upon some cool building or neighborhood, and then miraculously ending up where we had planned on being (the wide streets and smooth sidewalks were a welcome change from Rome's cramped cobblestoned streets during these treks). We quickly realized though that few people speak anything but Catalan, which made for lots of hand gestures and enthustiastic nodding, but only added to our slighty eccentric, but very enjoyable weekend in Spain.

Lovely Park

We stumbled upon this extensive park on our last day in Barcelona while hunting for churros. Not only were we successful in finding the most delicious churros made fresh from the inside of a truck but we also found a park that had everything from a rowboat packed lake to a filming of darth vadar invading an ice cream stand.

Gothic Quarter

 Street Scenes

Typical Pose.

Barcelona seemed to house some of the most random art work and architecture that I have ever seen in one city. You would pass unassuming building after unassuming building and then suddenly stumble upon a street, house, or balcony that screamed "I AM DIFFERENT!"

Las Ramblas

Known as the Champs-Elysees of Barcelona, Las Ramblas is a long stretch of a street, lined in trees and flanked by expensive shopes. The fun lies in the middle pedestrian pathway that's home to elaborate street performers who will pose with you for a few euros. There are also bird markets, flower markets, and candy markets galore making for an entertaining stroll through the middle of Barcelona. But watch out for pickpockets. Even more so than Rome, they seem to be everywhere. Oh, and if a little old woman comes up to you and points at her eye it means the person you were just refusing to buy flowers from was trying to rob you. Good to know.

Bird Stand

Market

This market was located off of Las Ramblas and was a complete sensory overload. There were stands of fruit, meat, fish, candy, chocolate, eggs, and smoothies! (a wonderful find considering they are non exsistent in Rome) We ended up spending a good hour walking around the stands watching kids carry in baskets of ostrich eggs and old woman hacking at animal carcasses. Yum.