Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barcelona. Show all posts
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Mojito, mojito, mojito?
Mojito, mojito, mojito?
Our third day in Barcelona (july23) we got up bright and early (allowing us to actually get some cold milk at breakfast!!!) and headed straight to the sagrada familia. I've seen a lot of cool churches since the start of the trip, and I've appreciated each one, but I didn't expect to be blown away by this one a much as I am. It's unfortunate that the whole outside is under construction ( they're adding spires I think) because ive seen photos on postcards and it's jaw dropingly stunning. Plus, you can easily spot it above the other buildings from look out points in the city, and it would've been nice to get a shot of it finished (I guess I'll be back in 2030... Or more likely it won't be finished even until after that). It's so gorgeous inside because there's windows so strategically placed that so much natural light floods the room. I couldn't pull my eyes away from the stained glass windows, and my camera failed to capture just how beautiful the colours are. We paid the extra 3 euros to take a lift up one of the spires. There was a small bridge linking two of the towers and a lot of spiral steps with some landings that you can go peek out of again. Needless go say, baye and I went nuts with the photos on this one!
After the sagrada we first visited the fcb football stadium (that means soccer) They were charging way too much for a tour of the stadium, and there were no upcoming games we could go to so we didnt stay too long. after this we walked down la ramblas, a street similar to shopping streets in Paris, but with a wider variety of things to buy as it's a market all the way down the middle. We saw flower shops, paintings, whole pig legs, and even a market pet store that had CHiPMUNKS in cages, among other cuddly things. We followed la ramblas back to the beach and spent the remainder of the afternoon there before setting off to find a good restaurant for tapas. With recommendations from my 'let's go student guide book', we found a place called bar bitacora. I ended up getting an apple walnut salad and a typical Spanish of deep fried hot peppers. It was really good!!!
On our last day in Barcelona, we hiked up montjuic to see the castle at the top. The castle's moat is now all gardens, and the cannons are fake, but it overlooks the harbor, the beach, and the entire city. We could spot all major landmarks that we use/see when getting around, such as the dildo building, the sagrada church, and giant pieces of art around the beach. On the way backdown the mountain we passed the old Olympic stadium too. The hike took a good part of the day, so we got back to the beach relatively late (330pm), prioritizing our books and suntans over a couple other things we wanted to do, such as browse around the streets of the Bari gothic region or go back to parc guell (because we didn't tour the whole thing the first time, it was so hot)
We went for dinner at a place recommended by bayes parents, called cerveceria Catalunya, where the line was an hour long and we arrived before it opened at 8pm. Everything coming out on the dishes to other tables looked so incredible I thought I'd never decide (my family will know it's true, I dont make up my mind easily), but there was a slightly more expensive option to order a sample of the tapas, so I got that. The plate comes out and it's got the deep fried hot peppers in the centre, and four seafood dishes around the outside. Gulp. I've never been much of one for seafood, so it was lucky I was so hungry (we've been living off the bread rolls they serve at breakfast). I ate prawn, clams, tempura little fishies, and something similar to a crab cake, very heavy. I ate it all. :) and liked it.
The plan was then to go to free salsa lessons at a bar back near the beach. It took us forever to find because our maps can't fit the words onto every tiny little side street, and this place was down a dimly lit alleyway, just like my travel book described. When we finally found the bar called sanga, she said the lessons started at 1130, not 11 like we thought, and we had to leave by 1130 since the metros and busses stop running at midnight, so no salsa for us :(
Met some cool people in our room, but we left at 7am on the 25th so we barely got to chat much. The new Aussie girl had her phone stolen at the night club that night... Very glad I've been so paranoid of pick pocketers!!!
In fact, we had a close call two days earlier, where I watched a shady looking guy walk too close to people. He quickly realized baye was a bad target cause I had her back so closely, but I watched him follow one of our new London friends soon after. In the crowd if people exiting the metro, he walked right close behind and swing his arms in sync with our friend in front I'd him. His fingers would stretch each time until I called for joe's attention and tried to get between the two of them. close call.
Adding to Paris, Barcelona makes the list of places I felt there just wasnt enough time to see it all, and I know I'll be back :)
Monday, July 23, 2012
Vamos a la Playa!
Arriving in Barcelona, Baye and I haven´t stopped singing our hearts out as we walk down the street. We have done this often in other cities, but it´s become more of a habit in Barcelona for some reason.
