Mi familia esta aqui!: My family is here!

After a super-long flight...and a newfound (pretend) hatred for the city of Frankfurt due to their airport, my family arrived...very tired. Jess is afraid of flying and didnt sleep a bit so she missed out on most of today, but I managed to drag Mom and Dad around a bit to the areas near their awesome Aparthotel...or rather the apartment/loft that they are renting for the week. We grabbed some bocadillos at the fast-food chain called Bocatta, where Mom and Dad got to try out not only our typical meal, but also tried out Patatas Bravas, a common tapa. SOOO GOOD. haha.

Clearly they needed to see Placa de les Glories...because they are living so close AND it has been the focus of my life for the past few months. We took a long walk around it and I showed them where the market, aka my site, is. They already seem to really appreciate this city and it makes me really excited!

I decided to take them up to Sagrada Familia, just to give them some sense of the major tourist and architectural attractions of the city. Along the way we marveled at the Bullring, for which Barcelona and the rest of Catalunya are not known for.

Apparently, though, against the popular culture of the region, bullfights do still take place here.

Mis padres a la Sagrada Familia!

After a bit of exploring and an intro, we returned to the apartment so Mom and I could get food in case there was mass closure of stores for Holy Week, and to bring the hermanita some food. When Jess finally got up, she Mom and I headed into Ciutat Vella to see the sights.

One of my favorite places at night has to be Ciutat Vella; the narrow streets filled with music from street performers and the mood lighting make me feel 100s of years away from present day.

The home of the Bishop(?) is connected to the Cathedral and is a great example of ancient residential architecture in the area. The main entry to the house leads not to the interior, but to an exterior courtyard meant for ventilation. It still maintains lots of charm with its vegetation and calming fountain.

It was a long day...and then some Sabres. The fam is finally wide awake and I feel like I've been up for 48 hours!

Absenta, que perfecto: Absinthe, how perfect

It was one of those days, and it seemed only appropriate for the kids to try absynthe, the true Euro-way...flamin' hot!

Ben sets up the Absinthe, spoons, sugar, and water

Balancing skills

Light sugar on fire...

Add sugar to Absinthe...

Don't burn yourself...

Just add water!

Just WATCHING this little trial makes me believe it is not an experience worth trying! I'm not opposed to the pyro show that it presents, though-Jimmy would have been amused.

Noche de peliculas!: Movie Night!

B. Rock made some fantastic Tacos...which are Mexican, as opposed to Spanish--but they were still awesome...mmmmmmmmmmm!

Of course we moved the couches, etc. around once again, and grabbed a mattress to accomodate our ridiculous number of male guests for the show! Ben set up the projector and his computer...

Everyone settled into their seats...

007...Espana style

Brandon vino: Brandon came

The weather and sunset were great tonight, which lead to great shots like this reflection in La Fira windows

ftns along the street

LA FIRA--never ceasing to amaze

The boys in silhouette...Bob Brandon Ben Tom

One of many levels of the ftn

Looking down at Placa Espanya

Dinner along Parallel

Doin the dance--at Sunset...best CUA night out so far!

Nights like this one are what I will remember from Barcelona

Sacando fotos en el distrito 22@: Taking photos in the 22@ District

A sweet fountain at the beginning of the walk.

A park, designed by Jean Nouvel?



Rambla in 22@, and sculpture

Walking on the Rambla in this up-and-coming neighborhood

The pride of Catalunya

Amazing disparity between the main rambla and the areas within a block of it

The Barca means of protesting the building up of the few neighborhoods where young people can currently afford housing.

Group chat with Eugenia

A christian church built for athletes during the '92 Olympics...I love the layers, curves, and planes

brand new facade designed for plant growth over time

After class, Felipe, Ben, Rob and I went to get cafe and bocadillos with Eugenia. One of the best convos so far this year just about housing in Barcelona and social situations and schools. It was nice.

Sagrada Familia--No puedo creerlo: Sagrada Familia--I can't believe it!

So...basically Prof. Vidal has mad hookups and got us a tour of Sagrada Familia, masterpiece of Gaudi (which seems like an impossible project, not even half-way completed and already approximately 100 years in the making! Ridiculous, right?! Our tour guide is none-other than the project architect himself...NOT Gaudi (who was hit by a tram and killed in the early 1900's I believe.

Yes Mon....we're going to the top on a rickety little elevator!

AWWWW-PROFESSOR VIDAL!!

Breathtaking

Ceiling detail...up close and personal (constructed with that "Catalan Technology"-we aren't really sure what this phrase referred to...but it kept surfacing during this tour)

Sean and Vic

Tom and Bri

No words...and never enough pictures

Cece, our professor--super excited about the tour...just before realizing she has to go down the mountain of stairs we came up...and she's afraid of heights...

Ceiling detail--hundreds of ft. above the floor of the church

Yeah...we were backstage at the big show...

BCN '07--SAGRADA FAMILIA

Buscando las cosas en la lista: Looking for the things on the list

After day 1 in Bilbao...we all were a bit baffled as to what we should do with our full day...hadn't we already seen everything?!

Apparently not.

A map we got from the front desk at the hotel had a list of more than 40 sights to see in Bilbao, so needless to say Victoria, Tom, and I set out to see everything on that list...and I'm pretty sure we got all but 2 of them...the following are just a few of the cool places we saw :)

After grabbing food at a Buffet...Fresh Co (which I recognized--we have them in Barca, too), we met up at the train station for our 10-hr overnight home...pictured below is

all of us except Felipe, who came home tonight. Sean went home this morning, and Bri, Rob, and Ben are staying to see the movie 300 before they head home tomorrow...

Felipe and I are off to have a snoring contest...apologies to anyone within 20 feet of either of us :)