Barcelona

I love big hair. To celebrate that fact I often sleep with my hair in braids then take it out in the morning. The pals decided to get in on that action so we had a braiding party and all had Becca-style big hair in Barcelona :)

Welcome to Barcelona! This city is crazy and wonderful and crazy. We spent the first evening wandering around until we found the entrance to Park Guell. We got to see it without the daytime crowds for a bit which was fun. Here we are interacting with the scenery. I believe in art being an interactive experience, don't you?

On the way back we found this lovely little park where we got in touch with our inner children.

This is another one of my shutter speed experiments. This time all of us are swishing our hair the same way at the same time.

Now we are all doing interpretive dance moves. I think we are all deep souls.

Welcome to Park Guell in the daytime! Here's the scoop with all of this: Barcelona is famous for the works of Antonio Gaudi, considered one of the first modern architects. He created amazing buildings and this park. He used almost 100% recycled materials and avoided destroying the surrounding environment in any way. He was a devout catholic and all of his designs have religious symbolism and are based on forms in nature which is why there are few, if any, straight lines. I adore this man.

This is the tidal wave tunnel.

We are going to take a break from the wonders of Park Guell to admire another marvel by Gaudi: La Sagrada Familia Cathedral. And we weren't the only ones admiring. There was awesomely a group of nuns touring behind us :)

So, here the info on this Cathedral: Gaudi was a very devout catholic and devoted the last 40 years of his life to this project. He also really wanted it to be a cathedral for the people, so it is funded completely by donations which is why it is still under construction. The optimistic estimates say it will be completed in the next ten years. Anyway, it is just really cool, each side is dedicated to a different part of the life of Christ but only the Nativity and Passion sides are done. everything is symbolic, and the styles are all over the board. Check it out.

*Chelsea's pic (Thanks Chels!)

The inside was the most awesome/crazy thing of my life. If you come to Barcelona, never think for one second you can get the experience just on the outside.

The denial of St. Peter - I really thought this was cool.

This is the door - What!

Michelle and I! Woot Woot! Proof we were there.

So after touring with the group we headed to some sweet vintage shops that Kip discovered. It was a lovely little alley with at least eight different cool stores with amazing dresses and all sorts of magical stuff. I got a pair of earrings that remind me of my mother. Anyway, on the way I discovered this sad and beautiful bird wing.

Next we went to Las Ramblas! This is the river of people where there is a market everyday for flowers, food, souvenirs, art, and pickpockets. Luckily we managed to avoid that last one.

We just couldn't get enough of Park Guell so we went back and hit it up again. This time we got to the top of the hill by taking a ridiculously long outdoor escalator. It was pretty cool.

At the entrance there are huge cacti that people have etched into.

Chelsey and I took pictures of each others cameras. You can actually see both of in this picture and I think it is pretty sweet.

Check out this path - notice that there is a tree in the middle, Gaudi didn't believe in destroying nature and avoided it by building around existing trees.

Beside looking sweet, these columns also serve as a water conduit for precipitation caught in the gutters of the plaza above.

The famous salamander/dragon.

This undulating tile structure is the amazing ergonomically correct bench that rings the main park plaza. Probably the most comfortable place I sat in Europe.

...and this is how that foot picture happened

After the park we took a jaunt to the coast in Barcelona. I have just been spoiled with beaches! Unfortunately it was a little chilly, but still beautiful!

It was too cold to dip my feet in, so I settled with poking the Mediterranean Ocean. It was surprisingly difficult to touch the water without actually getting wet.

My sandy Hand = proof I touched it.

Katy did too! She also found a tomato - your guess is as good as mine.

This is the lovely market of Barcelona off Las Ramblas

I have become addicted to dried fruit, so I got some coconut and kiwi from this lovely lady.

Finally I got a famous picture of the famous jamon. These huge smoked pig legs are everywhere and a Specialty of Spain. Families, including my Spanish family just get a somewhat moldy leg and slice off of it for weeks. It is not my favorite meat, but it is not bad.