Week 5 Barcelona continued...

I got back from Germany last night, so I'll start again with Barcelona!

I've been taking pictures of organs in the churches that I visit.  This one is from Cathedral of Santa Eulalia.  It was completed in about 1450.  There was a crazy Christmas market outside this church.  I actually like crowds, but this crowd was way too densely packed for my liking!  I didn't even take a photo, I was too preoccupied with getting out!

I like this translation error on the back of a bus.  Aren't there a few English speakers around to proof-read their major add campaigns?!!

I am also chronicling the bike-friendliness in some European cities.  This is just one part of the bike parking-lot at a subway station.  Barcelona also has TONS of those bikes for rent all over the city - and lots of people of all ages use them. 

Now for the Gaudi section of this blog!

Parc Guell

Band playing in the park, (Mananers) I bought their CD called High Every Day.  They were fun!

More Parc Guell

Casa Batllo.  This was around the corner from where I was staying.

 Casa Batllo

Casa Batllo

Casa Batllo at night - amazingly beautiful!

Sagrada Familia!  Gaudi's major life's work, still under construction (notice the cranes!)  This is the most incredible building I've ever seen.  I cannot say AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, INCREDIBLE strong enough or often enough, so I have included a bunch of pictures from here.  You just have to imagine me saying AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, INCREDIBLE in my most animated way!

Sagrada Familia front entrance.

Notice this guy on the picture above at the bottom right.

 Inside Sagrada Familia - WOOOOOOOOOOW!

The ceiling of Sagrada familia.  The pillars are like tree branches.

The sanctuary.  Is Jesus hanging from an illuminated yellow parasol?

Close-up of the organs.

More incredible branch pillars.

Little people along the ceiling of the church.

 The back of Sagrada Familia

 Close-up of the back.

Closer-up of the back!

I am standing in one of the high towers.  Looking down you can see that there will be a huge spire coming up from the middle of the church - still under construction.

I took many many more pictures in Barcelona, but I've got to stop somewhere!  Barcelona is a super beautiful city, and I bet it's really fun to live there.  I miss El Corte Ingles, siesta, the super cheap, but good wine and talking Spanish!

Week 5 Barcelona

I've had a great past couple of weeks.  Barcelona was super awesome.  It is a gorgeous city and I met lot of people and talked lots of Spanish!  I even bought a book in Spanish (I've been reading the Harry Potter books - thanks a lot Paige! - and I can't put them down!  So, I finished book 2 while in Barcelona, so I bought book 3 in Spanish!  Now I'm already half way through #4!).

I think I'll let the photos do the talking.  I apologize for the huge number of photos, but there's just so much to see!

A random street at night (near La Rambla).  On Dec 6, 8 and 12th, there are some sort of holidays in Spain, so people were out in force! 

 My new Italian friends, Nello and Marco Antonio

This bull ring is being made into a mall (though it's taking years and years) because bull fighting is now illegal in Catalonia.  Ole!!

A dragon on La Rambla

Me and the oldies hangin' in the boulevard park.  Notice the roses behind me? 

A typical lunch spot in a 'plaza' somewhere.  This restaurant was responsible for the worst garlic breath I've had in 11 years.  Patatas alioli.

The Barcelona post office. A little nicer than Vancouver's!

A large man in a funky outfit.

I don't say about this building.  It's a tad phallic.

Tibidabo.  This place has the most amazing 360 degree view of Barclona and the countryside surrounding it.  However, my camera ran out of batteries after taking my first picture, which is below:

The church at Tibidabo.  The first and last picture taken there!  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarg!

I've run out of time to finish this section.  But I will continue it after returning from Germany.  I'm leaving tomorrow, (Dec 21) IF my flight isn't canceled - there have been steady cancelations since snow fell 3 days ago!!  I'll be hanging out with Mette Table in Berlin and then going to her parent's place for Christmas.  Yay!  Mulled wine here I come!

Week 5 - I MADE IT OUT OF ENGLAND!!!!

I arrived in Barcelona, checked into my hostal, took off my long-johns, took out my sun glasses and am about to go out for lunch.  FINALLY!

Week 4 3/4: another delay

Once again, my efforts to get to Seville have been thwarted!  This time by striking air-traffic controllers in Spain!!  So, I arrived at Gatwick this afternoon to mayhem at the airport with hords of Spaniards (and Portuguese) and me surprised that our flights had been cancelled (thanks Ryanair for the 2 hour warning!).  So, I called up my 3rd cousin Rachel who lives near Gatwick airport and she, Paul and their very cute 6 year-old daughter Sandy, kindly picked me up and brought me to their place!  So, here I am in Sharpthorne for the weekend and going straight to Barcelona on Monday morning.  I'll have to go to Seville another time to see my Spanish buddies.  I must ammend my previous comment about "a few inches of snow" because they actually received 18 inches of snow in a very short period of time.  Paul said that there have only been 2 other times in his 45++ years that there has been this much snow in England! 

Near Gatwick airport on December 2, 2010

Pictures of the family, village and cats to follow.

Week 4½ - delay

Well, it appears that this country doesn't know what to do when it snows.  Gatwick airport has been closed for most flights for the past several days!!  So, I have not gone to Seville yet.  I've rebooked for Dec. 4th, and hopefully they'll figure out how to move snow from one spot to another by then!

In the mean time, I did some walking around yesterday:

Big Ben and British parliament

 Parliament

Parliament

Westminster Abbey

 Taken from a bridge in St. James Park

 Buckingham Palace

 The Guard

A cool looking church near Victoria Square 

Trafalgar Square.  I had a nice chat with a Chabbadnik.  He gave me a Chanukia, so Paige had her first Chanukah experience last night.  I sang her every Chanukah song I know!

I also spent a good long time in the Portrait Museum.  It's so impossible to get through those museums.  maybe today I'll go to the National Museum (it is directly behind me in the photo above, and beside the Portrait Museum).  

I can't get away!!  I am shocked at how many Starbucks's there are in London.  

It's almost as bad as Vancouver!  

This is a big chain of "fast food" restaurants.  It's my favorite place to eat lunch.  I'll take a picture of the food inside so you have an idea of what it's like.  I had an avocado, chicken, pesto, basil and lettuce sandwich on some yummy whole grain bread yesterday for 3 pounds!

Week 4

The absolute highlight of this week was seeing A-Ha in concert.  They have been touring for 3 years, and Saturday was their last show ever before splitting up the band (other than at home in Oslo), so they were quite nostalgic!  I got a great video of them singing, but the file seems to be too big to download onto my iPhoto.  If anyone knows how to do it, please e-mail me!

Me, Sarah and Sam at A-Ha.  We're clearly not having fun!

I hung out one day with my London family, pictured below:

Me and Edwin

Linda and Gillian

Gillian and I

The Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill was very very busy.  I admit that I bought a few things there!   The streets are very beautiful on the way - it is a 25 minute walk from my place.

 Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill

A street in Notting Hill

I also did a bit more sightseeing:

Near Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Shlomit and I went to see Pricilla in the cheap seats.  It was amazing, but I will pay more next time to have a full view of the stage!  Who designed that ridiculous theatre!?

I took a CPR course yesterday in preparation for working.  Tomorrow I'm off to Spain and France for a couple of weeks, so I likely won't write in the blog until I'm back on December 14th.  Hopefully Gatwick airport will be open tomorrow... this country shuts down if there's a few inches of snow!