A Glance of the City

8.30.12

Finally, some pictures! Here are some photos of my new world. Well, my new world for 4 1/2 months. This is the view from our terrace, which I am sitting on while I write this. Its nice. It's on the second floor of a building on Capitan Arenas street. Below you can hear all the bustling sounds of the city: the motor scooters, the honking taxis, the man selling fruit, the crabby woman at the cafe below embracing her espresso. That's what they drink here. Tiny little mugs filled with espresso shots,instead of coffee.

Barcelona is a huge city crammed between two mountains and the sea. Therefore, it cannot get any bigger. The first day, though I was suffering from major jets lag and could hardly stay awake, Irene brought me to top of both mountains. The first is called Tibidabo and is has a little amusement park and a huge chapel. Up there I could see all of Barcelona, and it kind of made my head spin. The second mountain is home to all of the old Olympic game arenas. Barcelona held the summer Olympics in 1992 and all the buildings and things are still there to see. Irene said that at that time, do many people came to Barcelona that they had to bring in huge cruise ships to house everyone.

The cathedral at Tibidabo.

The streets in Barcelona are lined with tiny shops. They're so different than American stores because sometimes only a few people can fit in there at once to they are packed with stuff. There are always flats above them. Because they're so close together, some people hang clotheslines between their terraces.

This is an old part of Barcelona. The buildings are ancient and echoey. It kind of makes you feel like you're in an old movie-maybe a black and white one. 

There are many churches here, and they are all so huge and beautifully constructed. I guess it's part of the culture. I find myself taking pictures of all the churches because I know my grandma would love to see them. "Ohhhh Cecilia!! Praise the Lord!!"

Walking around Barcelona at night made my second guesses about doing this go away for the moment. It is so, so cool when the sun goes down. I wish you could see it. A lot of the Spanish people come out of their flats with a chair and sit in the street so they can talk to people. All the restaurants are pretty much outside, and the temperature is very comfortable. Lights line the streets and motor scooters zip and zoom everywhere. We eat dinner around 9 or 10 here, so people are out till all hours of the night, no biggie.I like it.