Barcelona!!!

So I actually didn't really care about visiting Barcelona... meaning it wasn't on the list of cities I really wanted to see. But there were really cheap tickets there and I was invited so I figured, why not.

And Barcelona is my new favorite city in Europe. It's so pretty! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

So Friday at noon we jumped on a subway and met up at the train station. From there we got on a 1.5 hour train to Memmingen. The trick with our tickets (which were 40 euro round trip) is that we were flying RyanAir, a discount (very discount) airline that as a result flies out of the neighboring German city. Luckily we could use a Bavaria ticket for the five of us so it was only $5 more to get to Memmingen. From there we took a 20 minute bus to the airport and from there we boarded our flight. Only two airlines fly out of that airport, Ryan Air and another discount German airline. Baggage is an extra hefty fee so we were all packed in a backpack for carry-on. We walked out to our airplane and bordered. The flight was a little less than two hours and it was only the landing (I'm pretty sure planes aren't supposed to bounce... we're pretty certain it rocked up on one wheel...) was a little concerning. The flight itself was okay though. We flew over the Catalian mountains (if that's indeed what they are called? Mountains without snow!!! Such a concept for us since we're only used to the Alps!) Step two of course was that we landed in Reus and we had to get to Barcelona. This meant another 20 minute bus ride from the airport to the city of Reus and from there another 1.5 hour train to the city of Barcelona. So we finally got in around 10:00 at night having started travelling at 12. Of course taking into account that we paid an entire 60 Euro round trip for all forms of transportation to and from the cities and we were a group of 5 and had the time... it was probably worth it. Anyway, we spent the next 20 minutes wandering aroudn Barcelona trying to find our hostel. See, they don't really believe in street signs there it turns out... at least not around the main train station. We finally did find it. It was an amazing place. The lady at the front desk took us to our room, brought us a lamp becasue people were sleeping, gave us a map and circled all the nearby bus/subway stops and all the main attractions and how to get there and pointed us towards a grocery store down the street. IT WAS OPEN AND IT WAS 11:00 BY THEN! Points for Barcelona right there! We bought frozen pizzas and warmed them up in the oven and ate a very much awaited dinner before going to bed.

Saturday we woke up to rain with the promise of sun in the afternoon so after the hostel supplied breakfast we grabbed our towels and suits and hopped onto a subway to Sagrada Familia, the "temple of the holy family". Wow... that's all I can say. The most impressive church I've seen in Europe. It's a work by Gaudi, if you don't know, and started back in 1882. Gaudi is long since dead but they're still working on the church. Expected completion date is currenty 2030. We'll see. Still, really cool. Completely unlike anything else I've ever seen. We paid the 9 Euro to go in because it was raining still and even though the inside is largely unfinished, the part that was was absolutely amazing. There was also a museum inside and the workshop where they were building the plaster models. We also saw the guys working on the church.
By the time we left it was starting to clear up. We took the subway to the Arc de Triomphe (but the Spanish one...). We weren't sure the actual significance (the downside of not having a free tour...) but it was really pretty. In fact everything is really pretty. The architecture is breathtaking. You could literally take a picture of every building there because they were all so unique. There are also some pretty impressive fountains scattered everywhere and palm trees! We walked through a gorgeous park to get from Arc de Triomphe to the beach. It's where the zoo is among other things. We got to the beach just as the sun came out. Surprisingly, however, there is absolutely no fast food on the beach! Just really expensive restauruants. But you'd think there'd be a place to grab snacks or something within 5 minutes of the sand... there isn't. We wandered for quite aways before we found Spanish Doners. Very different than the German ones but also really good. After lunch we lounged on the beach for the next 6 hours or so. The water was perfect- cold at first but by the fifth wave at your feet (I counted) comfortable enough to wade farther. I put sunscreen on every two hours... anyway. It started to get chilly around 7 so we headed back up to our hostel in search for dinner. We found a nice looking place that enticed us with tasty fruit milkshakes advertisements. The guy looked surprised when we said we were there for food. Apparently most people just use it as a bar. He informed us that it was Columbian food and asked if we were looking for Spanish food. We said sure and sat down. He looked confused. We realized that they are not the same. (Okay, we actually knew that but the question was awkwardly phrased) Anyway, the food was really good as was the service... and the fruit shakes. It was like a milk based smoothie with fresh fruit. So tasty! After dinner we were pretty tired so went back to the hostel to rest for a bit and shower off the sunscreen/sand/salt water. That's when I noticed my sunburn. Actually 4 of the 5 of us were sunburned. I wasn't happy. So much for the use of sunscreen. The hostel nicely provided aloe though... apparently it happens a lot. Later that night we ended up talking to a Canadian who was in our room and he suggested we head to the beach if we wanted to do something that night. We did... and took him with us. What a good idea! There were a fair amount of people there for it being midnight but it wasn't overly crowded and it was a lot of fun. Very different but very cool.

