Semana Once

Hola!

After another fun week in Barcelona, I am so excited that I chose to spend the semester here. It was so much fun to be a "tour guide" throughout the week and do some things I'd been meaning to go see. I still went to all of my classes that actually happened (a few got cancelled) but had plenty of time to go explore with Ray! Here's a little summary.

Monday: My morning class got cancelled, so I had a chance to sleep in a little bit before getting going for the day. Ray and I went over to the Palau de la Musica Catalana to see if we could get a guided tour and got one for noon in English. Our guide was really informative and the music hall was just as beautiful as I remembered it from my first trip to Barcelona. Next, we walked over towards the Barcelona Cathedral. It's notorious for being strict with dress code, but I forgot about that and wasn't let in - Ray went in!

We went to lunch at La Rosa Negra for the good deal, then headed back towards CIEE. Ray went to Casa Mila and I went to class.

After that, we caught the bus up to the Bunkers to get a good view for the sunset! (Note: this was so much easier than the hike we did the first time I went up to the bunkers! Bus #22 goes directly there!) We stopped to pick up a bottle of wine to enjoy at the top and enjoyed the view! We went down for dinner at Vinitus afterwards and enjoyed some tapas!

Tuesday: I had two field trips on Tuesday for my classes, both to the same area of Barcelona - el Raval. The morning one was a walk around the area, where we passed by a variety of interesting spaces and learned some history. The Mercat de Sant Antoni (our meeting point) is massive! Ray and I grabbed some lunch at Crois Croissant Gourmet right by CIEE. When I went to class, Ray went to Casa Vicens. My second field trip was to Fabrica Moritz where we learned a lot about "management." We got dinner at Cerveseria Catalana (my favorite) and tried some new stuff. The Crema Catalana there is still amazing!

Wednesday: During my morning class, Ray went over to the Hospital de Sant Pau to go visit the less visited (but incredible) modernist architecture site and former hospital. We met up a little later at the Sagrada Familia for our reservations at the Nativity Facade tower. I am still amazed at all of the details in Gaudi's works, and at the unfinished basilica. We had so much fun wandering through the tower and spending some time admiring everything.

We got lunch at Buenas Migas right by the Sagrada Familia. Since my afternoon class got cancelled, we decided to visit Park Guell. This time, we decided not to pay for the Monumental Zone (the part with the bench and dragon) but walked through the rest of the park. It was a really nice afternoon!

For the sunset, we went over to Port Vell and found a spot to watch. We went to dinner at Moka on La Rambla to close out the night.

Thursday: On Thursday morning, I had my Spanish class where we introduced each other to new parts of the city for a group project. Then, I met Ray for brunch at Pudding. We then headed back towards my apartment to leave a couple of things for the weekend and re-pack some stuff. Between my afternoon classes, we went over to Xurreria Trebol to get a quick snack. Finally, we went to the airport to catch our flight for a short weekend trip!

What a busy but super fun and relaxing week! Next stop: Granada!

Amy