Ramble On

¨Gonna ramble on, sing my song ... Gonna work my way, round the world...¨

Not only is it a great Zeppelin song, it is also a fantastic street in Barcelona! La Rambla is right downtown and is a famous street in Barcelona. It is a 1km long ever-changing theatre of action, colors, sounds, smells and entertainment. There is a wide promenade down the middle which acts as the steage for all of the characters on the street – sketch artists, buskers, living statues (which I was amazed by!), tourists, and pickpockets, just to name a few! Tom and I noticed that it is seemingly divided into sections with birds and pets being sold at the top (if this seems random to you, it did to me as well), flowers in the middle, and sketch artists at the bottom. I am quite sure that I could spend hours on this street and never grow bored! (And I did in fact make a point of walking down it every time I was in the area).

I have to make a point of mentioning the incredible architecture in this city. Over the course of my 12 days there, I spent hours just wandering through the streets admiring the beautiful buildings. Somehow even the most mundane apartment building looks incredible, with the narrow wrought-iron balconies framed by wooden shuttered doors that fold open to let the breeze in. As Barcelona is also home to the famous architect Gaudi (if you are not familiar with him, take a minute to look up his stuff as it is just amazing), his work is evident all over the city. One of his most famous buildings is Sagrada Familia (take a look at Tom´s blog for a description of our visit here!) as well as Casa Mila or La Pedrera, which means ¨stone quarry¨, as the facade appears to be carved out of rock. There is not a single straight line in the building, as all of the walls have an undulating shape and are surrounded by ¨light chimmneys¨in the middle, resulting in every room in the building having access to natural light, either from the chimney or from the windows to the outside – what a concept! Even the panels of the doors in the apartments were of frosted glass, so as to maximize the amount of light that can pass through. Definitely my kind of place. The rooftop terrace was so creative as well, with odd shapes projecting all over, all covered in the colourful tile mosaic that Gaudi is famous for. Casa Batllo is another one of his famous buildings, as well as Parc Guell, all of which I posted pictures of….

Unfortunately my journeys with Tom came to an end when he left Barcelona on Aug. 10 to head home to Ottawa. We both wished he could have stayed longer, but we saw a alot of amazing things, and have many great memories of our time here in Spain. This now marked the beginning of Phase II of my trip - 5 ½ weeks travelling alone. I stayed on in Barcelona for 8 days, as Sarah (great friend from Queen´s ) was kind enough to offer me the use of her room while she was in Chamonix for the weekend (thank you SO much again Sarah!). This was fabulous as I really had time to not only see everything I wanted to (and more!) I also felt that I really got a good feel for the city. It seemed like when Tom left he took the hot weather with him, as the remainder of my time in BCN it was rainy and cool! (Definitely not what I expected from this city!).

A few other highlights from my time in BCN – the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. There is a picture of this posted – it is a HUGE fountain that has lights that are choreographed to classical music. The fountain can produce so many different images by varying where the water comes out, how it comes out, and how much comes out, that you feel as if you are watching a ballet! It was just beautiful. Such a relaxing way to spend an evening – watching the fountain with a bottle of delicious and cheap wine alongside you! Another highlight of my time was a day trip I made to Figueres which is 90 min north of BCN by train, and the home of Salvador Dali. I went to his museum there, and it was by far my favourite museum of the trip thus far. Again, if you aren’t familiar with his work, take a minute to check it out as I can guarantee you that you have never seen anything like it! A lot of his work is the epitome of the ¨face or a vase¨ illusion. As I walked through the museum, I felt as if I were in a feverish dream, a feeling that remained with me throughout my 2 ½ hours there. I found that with a lot of his work I had to let my eyes adjust to see past the initial distraction of the shapes and colors and comprehend the true image beneath. The building itself is so unique – brilliant burgundy in color and covered in, what I couldn’t help but think, looked like rows upon rows of unbaked peanut butter cookies! Top that off with figures reminiscent of Academy Award trophies lining the top of the building, and you have the Teatre Museu Dali.

One last thing, as this is getting long…actually two more things, quickly! I had a very lucky day, of being in the right place at the right time, as I happened to stumble upon a huge festival – Festival Gracia that was taking place in BCN. In the Gracia neighbourhood, all of the streets were decorated, with things hanging above, and all along the sides of the street. Each street had a different theme, and there was everything from star wars to pac-man to a library to fairy tales! Incredible the amount of work that went into this. I also managed to show up at the precise street at the exact time when the huge parade to kick off the festival was starting! I usually do not have this kind of luck! It had many traditional Spanish dances and music, but definitely the two most entertaining were the castle builders – a large group of people that do different formations, trying to get as high as possible, with the smallest child scrambling fearlessly to the top! (For Queen´s people reading this – I just about fell over when I saw their first formation which was EXACTLY like the greasepole, minus the pole!! I guess we are not the only crazy ones around…) The other act was these people wearing fire proof suits and carrying long poles with firecrackers on them that ran and danced crazily through the streets waving the poles frantically – what a display! (see the pictures of this festival below…)

Finally, I took another day trip to Montserrat – a monestary that is high up in the Montserrat Sierras. Although the cathedral and basilica were nice, the highlight of the day was definitely the hiking I did there. The mountains were unlike anything I had ever seen before – very rounded and bulbous in shape. Much different from the sharp angular lines of the Rockies! The view from the top was spectacular – 360 degrees for as far as you could see – wow. Pictures to come on this later…

PHEW this was way to long – congrats if you have made it this far! I am in Santiago de Compostela right now, and am leaving for Portugal tomorrow. More to come when I have a chance…..

¡Hasta Luego!

P.s. if you are wondering about the random picture I posted of a guy with ugly hair – it is one from the ¨Particularly Bad ( or good?) Mullet Portfolio¨ that tom and I had been compiling…just to give you an idea.