First night we arrived we met our roommates. How awkward. This is the first time we´ve had roommates we actually really met. (In Toledo we had people who didn´t talk much and\or arrived in much later than us and slept in so we didn´t see them). These roommates are exactly opposite. They never stop talking to the point where you don´t have any personal space. Upon arrival (at 10pm) they tried to convince us to go to Barcelona´s biggest club: Razmataz. Well we´d already heard about it when we checked in: 3 floors, 5 rooms with different music, oh yeah... and fits 5000 people (and sells out on Saturday Nights). THANK YOU, BUT NO THANK YOU. Baye and I thought that did NOT sound fun to be in such company, on top of a $15 euro cover, and tried to politely decline.
WELL these guys thought that since we weren´t going, they would just change their plans and predrink in the room with us (did we say we were even going to have one drink? No.) and we´d met for a whole 3 minutes by this time. We hadn´t even figured out our lockers, and they haven´t stopped talking yet, and we say we want to go get something to eat. So they offer to come with us. At first we welcomed the opportunity for them to show us where to go, but very very quickly regretted it. They took us to McDonalds (I´m only half joking... it was in a shopping mall, so we found a place that sells pasta which was better). They had both been a little in the bottle, which just eccentuated their chattiness, and the main topic of the evening as we walked: the brightly lit office building (in blue and red), shaped like a dildo. Yes, quite phallically shaped indeed. We laughed at first mention, but 20 minutes of analyzing it´s similarity to a penis or a turd gets tiring.
After food we eventually found other people in the hostel´s common area, where the common area has a bar and the night happened to have organized kareoke here (let me also add that the hostel is 12 floors high, with 10-12 rooms per floor, and 6 beds per room... there´s a LOT of people in this hostel, so the common area was bumpin). While trying to figure out the ticket machine to buy drinks, we met two blokes from London, who were getting in one last hurrah for the weekend in Barcelona before their work gets hellish for the London Olympic Games. It was their last night and day in Barcelona, but Baye and I were so glad we met them. They were more mature and already knew the city, and didn´t want to go to Razmataz either. and were HILARIOUS. (I will tell you more about the "dead pan" skills they taught us later...) We also quickly met a guy fresh out of the US military taking a few months before back to school, and a number of girls from switzerland, though they weren´t as easy to understand. As a group we decided to try for the clubs along the barcelona beach, but upon arrival we quickly decided that none of us actually wanted to be in a club, and decided to just sit on the beach.
Funny sales guys would be around LITERALLY every two minutes to try to sell you ¨ice cold beer¨. We had a LOT of laughs making fun of these guys, cause they would take a can out of their plastic grocery bag and touch it to your arm or your face to show you just how cold the beer was, as if that would change your mind as to whether you wanted some. We did buy some and the people kept coming by anyways trying to convince us even though we had many unopened cans already. Hilarious. We started playing jokes almost... even though they would advertise: "ice cold cerveca, ice gold beer" (x200 million as they walked along), we asked "is it cold?" (yes, yes, yes) "how cold?" (*touch it to your skin*) and things like this. Entertained us for hours, along with the many couples along the beach to which we could commentate on how absolutely public their love making was (in a David Attenborough manner, of course: "The male now climbs on top of the female and continues to carress her. At first attempt, she pushes his hand away from more inappropriate areas, but after a few more tries she becomes more submissive. The onlookers appear to be ignoring as if this is typical behavior for the Beaches of Barcelona". Funny, but also a little disturbing.
Our next experience of the night (this is still the Saturday we arrived... or rather, it would´ve been past midnight and technically Sunday the 22nd at this point) we decided we were hungry. A local said that there was a 24 hour McDonalds and that was our only chance at this point, so we set off on foot... unaware that, when we arrive, it´s only the drive thru open, and the two security guards are insistant that you MUST have a motor vehicle to place an order. WELL. We made friends with two guys in a jeep, and ordered (for 4 people at this point) EIGHT cheeseburgers. They wouldn´t stop laughing at us. But they did. They ordered for us and even gave us the change.
We got little sleep, but got up early the next day for sight seeing (figuring we could sleep on the beach). We went to the Parc Guell, which is at the very top of a hill (it´s ok, theres actually a lot of outdoor escalators here) and walked around the outdoor designs by Gaudi. We also sat on the world´s longest bench here (it´s all curved and tiled). Here, we tested our new knolwedge of "dead panning"... we had been taught the night before, and it´s actually SUCH a laugh. It could be considered like the next "planking", but to be honest, if it catches on it definitely won´t be fun anymore, because it´s the prank on people that makes it hilarious, not the actual photo itself...
