Next morning we all woke up (had another time where my grandparents woke me up), and went upstairs to breakfast where we sat and looked at Caracassonne and ate up tons of food. After this we went back to the room where Ahmee told us how she'd just about gotten stuck in the bathtub last night (bathtub was really really thin). Poppy and I both laughed and then after I'd packed everything up I went and sat down in the bathtub. My hips weren't quite wide enough to block it up but it was definitely snug. I made sure to let Ahmee know that the tub was abnormally thin and that it definitely wasn't her.
Course, after this episode we needed to get on the road. I had a lot of schoolwork to get done, but I got another assignment from my Ahmee and that was to read the first section of our Spain book and to check out the section that was dedicated to Barcelona.
I did this as we were about to pass through the Pyrenees Mountains (aka: the mountain range that separated Spain from the rest of Europe and thus forced Spain to become a melting pot of cultures). As I read about how Spain is made up of different regions and that each region has it's own twist on the Spanish language I kept looking outside at the somewhat barren mountains. The road was very curvy then so every now and then I'd set the book down on my lap and just enjoy looking out the windows.
Some things I already knew about Spain were: that it had been growing economically for ages, that it was up there with Germany Economy-wise (this you can tell by the roads and the factories-they reminded me of the ones back home). I also knew that Spain is famous for flamenco dancing, for it's religion (Moors were here for ages-Muslims, and then the Christian King and Queen Ferdinand and Isabella pushed all other religions out), for it's artists and architecture, for it's bull fights, and for its people. I didn't have a general outline of the history, I didn't know about the variety of landscapes one can find in Spain, I didn't know about the Modernista architecture, I didn't know that each region had a slightly twisted (or completely different) language, and I didn't know really anything about Barcelona.
After reading up on the Ramblas (awesome street that has a variety of things on sale AND has killer street performers), the Temple de la Sagrada Familia by Antoni Gaudi, the Museu Picasso, Pablo Picasso, Parc Guell (again by Antoni Gaudi), the Palau de la Musica Catalana, the Museu del Futbol Club Barcelona, and about the home of Salvador Dali (tribute to Travis in Munich).
Once done reading I put the book to the side to look out the window because at that point we were along the coast and I loved looking at the sun reflecting off the water and at the desert-like roadsides. I didn't get started on work because we were about to stop for lunch. When we found a restaurant we pulled into the parking lot (had a large car index) and went inside where we were asked if we spoke English or French. We told our waiter English and throughout the meal he spoke mostly English to us (while Ahmee and I adjusted to Spanish). Unfortunately I couldn't eat too much of my food. Every time something (other than water) hit my mouth my stomach started rolling like I was going to throw up. After a certain point I stopped fighting with my stomach and simply sat there with half my food on my plate. I tried again a couple minutes later only to have my stomach fight back more to the point where I had to run to the servicio because I was afraid I was going to literally throw up.
We all finished our drinks and started heading out of the restaurant, which had become hazy due to the cigarette smoke. Ahmee and I had a good time asking our waiter if he had a map of Barcelona. When Ahmee asked this in English he looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I don't speak a lot of English." At this I perked up and said one word: mapa. He told us no he didn't and we went on our way.
We stopped once at a gas station to grab diesel, to remark at the (Catalonia - why its not Spain!) Catalonian language (combination of French and Spanish), and to grab an excellent map of Barcelona. As we made our way through the town we all tried to soak in the language and the environment. I say tried because we soon were faced with something completely different. We got to drive into Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain. This made Poppy and Ahmee shutter and incredibly nervous because every time we go into large cities we get frustrated because we do not know the streets.
Luckily the hotel we wanted was the Hotel Gran Via, or the Hotel on the Grand Via (Main Street). We drove up this street (me remarking at the splendid architecture and the variety and the modern buildings-it's been a while since I've seen glass buildings), looking along both sides for this Hotel. After a certain point it was decided that we needed to change directions, so we went down a side street to go around the block.
That's the great thing about Barcelona. It is done in the grid system so that we can maneuver like this. Other ancient cities do not work this way. If you pull off the main street you could very well end up on the other side of town due to one-way roads when traveling through old towns.
Once we got back to the gran via we changed our minds and decided we needed to go to the right. This was something of a mistake. We pulled out and started to go down the center. We had no idea at the beginning that this center was reserved for people going the OTHER direction. We quickly found out. Luckily we didn't run into any headlights and there wasn't too much traffic. All of the cars were down the street at the stop light so Poppy was able to do a very fast doughnut to turn us around. As you can imagine this slightly scared us. I laughed and said that the same thing had happened with Momma, Emma, and me at night and the cars had been much much closer. I also made Ahmee laugh when I told her what my reaction to that had been ("Lets do that again!"-I was sick as a dog at the time and on medication). We calmed down more when we went down and around another block so we could head down the gran via going the other direction. This time we spotted the Hotel. Ahmee and I jumped out and went in to make reservations while Poppy drove around the block one more time. We put the car in the parking garage (I was scared stiff going up that tiny ramp where the cars were virtually blind to all walkers when they reached the corners), took our things up to the room, and then headed out to go find Chapelas Tapas (was recommended) and to go walk past El Corta Ingles to Las Ramblas.
