Barcelona

Now THAT was a cool country. So far I have loved every country I have visited for different reasons and I love Spain because it is so alive and colorful! It was a beautiful city with so much detail as we walked around on intricately designed streets with different stones, rocks, and a lot of mosaic. It made me want to do mosaics again! So this is what I did...
Friday we climbed up this mountain I guess you could say called Montjuic I believe. We could see the entire city and the Mediterranean sea which was quite spectacular. There was an old castle on top that we walked around on. There was also this beautiful waterfall on the mountain too full of palm trees around it. A lot the area reminded me a lot of Balboa park in san Diego. yea san Diego--SDSP 2004!! we slowly made our way down and stopped at the site of the 92 Olympics which was pretty cool to see. I have to say that the stadium really isn't as big as I thought it would be. It is kinda like the Price is Right Studio--looks a LOT bigger on tv. We kept climbing down and stopped to watch people take horseback riding lessons. we were making our way to the magic mountain fountains only to find they are closed this time of the year. we were sorta bummed about that. we headed back to the hostel which was right on La Ramblas which is one of the main streets. Our hostel owner then took us out that night at 11:30. we went to a bar first until about 1:30(in the morning) and then we headed to this club and were there until 4 in the morning. The whole night didn't cost me a penny because I didn't drink and we got into the club for free because our hostel lady knew the doorman. I danced the night away trying to avoid some of the guys trying to freak on me. There were some pretty cute spanish men though, I do admit that. Some spanish guy asked to kiss me. His mannerisms definitely reminded me of Mr. Bean--no joke.
The next day we got up and went to park Gueill which is covered with mosaic which made me want to take up mosaics again. we saw a beautiful view of the city again.we walked all around there for about 2 hours before going over to Sagrada Familia. I think that is how you spell it It is a beautiful church that in my opinion looks like Ariel's castle from the Little Mermaid except with Jesus statues and minus that one thing on top from the scandalous movie cover. you know what I'm talking about?? After that, we rested up for the night before going out to see Flaminco dancers. I think that is what they are called. when they first came out, there were two guy musicians with the michael bolton hairdo(we don't care how long you grow it, we know you are bald on top.) one dude started playing on this plain black box. it reminded me of pandora's box, but instead of a box of secrets, it unleashed these crazy drum sounds. they also sat there and clapped a lot. i always wanted to start a clapping band. ....after seeing 2 shows of that, we tried to go to this club, but it was like 8 euros to get in so we then went to this travelbar which was really boring. I decided to head back to the hostel and ended up staying up until 3 talking to a Swedish girl. it was awesome!!!
on our final day, we went to the gothic cathedral only to find every inch of it was covered with scaffolding. thank goodness for postcards. after that, we went to the beach. we ran into the Mediterranean which was super duper cold, but we got some pics and then got dressed. we layed around on the sand for awhile before heading over to this other park. I think it had the word citadelle in it or something. Regardless what it was called, it was beautiful!! there was a little pond to rowboat which was cute. there was this huge fountain area with two staircases that we laid around on while I smoked a cuban. I'm serious. I walked around smoking a cuban. it rocked!!! we then saw the arc de triomfe there before grabbing dinner at a cafe. we had our final pitcher of authentic sangria before heading on the plane.
our plane ended up getting delayed and I didn't get home until nearly 3 in the morning, but it was worth it. i loved it. For those of you going there for summer project, I am soooo excited for you. I know God has big plans for you all!! I'm praying for your support raising!