Being out late meant we slept in the next morning but then came the sight seeing. We started out at Guell Park, which is the park Gaudi designed. It's amazing. There's so much to see. Mosaic benches wraping around the center square, columns made of tiny rocks holding up a walkway, a mosaic dragon fountain... mosaic is the key theme. From there we hit the other two Gaudi sights, the two houses Casa Batllo and Casa Mila. The first is famous for looking like it's made out of bones and the second has some famous chimneys on the room. We also photographed several dozen buildings along the way. These houses led us straight to La Rambla, the main street of Barcelona. That was also an experience. It was the tourist strip obviously. There were all sorts of street preformers and street vendors. One was selling chipmunks! (along with birds and gerbils/hamsters/mice) The street was pretty cool. We walked all the way down until we hit the harbor and then walked along the ship yard and back to the beach. It was around 4:30 by that point but the sun had come out and it was gorgeous again so we hung out there for a bit (with more sunscreen!) We ended up leaving around 8 and heading back up to a place we had passed along the way that was selling paella an apparenty very Spanish food. It's usually rice with seafood but Ashley and I opted for the veggie one instead. We supplemented with sangria, which is another Spanish special. It pretty much tastes like cold Christkindlmarkt wine I decided but it's basically red wine spiced (usually with oranges and other such fruits it turns out) and something like sprite which takes the edge off the wine. It's basically fruity wine punch, I guess. Anyway, the food was very tasty. When we left it was 10. We wandered past a Deutsche Bank (the main German bank which literally means "German bank"... in Spain... we were amused) and then took a subway to the Magic Fountain.

I'd read about this online and I have to say it pretty much ties with the Sagrada Familie for my favorite event there. It plays every half hour from 9 to 11 and basically it's this huge fountain that has a "magical" show. Music plays and the fountain starts spurting water in all different forms (like a water show) and changes colors. It was so mezmorizing. We got there at 10:40 so we caught the last half of the 10:30 show and then stayed till 11:30 when it finally shut off. It was amazing. I have a video in the case that I can manage how to post it...

Anyway, we wandered back to our hostel after that and headed to bed. Monday was another travel day. After breakfast we checked out of the hostel and headed back to the train station. It was pretty much the same. We left at 11. Train from Barcelona to Reus, bus from Reus to airport, plane from Reus to Memmingen (with a little safer landing this time... and we flew over the French Alps instead!), bus from Memmingen airport to city, train from Memmingen to Munich. We got back to Germany and stepped off the plane... First off, did I mention that it was 80 degrees and gorgeous the entire weekend? (minus the first 3.5 hours of 70 and rain that morning...) Well, we stepped off the plane in Memmingen and instantly grabbed for our jackets. It was 50 degrees and raining quite heavily. We considered turning around and getting back on the plane...
Anyway, by the time we got to Munich it was a downpour but Stammtisch was starting in 30 minutes so we figured we might as well go get free food... and we did. Which was a good choice becasue it was Japanese and it was basically a curry rice. The second best Stammtisch ever (Hans said after the American Thanksgiving) and it had more spice in it than I've eaten in the last 10 months in Germany. I'm pretty sure any Germans who had been there were dying. Anyway, we grabbed seconds and then went home. The week since Barcelona has continued to be in the 50's and raining... but I've heard about your midwest heat wave and no, I don't want to switch... I do want to take my sweatshirt off though, I mean it is almost July...

But anyway, the weekly life is picking up as the countdown ticks... I'm home 6 weeks from last Thursday... which means less than 6 weeks from today!!! My exams start in 3 weeks, my papers are due then... basically I'm starting to remember that I'm actually in school here... riiiight... So the Friday/Mondays off are turnign into intensive work/study days.

I did take advantage of a student housing sponsered excursion to a brewery tour in Munich today. The brewery is mostly local (as in not known world wide but it was Hacker-Pschorr in case you do know it). It's been around in Munich since 1500 something so it's pretty long standing. It was interesting to see. We got a tour by the brewer owner and it was neat to hear the German beer brewing bit since I'd toured A&B last summer.

But yeah, I think the travelling is probably at a rest for a while. Next weekend is the 4th. Turns out there will be a lot of guests in town since a lot of family members are coming to visit and I might have two girls I know from U of IL (who are on the Darmstadt summer program) coming to stay with me for the weekend. We're trying to organize an American barbeque to celebrate. But for now...

Pictures:
Front of Sagrada Familia (Passion side)
Back of Sagrada Famlia (Nativity side)
Inside the church
The ceiling
The windows
Us in front of Arc de Triomphe
Guell Park
The rock columns
Casa Battlo
Casa Mila
An awesome sandcastle with both water flowing out of it and fire burning within it
Me with palm tree!

Video: Magic Fountain