Saturday, March 28, 2009
Left the hostel around 10:00 and went to the market again for breakfast and lunch supplies. It was cold and raining which really put a damper on the day.. We did a little souvenir shopping but after the third time of being harrassed by the men working in the shops we gave up. Kristen called and said they´d be a little later than we had planned to meet up with them so we headed back to our hostel because crawling back into bed sounded amazing. On our way through the little mall we went into a store and both ended up buying sandals :) We had a little rest then met up with the group. We took them to the market then strolled down Ramblas. There were street performers, pet stands, music, lots of strolers, etc. Unfortunately we went the wrong way and ended up past the Plaza on one end of Ramblas instead of the shore near the Colombus statue. Oops.. We jumped on the Metro and were glad to have a rest and warm up a little. We got off on a stop farther away than we meant to so we had a nice, long walk along the beach. We saw the apartments that were built to house the athletes and their crews during the Olympics which was pretty cool. (Not like Spain though .. again) The beach really big and sandy so I can see why this would be a pretty popular spot in the summer. We finally came to the port where the Aquarium and the Colombus monument are. People in Barcelona claim that Colombus arrived there or departed from there on his voyage to the Americas but I don´t believe it for one second - we saw the receiving room in Sevilla that was decorated with Peruvian gold and was where the King and Queen saw him off. I´ve also heard that he left from Lisbon. Geographically it just doens´t make sense to leave from Barcelona. And on top of the statue he´s supposed to be pointing out to sea at the Americas .. East from Barcelona? Nope, he´s actually pointing toward Lybia. Duh.. There are so many rumors about this Colombus guy.. for example his remains. There was such controversy over whether or not his body was actually returned to Spain not too long ago that they did a DNA test. Since both the Americas and Spain claimed to have them, the test revealed that the remains in Spain were truly his. Buuut, now there are rumors that they only sent back 1/2 of his body so the other part is still in the Americas. One other thing before I finish this rant - how can you translate his name? Christopher Colombus, Crístobal Colón, Something in Catalan Colom, Cristophe Colon. The worst part? He was actually Italian. Names and proper nouns just shouldn´t be translated. Who gets to decide whether a city gets changed: Londres or Lisboa or Seville versus Granada, Chicago, and Paris? Ok I promise I´m done. After the Colombus monument we found some little stands in an outdoor craft market where I bought a scarf. (This was at the end of Ramblas that we were supposed to be at in the first place) I´ve been looking for one forever and finally decided on one that I liked. We jumped on the Metro again and took it to Montjuic, the ancient Jewish district where the Olympic stadium is. We tried to get there but A) it was already closed B) it´s not lit at night and C) and the guy told us it would be an hour and a half walk. I think I´ll just buy a postcard and claim that I´ve seen it. Don´t tell! After asking for directions and following a security guard outside and into the plaza, (he told his partner he had to show us the way but was really looking for an excuse to go outside and smoke. We didn´t need that much help) we walked up past the Palacio de Congreso toward the Art museum. We found a good spot on a ledge and sat on plastic bags from lunch and waited for the magic fountain show. It sounds kinda weird but it was absoultely beautiful! At nightfall there´s tons of fountains all lit up with one main fountain in the middle that´s what I would choreographed with colors and music. I was really impressed! At the top of the art museum there were even beams of light fanned out. I tried to get some pictures but I´m not sure I really captured how cool it was. We all got on the Metro and planned to meet up after dinner. Taylor and I ate at this really cute café on Ramblas. I had 1/4 rotisserie chicken with house salad (lettuce, corn, peppers, olives, cucumber, tomato, oil and vinegar) and french fries, and Taylor had tortilla española with Greek salad (peppers and cheese) and something else. There were little marigolds on each table :) We came back and I took the longest, hottest shower that felt amazing! When I came out Melissa had called and said they were too tired to come and we were secretly glad we could crawl in bed instead of going out in the cold rain again. I was sad I didn´t really get to say goodbye but I´m sure I´ll talk to them on Skype after their trip. They´re going on a two week voyage around the Mediterranean, Sweden, and Paris then they go to Ireland with their program!
