Three days in Barcelona - Antoni Gaudi, Gothic & Barcelona FC.

Barcelona is an interesting place and i thought i should jot down the places i´ve been to before i forget. More about it later on when i am back in hall and when i start uploading the pictures.

I arrived on the 21st March 2007, Wednesday and waited for Fiona to turn up in the hostel for a good ten hours. She turned up at almost midnight and by then, it was too late to do anything but i managed to capture a glimpse of Casa Batllo and got myself excited about visiting the place the next day. I went to do a little bit of shopping and got myself a lonely planet Spanish book. One must learn Spanish in order to fully immerse herself into the Barca culture right. :)

The first day of our outings were spent visiting Gaudi´s architectural works... amazing architectural works. We paid about €13.50 to enter Casa Battlo and another €4.50 to enter Casa Mila. We then went to Parc Guile and visited the Segrada Familia which is not even halfway to completion but amazingly beautiful from the outside. It´ll probably be completed in 2089 and by then, i am probably dead because i am certain that our life expectancy won´t be reaching 100 anytime soon. We met another friend from Canada called Sophie and went around with her on the first day. I am very intrigued by Antoni Gaudi. His designs were so carefully thought of and is so practical. I see a stark difference between the Gothic areas and his modern designs. Parc Guile was lovely cause it sits at the top of the hill and we managed to capture the Barca city. I love the park and his fireplace design. So pretty! Oh! We also visited the Mango outlet here. Everything so cheap cheap i was going crazy.

The second day was spent just walking around La Rambla and the Gothic areas of Old Barcelona. We saw the remains of the Roman grounds after excavation. We were pretty distracted by the four storey Zara along the way and so spent about an hour there just trying on clothes. We bumped into three other Singaporeans from our hostel who are undergraduates with the University of Bristol. We went lunch with them eating Tapas (a dish with three mini side dishes). I love the potato omelette so much. Then, we all had this brilliant idea of watching the sun set. We headed to the beach only to realize that 1) the sun sets in another direction, 2) it is too cold to eat the €1 worth of strawberries we bought at the market and 3) rain should be expected in the late afternoon.

Third day was fun but i was a little under the weather and poor Fiona was trying her best to lift my spirits by making corny jokes. I appreciate it. :)
We went to Barcelona FC and paid €11 for entrance to the museum and stadium. Managed to visit the press room too... you know, the place where the man of the match will say things like ït was a good match and i´m happy to be selected MOM¨. We sat at the VIP table at the glass place at the very top of the stadium and managed to touch a lil bit of the grass on the field. That was exciting.

We then proceeded to eat near the port. Price was pretty steep but the restaurant was good. Cannot complain although i was silently wishing i could afford the mussels the next door neighbours were having. We visited the 1992 Olympic village and stadium after that and watch the sun set- this time in the correct direction. We took the Metro back and were resting in the hostel when Parco, Fiona´s Spanish friend called. We went out again for a tour around old Barca and later on, took our dinner in this lovely little place which served nothing but the best salad in the world. I love it!

That´s it. I´ll be heading to Sitges tomorrow and possibly will watch Cirque Du Solleil if all goes well. If not, I should be resting in the hostel. It is not a good feeling to be ill during the hols.

I should be uploading the pictures by the 4th April when i get back to hall. I am pretty excited about that.