Random Tidbits

I LOVE the food in Spain.  There is nothing healthy about it at all, but it tastes so delicious.  I ate lots of tortilla, candy, magdalenas, pajitas de ketchup and so many pastries.  I also got to eat a few salads, garbanzo beans and tons of pan.  They are all white carbohydrates that mess with your sugar levels, but I just can't get enough of them.  

Everyone in Spain drives really small cars.  We rented one that was very small as well.  This one is just about as small as they get.  

I love the metro.  I think it is such an efficient system to get around a large city. I wish us americans would catch on and do it.  

When I lived in Spain we had an affectionate word for the way couples would interact with each other.  We called it the Spanish spider.  We were lucky enough to witness a few such incidences and I couldn't help but smile!

 

Barcelona Friends

When we went to Barcelona we met up with Elsa Zapata and Neus Roig.  Elsa, was a sister at the same time as me and Neus was my companion for six weeks!  I hadn't heard from Roig since the mission so I was so happy to see her.  Elsa and her mom made us dinner and we just talked and laughed.  It was so nice to talk about the misison, eat Spanish food all while being in Spain!  Interesting thing, we came to find out that Elsa's mom works at the hotel we stayed out!  It is a small world even when you are in Spain.  She got us free breakfast, packed us a picnic to take to the airport and got us a reduced cab fare to the airport!  

Elsa, Roig and I.

The next day Roig came with us touring a few places in Barcelona.  She has this little baby who was great the entire day!  

Barcelona

Traveling to Barcelona was the worst part of our trip! We had intended on buying a "bed" overnight train ticket. Buying the train tickets online proved to be difficult with the website and in the end we bought a cabin ticket that we shared with 5 other people. It was a very small room and our knees were right up against our neighbor. It has to be amongst the longest nights of our lives! Here is a picture of what it looked like.  Nothing like sharing the same air with people all night long.  

Barcelona was such an interesting city. It is a huge port city that around the late 1800s was changed by Gaudi! His architectural influence is everywhere. Almost everything we saw was about him. One man really can change the world!

Our first stop was the Picasso Museum. He was an interesting guy. After visiting several museums I feel like I get cubism but not the modern stuff so much.

La Pedrera. This was originally an apartment complex and some of it is used as that today. It has a huge opening in the middle to allow for natural light in all apartments and rooms.

La Sagrada Familia. This is still in the works and will be for about another 50 years. I have seen pictures of this place for a long time and it does not do it any justice! It is absolutely beautiful!

A cathedral.

Arc de Triumph. Yes they have one in Spain too!

Park Guell.  A huge park on top of a hill that was meant to be a planned community.  It didn't quite pan out so now it is just a park.

Museum in Park Guell.  Gaudi lived here for a time while he was designing the park. 

 

Gaudi was really into ergonomic things.  I think he was a little ahead of his time!

The beach!  We had to stop by and dip our feet in.

Las Ramblas.  This is a street where there are vendors of all sorts including people selling pet birds and animals!  We ate some yummy fruit!

Segovia

We took a day trip out to Segovia with the reunion group.  This is another place of royalty castles and cathedrals and the famous Roman aquaducts.  The castle is actually the one that Disney used as its model for their castle.  It was started by the Romans and then has been added on to through the ages.

The cathedral.

The castle.

Inside the castle.

My knights in shining armor!

The aquaducts. 

Another angle of the castle.

Ventas

This is where I lived for 6 months just outside the Madrid Bull Ring!  We went back and visited my old apartment.  I lived here with Adrienne as my companion and Michelle as a roommate.  

The bull ring.

El Metro estop.

Matt the great bull fighter!

Madrid sights

On my mission I was able to go to a lot of various places in Madrid and it was fun going back again!  

Here we are at the Prado.  It has Spanish artists including Goya and Velasquez.  We even got in free which was an added bonus!

Retiro Park. This place is about 300 square feet of park right in the middle of downtown. It used to be just Royal Gardens but now it is filled with people selling things, magicians, clowns, and anything else you might want to find!  

Museum of Centro de Arte Reina Sophia.  The houses the "Guernica" by Picasso, which is a HUGE painting.  It was inspired by the bombing of the town of Guernica, Spain during the Spanish Civil War.  Franco allowed Hilter to test out some new bombs on this city.

The Palacio Real.  We didn't get to go inside because it closed an hour earlier than we thought.

Plaza Mayor.  The sight of executions during the Spanish Civil War and the Inquisition.

The Atocha Train Station.