We didn't find the Tapas bar, even though we walked down four blocks. We then walked past glitzy shops, past restaurants that were empty, past El Corta Ingles, and down Las Ramblas.My first reaction when I saw Las Ramblas was, "Oooooh wow. That's a lot of people." There were tons of people walking down this street. It was easy enough to spot other tourists. These were the people who were walking with their jaws open, these were the people who stopped multiple times to "activate" the statues and to get pictures with them, and these were the people who often moved in large groups. It really was a circus there. You might be wondering what I meant by the statues that could be activated. I said earlier that Las Ramblas is famous for it's street performers.
There were magicians, puppeteers, and actors here. LOOK HERE The actors would paint themselves up and put on costumes and stand there, looking quite like a statue. When you dropped money into their hat/box/guitar case the statue would come to life. Most of these statues mimed motions and played with the audience. I payed to see the Elephant come to life. Funnily enough the man who ran the elephant had stepped away. He had to put on his costume again and when he did one girl went up and got a picture with him giving her a kiss on the cheek. When I went up I wanted to get a fun pic too. He looked bashful when I went up. I blew him a kiss and he shook his head. He made a motion that asked, "Would you like to ride on my elephant?" I shook my head no. He looked terribly sad and I chuckled and did a pout lip at him, imitating him. He grabbed my scarf and pulled me over. I yanked my scarf back, shook my finger at him and shook my head. He pouted and fake-cried. I pouted again and patted him on his back, still shaking my head at his questioning gaze. I then waved goodbye to him (by then quite a crowd had gathered) and I walked away. Apparently while my back was turned he made a nasty face at me because the crowd burst into laughter. When I turned around he was stroking his hair and acting all prissy. I just smiled, put my hands on my hips, and shook my head again at him. I had wanted a picture, but I'd ended up acting far too much to hold still long enough for Poppy. Ahmee said that she wished she'd recorded it, it was great. Only thing bad about it was that when he yanked on my scarf he kinda scared me, from then on I stayed a good distance away from the live-statues.
We continued down the Rambla, laughing at the funny actors, gawking at the purple ballerina, questioning the statue that didn't move when people put money in (his eyes were red so I don't think he even blinks), and gazing at the things that were for sale along the Rambla. There were animals for sale in one section (lots of birds-you could even buy pigeons), there were flowers in one section, and then at the end of the Ramblas there was art. I didn't look at these too long because I really wanted to keep moving. At the end of las Ramblas we reached a large pillar with Christopher Columbus at the top (pointing in the wrong direction I might add- he needed to be turned a little bit more in order to be pointing West).
The best sight we saw here wasn't Columbus though. It was the other tourists who were scrambling onto the backs of the lions at the base of this pillar. It was HILARIOUS. One woman was trying to sit on the back of a Simba-esk lion and had three people behind her trying to push her up onto his back. She never made it up there but she and the rest of the group had a good time laughing at it, which enabled us to laugh just as loudly. It really was great (I didn't even try to get on the back of the lion, I'm too short). Then we went back down Las Ramblas as the evening turned to night and the city lights burst forth. Once we got close to La Corta Ingles we were met with some wonderful sounds. Several musicians had taken root along this sidewalk and all of them were playing away. On the corner opposite La Corta Ingles we stopped to listen to a very bohemian band who had set up a stage and had their instruments hooked up to amplifiers. My favorite had to be the clarinet player, when he did a solo it brought forth a surge of clapping. This band was lively and got the audience to sing and dance along with them. We stood there listening to them for maybe 10-15 minutes before Poppy and Ahmee said it was time to find a place to eat.
As we walked toward our hotel we found the tapas place we'd been recommended to visit. When the man had said it it sounded like Chapela. The spelling was entirely different: Txapela. Just goes to show how different Catalonian is from Spanish.
We didn't eat at the tapas place though, it was far too crowded. Instead we opted for The Owl, where it contained multiple languages on the menu and where the waiters were all in uniform. Then we went up to the room where I received some disheartening news on the computer.
I received news from my AP US History teacher (and my US Government teacher) Mr. Owens that the grading period ended Wed. and that I needed to complete a Unit study guide and test for US Government and I needed to complete two study guides for AP US History and two tests for AP US History. I also knew that I needed to do some writing.
When I told Ahmee and Poppy this Ahmee looked at me and started working out a plan of action with me. At first she said we'd sight-see the next day and then after that I'd spend half of the day Saturday working and half of the day Sunday working, later it was decided that I should just work half the day all three days just to make sure I caught up with everything. I didn't look forward to spending ages in that hotel room when I could be out in fantastic Barcelona, but I knew it was going to be necessary if I wanted to keep from getting zeros.
I went to bed that night slightly worried.
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