To Dead Pan:
1) Ask someone to take your photo (because there´s two of you and you want to have a photo together at this great site).
2a) They agree, and you pose.... but you do NOT smile. Infact, you stand (or sit) very stiffly, and make the most straight face you possibly can.
2b) Do every possible thing you can to not smirk or burst out. More difficult than you´d think. One of the recommended strategies: Imagine your pet just died... but at the suggestion usually you start laughing. Hard to get both people in sync for the dead pan.
3) The person taking your photo is SO awkward (obviously wishing they never agreed to take the photo,confused as to why you´re not smiling) but obligingly count down and click for you.
We´ve forgotten to do this since our new friends left, but plan to continue the legacy at major sites throughout our trip. (Photos to come probably by the time I reach Florence, July 27th)
It was stupidly hot at Parc Guell so after a few decent dead pan photos, we walked all the way back down and took the metro to the beach, and spent the rest of the day there. We had our suits, but no towels... so we had to pay to rent one of the beach loungers, and Baye and I split one.. that was a little bit uncomfortable, though doable. The ocean was really nice, and compared to the heat at Parc Guell, there was a strong breeze at the ocean and it was actually pretty cool. But it´s not exactly a place to really relax... same as the beach at night, there are guys walking around selling drinks, but they do it in a very particular rhythm and tone every tone every time (different than the typical newspaper sales in North America) and it is really funny to mock:
"Mojitoooos, Mojitoooos, Mohitos?"
"Mojitooooos, Mojitooooos, Fresh Cold Ice Cold Mojitos?".
I will never EVER get this out of my head. I must mock it for you sometime when I get home.
At about 7pm we left back for the Hostel to shower up and get food, at which point we parted with our new friends cause they flew back to London for work.
PS: The title of this post is actually a techno song that Baye has on her ipod, the Spanish words meaning "Lets go to the Beach". Weve been singing this since we got here... and figured it was an appropriate title after having been to the beach twice in 24 hours :)
First night we arrived we met our roommates. How awkward. This is the first time we´ve had roommates we actually really met. (In Toledo we had people who didn´t talk much and\or arrived in much later than us and slept in so we didn´t see them). These roommates are exactly opposite. They never stop talking to the point where you don´t have any personal space. Upon arrival (at 10pm) they tried to convince us to go to Barcelona´s biggest club: Razmataz. Well we´d already heard about it when we checked in: 3 floors, 5 rooms with different music, oh yeah... and fits 5000 people (and sells out on Saturday Nights). THANK YOU, BUT NO THANK YOU. Baye and I thought that did NOT sound fun to be in such company, on top of a $15 euro cover, and tried to politely decline.
WELL these guys thought that since we weren´t going, they would just change their plans and predrink in the room with us (did we say we were even going to have one drink? No.) and we´d met for a whole 3 minutes by this time. We hadn´t even figured out our lockers, and they haven´t stopped talking yet, and we say we want to go get something to eat. So they offer to come with us. At first we welcomed the opportunity for them to show us where to go, but very very quickly regretted it. They took us to McDonalds (I´m only half joking... it was in a shopping mall, so we found a place that sells pasta which was better). They had both been a little in the bottle, which just eccentuated their chattiness, and the main topic of the evening as we walked: the brightly lit office building (in blue and red), shaped like a dildo. Yes, quite phallically shaped indeed. We laughed at first mention, but 20 minutes of analyzing it´s similarity to a penis or a turd gets tiring.
After food we eventually found other people in the hostel´s common area, where the common area has a bar and the night happened to have organized kareoke here (let me also add that the hostel is 12 floors high, with 10-12 rooms per floor, and 6 beds per room... there´s a LOT of people in this hostel, so the common area was bumpin). While trying to figure out the ticket machine to buy drinks, we met two blokes from London, who were getting in one last hurrah for the weekend in Barcelona before their work gets hellish for the London Olympic Games. It was their last night and day in Barcelona, but Baye and I were so glad we met them. They were more mature and already knew the city, and didn´t want to go to Razmataz either. and were HILARIOUS. (I will tell you more about the "dead pan" skills they taught us later...) We also quickly met a guy fresh out of the US military taking a few months before back to school, and a number of girls from switzerland, though they weren´t as easy to understand. As a group we decided to try for the clubs along the barcelona beach, but upon arrival we quickly decided that none of us actually wanted to be in a club, and decided to just sit on the beach.
