February 24, 2013:
It was a fairly cold but sunny day so I opted to start by doing a bit more aimless wandering in La Rambla. This led me back to the bridge to Barceloneta and the beaches where I found people lounging in the sand wearing winter clothing and an excellent band.
I couldn't decide if I like their music better, or the fact that they used a suitcase as a drum and were all dressed hipster chic. They're called Gadio and apparently they play quite frequently here (they're practically a tourist attraction).
While waiting in line to take the Teleferic over the harbour in Barcelona to Montjuïc castle, I met Max, an exchange student from North Carolina, studying in Madrid. He had planned to come to Barcelona with a friend for the weekend, but his friend cancelled at the last minute and he decided to come anyway. He is a linguistics major and we had plenty of things to talk about in terms of language differences and cultural differences between North America and the European countries where we currently live. We also talked about the education systems between the US and Canada (and education in general).
One of the most ironic moments for me was this:
Max - So, in the US we have this stereotype about all French people being arogant...
Me - In France, they have some pretty interesting stereotypes about Americans as well.
At least he recognized it was a stereotype.
The castle boasted some excellent views just before the sun was about to set and we walked down the mountain toward the Plaza d'Espanya stopping at several different
miradores (look-outs) on the way.
Max told me that once the sun set, the Plaza d'Espanya was generally known for putting on a light show in the fountain. It's known as the Magic Fountain. It was starting to get cold, and the time when it was scheduled to start came and went with no sign of a show (or a crowd, which is generally a good indication) so we opted instead for some hot chocolate and churros, a Spanish specialty. The cafe we found was a bit sketchy and the chocolate, which is generally just melted chocolate, ressembled real hot chocolate. Even I could tell it was not a specimen worthy of representing the tradition, but Max gave me the name of a chocolate and churros restaurant in Madrid before we parted ways. I returned to the hostel and settled in to do some homework.
February 25, 2013:
I had a few hours before my flight to Madrid after check-out from the hostel so I set out to find the remaining Gaudí architectural sites: Casa Batlló and Casa Milà (known locally as La Padrera which maens the Quarry). The line to get in to Casa Batlló was long and I wasn't sure if I wanted to pay to get into both buildings, so I took some photos and continued up the road.
I was soon realize what a seriously cool dude Gaudí really is. I spent the rest of my time at La Padrera, deciding to actually go in, and recognizing the incredible vision he had when he constructed buildings. He focussed his work around the practical things, like ventilation and lighting and functionality and then made things more interesting.
These were the chimneys located on the roof.
The outer walls of the building were not required for supporting the structure of the building, which mean that walls could be put in more interesting places (rooms could be shaped based on the needs of the people living there and they could be moved around) and that the outer wall of the building could be built however he wanted.
Every aspect of the building was done for aesthetic as well as functional reasons. For the family that commissioned in the building (the Milà family), he even designed new furniture. Overall, I'm glad I went in.
I stopped for lunch before catching my plane to Madrid.
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