barcelona
Last weekend, my sister and I visited Barcelona, It began rather tiring though. After a day of working at the vineyard and skipping classes shopping in Valencia, my sister dragged me along to a dance club where the rest of the students from the school were meeting. Because of this, we got back to our dorm at 5am where my sister took a nap until 6am when we had to get up to catch the train, and I was the responsible one who stayed up to make sure we didn't miss the time.
Time came and we ordered a Taxi to the train station from school, a process that usually takes, oh, 10 minutes at most from the time it is requested to when it arrives. With that timing, we were to be sure to make the train for 6:40, right?
A half an hour later, the taxi arrives, with the driver having the persona of a guy who's never in a rush and apathetic to the world around him, like Tony on his good days. Too bad trains are known for being so prompt; we arrived five minutes late and threw the money at the driver. We weren't so appreciative of the service, especially when lacking sleep. After talking with the train station, we were able to get two new tickets for the next train at 7:30 to Barcelona.
It was the first time I've ever been on a train, nothing big. Like a plane with many stops. It was also pretty empty, so I took up three seats for about 2 hours of sleep. We arrive in Barcelona; walk for about an hour after getting bad direction to our hotel. Slept again.
After actually being awake in the city and walking around for a while, I found Barcelona to be an incredibly beautiful city. I really can't describe it in terms of other cities I have been to before. Even in the city center the place is the antithesis of a generic hectic city, barely a hint of stress could be seen in the city. Every street you turn to, the architecture and ambience of the city seems to change. The most distinct thing that separates Barcelona from most other cities I've been to are the beautiful murals of graffiti present around the city. This isn't just plain vandalism, it's full-fledged art! My sister and I walked around a park that consisted of every wall, stair and bench being tagged with some notable art, what can be done with a spray can is beautiful. I'll probably post some of the graffiti at a later time when I can locate the photos taken from our trip.
I won't say anything to the people of Valencia, but Barcelona has the best food we've tried out so far. A Tapas bar in Barcelona far outweighs one in Valencia. Just the Chorizo in White Wine and Patatas Bravas I had could warrant the great difference in food quality, it all tasted so great. The kicker was the pork sausage I had that same night and the Seafood Paella on Sunday.
For much of the time I was in Barcelona, I was listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Insignificant detail, it may seem, because I bring my MP3 player everywhere, but I had the great realization that the album just got better after every listen. I got so much more out of the album after giving it 3 really good listens non-stop, the greatness of the album can't be described without just experiencing it.
We drank, met some Americans and went out dancing, all to really be detailed in another post. I really feel it should be outlined in another post about my general opinions of such social outings. I do have to say a good time was ha despite my misgivings about it, if only the train didn't leave just two hours after we were done with our activities.
Barcelona is very peaceful at night, and by peaceful, I really don't mean quiet. As I traversed the streets, several people were getting together in a percussion set in the middle of Plaça Reial while several people were around still dancing, the Ramblas cleared of street performers and newsstands started going up at 5 in the morning. Activity was still present, and it was never really a city that slept it seems, more like one that takes a nap every so often.
Walking by people near the cathedral, a person took out and lit up what looked to be a cigarette, only to have the smell of weed in the air a second later... This was about 20 feet in front of the nearest police car too, something I found rather humorous. After looking it up, it turns out Spanish law allows pot smokers to grow their own stash and consume their own drugs, while the buying and selling is still technically illegal.
I stayed up for two hours past coming back to hour hotel to pack up and make sure we were back to the train station on time. The days in this time couldn't be counted by me. Staying up for more than 20 hours at a time taking short naps when I could led me to believe everything over the course of three days was just one really long one. As a trade-off for my nerves being shot, we actually made the train this time. Sadly though, it was a full train. I was kicked off of two seats when an employee and two passengers holding tickets woke me up from my slumber. No way in hell I got sleep on the way back.
I finally caught up with the sleep yesterday, thank god.
Commentary 15:03 - Wow, for some strange reason, I find this post to be pretty incoherent as far as my usual writing goes.
Time came and we ordered a Taxi to the train station from school, a process that usually takes, oh, 10 minutes at most from the time it is requested to when it arrives. With that timing, we were to be sure to make the train for 6:40, right?
A half an hour later, the taxi arrives, with the driver having the persona of a guy who's never in a rush and apathetic to the world around him, like Tony on his good days. Too bad trains are known for being so prompt; we arrived five minutes late and threw the money at the driver. We weren't so appreciative of the service, especially when lacking sleep. After talking with the train station, we were able to get two new tickets for the next train at 7:30 to Barcelona.
It was the first time I've ever been on a train, nothing big. Like a plane with many stops. It was also pretty empty, so I took up three seats for about 2 hours of sleep. We arrive in Barcelona; walk for about an hour after getting bad direction to our hotel. Slept again.
After actually being awake in the city and walking around for a while, I found Barcelona to be an incredibly beautiful city. I really can't describe it in terms of other cities I have been to before. Even in the city center the place is the antithesis of a generic hectic city, barely a hint of stress could be seen in the city. Every street you turn to, the architecture and ambience of the city seems to change. The most distinct thing that separates Barcelona from most other cities I've been to are the beautiful murals of graffiti present around the city. This isn't just plain vandalism, it's full-fledged art! My sister and I walked around a park that consisted of every wall, stair and bench being tagged with some notable art, what can be done with a spray can is beautiful. I'll probably post some of the graffiti at a later time when I can locate the photos taken from our trip.
I won't say anything to the people of Valencia, but Barcelona has the best food we've tried out so far. A Tapas bar in Barcelona far outweighs one in Valencia. Just the Chorizo in White Wine and Patatas Bravas I had could warrant the great difference in food quality, it all tasted so great. The kicker was the pork sausage I had that same night and the Seafood Paella on Sunday.
For much of the time I was in Barcelona, I was listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Insignificant detail, it may seem, because I bring my MP3 player everywhere, but I had the great realization that the album just got better after every listen. I got so much more out of the album after giving it 3 really good listens non-stop, the greatness of the album can't be described without just experiencing it.
We drank, met some Americans and went out dancing, all to really be detailed in another post. I really feel it should be outlined in another post about my general opinions of such social outings. I do have to say a good time was ha despite my misgivings about it, if only the train didn't leave just two hours after we were done with our activities.
Barcelona is very peaceful at night, and by peaceful, I really don't mean quiet. As I traversed the streets, several people were getting together in a percussion set in the middle of Plaça Reial while several people were around still dancing, the Ramblas cleared of street performers and newsstands started going up at 5 in the morning. Activity was still present, and it was never really a city that slept it seems, more like one that takes a nap every so often.
Walking by people near the cathedral, a person took out and lit up what looked to be a cigarette, only to have the smell of weed in the air a second later... This was about 20 feet in front of the nearest police car too, something I found rather humorous. After looking it up, it turns out Spanish law allows pot smokers to grow their own stash and consume their own drugs, while the buying and selling is still technically illegal.
I stayed up for two hours past coming back to hour hotel to pack up and make sure we were back to the train station on time. The days in this time couldn't be counted by me. Staying up for more than 20 hours at a time taking short naps when I could led me to believe everything over the course of three days was just one really long one. As a trade-off for my nerves being shot, we actually made the train this time. Sadly though, it was a full train. I was kicked off of two seats when an employee and two passengers holding tickets woke me up from my slumber. No way in hell I got sleep on the way back.
I finally caught up with the sleep yesterday, thank god.
Commentary 15:03 - Wow, for some strange reason, I find this post to be pretty incoherent as far as my usual writing goes.