Good Ole Spanish Time

I was awake at 7:30am the Sunday I was in Spain. No, I was not getting myself all dolled up for church, I was getting myself ready for bed. Spanish time runs as such: the morning begins around 11 or so and goes until lunch, at 2:30. The afternoon begins, not after noon, but at 3:30 when lunch is done. A siesta might take place (just half hour naps? Not how I roll). Dinner will be served around 8, 9, or 10...depending when you can get around to it. Leisurely enjoy the time after dinner with friends, go out after midnight, and return after 6am, when the discotheques close. For anyone who knows me, this is my normal schedule only if you push every back by about 4 hours. But, when in Rome, stay out til 7am...and have the time of your life doing it!

After a *very* full day of sightseeing, I went to my friend's friend's apartment where there was a celebration and a very serious football watching party. You think you can't get a guy to pay attention during an American football game? Try that on Spanish boys watching a Barca game. I could have done backflips naked while singing "King of Spain" and they wouldn't have blinked an Iberian eye. It was definitely a cultural experience, and I even explained soccer to someone else! Wahoo, earned my Catalan (street) cred.

When the game was over and meat in various forms was eaten by all but me, we headed downtown to a discotheque. At 2am. I have to say, this was a crazy fun club. Everyone kept warning me "this is a...different type disco...it's just cause the birthday boy wanted to go here, it's not the norm!" Um, I think it SHOULD be the norm. I was cracking up at the songs they played at this rock-themed venue. Everything from Cher to Nirvana to the Beach Boys to an Offspring song I haven't heard since Freshman year (nah nah why don't you get a job!) to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was unlike any mix of songs I had ever heard, and its unpredictability and randomness made me smile and I danced the nigh- er, early morning away.

Sunday early afternoon we got back to sightseeing. Montjuïc is the other main mountain of Barcelona, and it's such a beautiful place from which to view the city! Plus there is the Palau Nacional (National Palace), which houses the national museum, the Olympic Ring, where most of the facilities built for the 1992 Olympics stand, and a CASTLE, for which I am a complete sucker. The castle is quite significant to the area, as it was a fortification for the city in the 17th and 18th centuries, held prisoners until the time of Franco, and was the site of the Catalan national leader's execution by the Franco government during the Spanish Civil War.




Also, while we were at the castle there was some sort of Latin American dancing competition going on...I don't know, I just took pictures/video...




Sunday was a calm evening on the pier, where I saw both Christopher Columbus and Ben & Jerry. Very authentic Catalan.




(Free Cherry Garcia on Nov 24 to anyone with the last name "Garcia"...which is pretty common in Catalonia!)

Monday I was fortunate to see a real Barcelona gem- the Catalan Music Palace. Built between 1905 and 1908 by a contemporary of Gaudi, this palace is an unbelievable building. The architecture, the interior design, the rich symbolism and beautiful decor...it's unbelievable. You're not allowed to take pictures inside, but someone else did so here ya go:


Really, if you're ever in the area this building is a MUST see. There's a focus on world music, not just Spanish, and the muses sculpted on the wall come from all different cultures and legends, and the hall receives acts of various kinds of music from all over the world.

Speaking of Gaudi, here is his house and another he designed:



My last stop before having to leave this lovely city was the beach. While too cold to swim, it was peaceful and invigorating to walk along the coast on a sunny day, knowing all too well I was soon headed back to the land of precipitation and grayness.






And thus ends my Barcelona travel log of 2009. Hopefully I'll get to visit in the new year, when it's warm enough to enjoy the beach fully while escaping a rainy Belgian spring. And if there's a game on, no one will notice if I skinny dip!

xoxo
kw