I heart BCN!

Hola! It has been difficult to get access to the internet, so I apologize for not updating more often.

Ross & I spent the last for days in the incredible Barcelona! We arrived after an exhausting travel day, and headed straight to our hostel, located on one of Barcelona´s busiest streets, La Rumbla. La Rumbla is also a disgusting tourist trap, so our first impression was not so . . . pleasant. But (over a pitcher of Sangria), we decided to make the best of Barca. From then on, we managed to avoid La Rumbla, and had an incredible time.

There is so much to do and see. There is so much incredible architecture and public art. The public spaces are so enjoyable, and heavily utilized. Of course we checked out Gaudi (Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera and Parc Güell), with my favourite being Parc Güell (if you don´t know what I´m talking about, look it up). The mosaic ceramic work along the winding perimeter bench was so lively and inspiring. I loved it!

We also checked out other architecture. Torre Agbar kind of looks like a bullet sticking out of the ground, but when you get closer, it´s colourful mosiac skin (covered by a second layer of glass) is so cool. We don´t know much about this building as we saw it when it was closed, but I will find out more once we get back. Trust me, it was hot.

The parks and public spaces are so interesting. We wandered to Diagonal Mar, a waterpark on the east end of town. As we sat in the shade, we could hear a whistling sound, and chimes, like an xylophone. We glanced over and saw they were these interactive art pieces which you stepped on to make music. We played on these for awhile. They might have been for kids, but we´re pretty immature, so it was a blast.

The other highlight was the Joan Miro museum. It might have been my favourite gallery experience to date. The space was designed specifically for the abstract expressionists art, and it's treated with such respect. There was an outside balcony, with all these hidden sculptures. You would walk around a corner and find one of his weird sculptures waiting for you. I kept laughing out loud, cause they seemed like strange animals.

The biggest highlight was probably the beach. It stretches for miles, and was packed full of people. Even though it was so large, somehow Ross & I managed to enter right into the old naked fat man part of the beach. We kept walking, cause we clearly didn´t belong in that club. The Mediterranean ocean was so warm, it was only slightly cooler than the air. It was quite salty, so we didn't really swim as much as we floated in the waves. We were there for hours, and wished we could do it every single day.

Barcelona has all these outdoor escalators, which are so awesome. To get to Parc Güell, it should be quite a steep climb, but isn´t bad at all thanks to the escalators. Ross and I couldn´t get over the experience of leaving a Metro station on an escalator and riding up into the sunshine and open air. So Barca!

Also, you can´t tell from photos, but Barcelona stinks. It has pockets of foul smells. Like, you´re walking along, and suddenly you think you´ve walked directly into a toilet. Just when you can´t take it, the air is fresh again. This happens about every 4 minutes.

Most of the places we really enjoyed we found out about in the Wallpaper guide for Barcelona, a gift from Tyler & Claire. (Thank you. It was well used, and unfortunatly ruined from the rain in Paris.)

We took an overnight train from Barcelona last night, and are now in the quaint city of Sevilla. (Even though the population is 700,000 people, it feels like a small town.) The streets here are so narrow, I can't believe cars can drive on them (not North American cars, anyway). This city is known for bull fighting and Flamenco dancing. We´re only here for two nights, so hopefully we will see at least one of those (and I'm not sure about the bull fighting.)

Photos will come in September.