Funny sales guys would be around LITERALLY every two minutes to try to sell you ¨ice cold beer¨. We had a LOT of laughs making fun of these guys, cause they would take a can out of their plastic grocery bag and touch it to your arm or your face to show you just how cold the beer was, as if that would change your mind as to whether you wanted some. We did buy some and the people kept coming by anyways trying to convince us even though we had many unopened cans already. Hilarious. We started playing jokes almost... even though they would advertise: "ice cold cerveca, ice gold beer" (x200 million as they walked along), we asked "is it cold?" (yes, yes, yes) "how cold?" (*touch it to your skin*) and things like this. Entertained us for hours, along with the many couples along the beach to which we could commentate on how absolutely public their love making was (in a David Attenborough manner, of course: "The male now climbs on top of the female and continues to carress her. At first attempt, she pushes his hand away from more inappropriate areas, but after a few more tries she becomes more submissive. The onlookers appear to be ignoring as if this is typical behavior for the Beaches of Barcelona". Funny, but also a little disturbing.
Our next experience of the night (this is still the Saturday we arrived... or rather, it would´ve been past midnight and technically Sunday the 22nd at this point) we decided we were hungry. A local said that there was a 24 hour McDonalds and that was our only chance at this point, so we set off on foot... unaware that, when we arrive, it´s only the drive thru open, and the two security guards are insistant that you MUST have a motor vehicle to place an order. WELL. We made friends with two guys in a jeep, and ordered (for 4 people at this point) EIGHT cheeseburgers. They wouldn´t stop laughing at us. But they did. They ordered for us and even gave us the change.
We got little sleep, but got up early the next day for sight seeing (figuring we could sleep on the beach). We went to the Parc Guell, which is at the very top of a hill (it´s ok, theres actually a lot of outdoor escalators here) and walked around the outdoor designs by Gaudi. We also sat on the world´s longest bench here (it´s all curved and tiled). Here, we tested our new knolwedge of "dead panning"... we had been taught the night before, and it´s actually SUCH a laugh. It could be considered like the next "planking", but to be honest, if it catches on it definitely won´t be fun anymore, because it´s the prank on people that makes it hilarious, not the actual photo itself...
To Dead Pan:
1) Ask someone to take your photo (because there´s two of you and you want to have a photo together at this great site).
2a) They agree, and you pose.... but you do NOT smile. Infact, you stand (or sit) very stiffly, and make the most straight face you possibly can.
2b) Do every possible thing you can to not smirk or burst out. More difficult than you´d think. One of the recommended strategies: Imagine your pet just died... but at the suggestion usually you start laughing. Hard to get both people in sync for the dead pan.
3) The person taking your photo is SO awkward (obviously wishing they never agreed to take the photo,confused as to why you´re not smiling) but obligingly count down and click for you.
We´ve forgotten to do this since our new friends left, but plan to continue the legacy at major sites throughout our trip. (Photos to come probably by the time I reach Florence, July 27th)
It was stupidly hot at Parc Guell so after a few decent dead pan photos, we walked all the way back down and took the metro to the beach, and spent the rest of the day there. We had our suits, but no towels... so we had to pay to rent one of the beach loungers, and Baye and I split one.. that was a little bit uncomfortable, though doable. The ocean was really nice, and compared to the heat at Parc Guell, there was a strong breeze at the ocean and it was actually pretty cool. But it´s not exactly a place to really relax... same as the beach at night, there are guys walking around selling drinks, but they do it in a very particular rhythm and tone every tone every time (different than the typical newspaper sales in North America) and it is really funny to mock:
"Mojitoooos, Mojitoooos, Mohitos?"
"Mojitooooos, Mojitooooos, Fresh Cold Ice Cold Mojitos?".
I will never EVER get this out of my head. I must mock it for you sometime when I get home.
At about 7pm we left back for the Hostel to shower up and get food, at which point we parted with our new friends cause they flew back to London for work.
PS: The title of this post is actually a techno song that Baye has on her ipod, the Spanish words meaning "Lets go to the Beach". Weve been singing this since we got here... and figured it was an appropriate title after having been to the beach twice in 24 hours :)
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