(This was actually written last night but I accidentally deleted the second portion and had to retype it this morning - sorry if there are typos but I was running out of patience!)
Hola! So of course I'm finding the time to update this now, with my first Spanish test tomorrow morning. Oh well. I have studied for most of the day so I think this is a well-deserved break.
Anyway, last week I mentioned going on a daytrip outside of Barcelona to Penedes and Sitges -it was probably one of the greater daytrips I've taken in my life - we started the day at a champagne-only vineyeard, spent the middle of the day at the beach in Sitges, and ended the trip at a champagne and wine vineyeard. I don't think it gets much better! The exclusively champagne vineyard was Codorniu vineyards - as you can imagine they were quite serious about their cava.
They took us on a lovely tour of their museum and storage facilities, all which were designed by a semi-famous architect, whom I can't remember the name of, of course. The storage area was basically like a giant batcave for cava ("cava" spanish for champagne, literally means "cave") - you couldn't even possibly wrap your head around how many bottles of champagne this place held. We had to ride a little train to get from one end to the other! The decor was exquisite too - they incorporated wine bottles into everything - they had chandeliers made of wine bottles, tables made of wine bottles, etc. They also had one of the must beautiful sculptures I've ever seen, in a little shrine-like area in the heart of the storage facilities - it was a metalesque tree coming out of a table with little circular balls of different color and light (meant to sympolize grape vines; the various colors, the various stages of the grape). I couldn't get a great picture of it but hopefully I can find one from someone else...
We then went to Sitges for the beach - very beautiful but slightly on the chilly side. After that we headed to another nearby vineyard, which was a combined tour and tasting class. We tried 4 different wines and 2 different cavas, learning how to properly taste (not chug! haha) each one, and learning about the different aromas, flavors, etc. The entire thing was mostly in Spanish and I was very pleased to be able to understand a good deal of it, with much thanks due to the owner's incredibly slow pace of talking and emphatic hand gestures. That was all Friday. Now for the burgularly I mentioned in my last post... :(
On Sunday my friend Anjali and I were walking through Barri Gotic, something we do quite often, as the area is so pretty. About 30 seconds after passing by a narrow alleyway with some people in it, we heard some indecipherable yelling. At first we thought nothing of it - but when it suddenly became oddly quiet, we decided to go back and investiage. Sure enough, there was no longer the group of about four people - only one poor woman standing surrounded by tons of luggage but sans her purse. I was completely shocked/appalled, etc. I mean, it´s one thing to be robbed late at night (I have friends who have had this happen to them in Boston) - but on a SUNDAY - in the middle of the day? Completely unbelievable. It more or less ruined my day, as I had until then felt pretty safe walking around by myself. Of course, she was a relatively target because of all the luggage - but still.
I´m pretty frustrated with the petty crime here, actually. I can´t believe that the police don´t do more to stop it - whether by enacting harsher punishments, going undercover as tourists - whatever. A study abroad group that was here last semester said that 25/40 students had something stolen from them at some time during their four months. The attitude here seems to be that A) all big cities are like this, B) if you take the right precautions you´ll be fine and C) you´ll get used to it after a while. I, however, have never felt as afraid for my personal belongings as I do here, and I am not appreciative of the idea that I am supposed to just get used to it. Theft shouldn´t be an accepted norm, for chrissakes. I know that Spain has less violent crime than the US, etc., etc., but stealing from/mugging someone is a pretty serious, malicious crime. I´m a little disappointed with Barcelona on this one. It´s only been two weeks and I´m already so in the habit of keeping a hawk-like eye on my things and the people around me. I think it´s going to be difficult for me to relax my heightened sense of security when I´m back in Boston... everyone will think I´m crazy when I´m hugging my bag to my chest or putting my chair legs through its straps when I´m at a restaurant.... haha.
Oh well. I guess you have to take the good with the bad. Thankfully Barcelona´s awesomeoness is outweighing its problems (talk to me after I´ve been robbed and I might feel differently, but until then...)
Onto that awesomeness... on Friday we went to the Picasso museum. Picasso trained in Barcelona before living in Paris. The museum had a ton of work from his younger years - being able to see that work really makes you appreciate his abilities. It's tempting, sometimes, to look at his paintings and think, "I could've made that squiggly blob too!" But seeing what he was doing when he was nine (amazing work) really makes you admire what he did later - he was so good at the traditional it's no wonder he became so experimental. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
This weekend/week/next weekend is actually a wonderful time to be in Barcelona - it is La Merce, a 7-day long celebration of the city´s patron saint, Our Lady of Mercy. There is an astounding amount of events and activities each and every day. For example, on Saturday night, we went to the "Correfroc". The Correfroc is a parade of demon and devil-like floats and figures that shoot sparks at the crowds - literally translated, it means ¨"fire run" - and that´s exactly what you have to do. They hold it on a pretty wide street so it´s relatively easy to avoid, but a lot of people go right up and dance in the sparks. Everyone wears long sleeves, jeans, hats, scarves, sunglasses, etc. It was pretty wild.
After that we walked to the harbor to watch some fireworks (with a bottle of wine) - and then roamed around to the more than 5 free concerts taking place in various parts of the city. It was basically an amazing night. And the main day of the festival isn't even until Wednesday! I can't wait.
Oh yeah, and on Thursday I go to Paris for the weekend .... :) tough life, huh?
Now for photo time:
Flamenco dancing (from my last post):
El correfroc:
Love and miss you all - adios!
2 comments:
more pictures of emily!
dan: agreed!
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