Date: 2008-11-02 11:52:02 Created: null
In the beginning of the summer Martin made a surprise weekend visit to our common friend Tomasz. For a limited time, as the commercials go, Tomasz is staying in Barcelona, and Martin going all of a sudden made the rest of us decide to get going too. So Ellen and I booked us some tickets, took or stuff plus Martin and stepped on a plane from Copenhagen on the respectably cold and rainy afternoon of August 31st.
We arrived at Barcelona's airport right on time and without any problems.
To celebrate this happy incident I led us straight to the wrong baggage reclaim area, giving us an extra tour of the airport and a nice southern European untimeliness. Something like that.
It turned out that the fifth person in our merry group did the exact same thing at more or less the exact same time as well. Either it's a really Swedish thing to do, or that airport could use some clearer signs and easier ways to move between reclaim areas.
Somewhat later than expected, we headed off toward Barcelona proper by train. Pretty much the entire distance between the airport and the station where we got off seemed to be under construction. Apparantly Barcelona is a pretty expansive city, and toward the airport is more or less the only free direction to go in. In any case we got off the train in the right place, waited a little while for Tomasz and then walked to his place. After dropping our stuff off we headed out for something to eat, eventually settling for some really nice tapas and finishing the evening with some beer before calling it a night.
The morning was late, but not excessively so. And after breakfast on the balcony we headed out for our first good look at Barcelona.
We started off by taking the Metro to and walking along La Rambla, possibly the most touristy street in the city. A nice walk where you kept very strict control over where your wallet was, just to be on the safe side. Once Tomasz got off work we had lunch at a nice restaurant before walking down La Rambla again and spending a few hours at the aquarium. It has one of those enormous tanks with a glass corridor running along the bottom so you can walk through with sharks on all sides. Very nice, and of course makes everyone with a digital camera snap photos like crazy. I think I took about 200 photos there ...
Just one more, okay?
Okay, moving right along ...
After that we had some coffee and headed home, purchasing some beer on the way. The general plan had been to go out, but after some beers and balcony talk and with a day of walking in our feet most of us were happy to just stay home and take it easy. We'd get another chance the next evening after all.
We slept until we woke up, and that wasn't exactly early. I think we had breakfast around noon or perhaps slightly later. Then we headed out for some sight-seeing on the theme of Gaudi.
We started out by taking the Metro and one steep street climb up to the highest point of Park Güell, where a mound/platform/hill/statue/installation topped with three crosses gave a great view of Barcelona.
From there we walked down to what seems to be the most famous part of the park, the main entrance with the serpentine bench, mosaic lizard fountain and imaginative buildings by the gates. We had some ice cream, sat on the serpentine bench and chased doves before moving on.
I first spotted Gaudi's last masterpiece, the fantastic, and still under construction, church La Sagrada Familia from the peak of Park Güell. Spotting it wasn't exactly difficult, but it was when I did so that I really started to get a feel for the size of the building. Massive doesn't really cover it.
Those aren't one-storey buildings around it.
And those aren't standard-sized cranes.
And the highest towers haven't even begun construction yet ... They say it'll be finished by 2026 or so, and I'd sure like to come back and see it again when it's finished.
I didn't even bother paying the eight euros to see the inside, the outside was more than enough. Mr M did though, and reported that it didn't feel quite worth the money yet as the whole inside is still/currently one big building site.
La Sagrada Familia is a pretty difficult building to photograph. So huge that your only options, more or less, are to either take a picture of the whole thing from far away and miss all the details, or take close-ups of various details and get no sense of the whole in the photo. Neither really feels like it does the subject any justice.
See what I mean?
We didn't stay there all that long either. Perhaps the senses got too overwhelmed. In any case, it feels like I will be able to go back and see it again a hundred times without tiring (or seeing everything for that matter). Simply incredible.
After Sagrada, a Polish store, some food and some present shopping we got back to base at around 21:00. The rough plan was to freshen up a little and then go out pubing/clubbing somewhat earlier than last night.
The first thing I did after getting back was lie down on my back on my bed.
I didn't even turn over for about three hours.
Fortunately everyone else seemed to do the same, so no-one was sitting around, impatiently waiting for the rest. Around midnight we celebrated Tomasz' birthday with some toasting and present giving and then headed for the pubs somehwere around or after 01:00. So much for being early.
We headed to a fantastically decorated place called something like "The elven forest". There were chimes, trees, little bridges and fountains, the works. We should have got there earlier, really. They closed at 2:30 or so, after which most of us took a taxi and the Devoted ones went dancing until Late.
Our last day was, unsurprisingly, even later than the past. Breakfast at 13:00 or so, after which Tomasz and Mr M went out to find a nice birthday cake while the rest of us packed a bit.
There was cake, there was coffee. It was good.
Then it was time to leave, all of a sudden. Good byes, walk, train, airport.
Then plenty more airport as we waited for the much-delayed unboarding to finish. Then eventless flight home, some more train, a quick taxi ride.
Thud. Suddenly back home again, with too few hours between myself and work.
Still trying to decompress it all.
This text should help.