Barcelona: A city of some pretty cool stuff

Our first day in Barcelona warrented an amazing day at the beach...our second day in the sweltering heat warrented walking around OUTSIDE in the city--what else would you think we´d do...ride a bus or something?

We spent the day walking around the city that never sleeps but is not open during the day, probably because everyone is taking siestas. The 5 of us walked from our wonderfully located hostel on Las Ramblas, the main road in Barcelona, downtown looking around and finding out what the hype of the city is all about. What we discovered was that the nightlife really makes the city unique...and after a short busride we also discovered that there is a historically significant part of the city as well.

Guell Park, created by Gaudi--a famous architect--was our first destination. After a looong search for a grocery store we had only heard rumor of, we found lunch materials (tuna and saltines for Mary and I) and had a wonderful picnic in the shade of his architecture. The park consists of numerous mosaic tile structures and sculptures and artwork, including the largest park bench in the world. It was really amazing to see what could be done with small shrouds of broken glass and pottery. Very cool.

After about 3 hours walking around the park in the sun, we headed down the hill on which the park sat and made our way to the famous currently-being-constructed cathedral called La Sagrata Familia. We didn't go inside because of time constraints, but the massive structure (still being constructed, like I said) was designed by Gaudi and was not finished before his death. Apparently there has been quite a lot of discrepancies about the current and continuous contruction because of accuracy to his original plans. We didn't learn too much about it, but it was sure a sight to see.

When we finally headed back to our hostel, it was late in the day. We found dinner at another grocery store (a sketchy one at that) and spent a little more time at the internet cafe. Our early evening also included a trip to the nearby Starbucks...how could I forget that VERY important tidbit of information?!?!

We returned to the salsa club we visited the night before and Mary, Todd, Zan, and I salsa'd more than I have ever salsa'd before!! A couple quick phone calls after the dance club and we headed to sleep!