Barcelona Part 1
One day, Queralt asked me to take the kids, take the train and meet her in the office. We were for a trip, in my honor, to Barcelona.
Since the beginning Helena was protesting about that: sometimes she said it was because of the train, other times because she does not like Barcelona.
I said to Queralt that we do not need to go but she insisted and confess me that would be better to Helena if she realize and confront some things now than in the future.
I just had no idea how bad it would be in the day. Helena cried and yelled a lot and I was pretty scared and feeling guilty since the trip it was because of me.
Queralt call and said that we were going and that was it. So I took a deep breath and tried to be gentle and firm at the same time while I was talking with Helena. With Martina’s help, after a while we took the train and arrived at Queralt’s work.
I met a very nice Brazilian girl over there. We talked a little bit.
In Barcelona, pause for a quickly snack and going to Park Güell. It is nice but it was full of people and you can just go around some places without pay. To go to those nice places with all the ceramics, for example, you have to pay.
A very nice guy from the tourist information told us that after 20h30 they leave and anyone can go inside. Unfortunately it was still 19h so we decided to leave.
After that, Queralt wanted to show me La Sagrada Familia but we got a little lost and after 40 minutes, when it was almost dark I could see it. It is really gorgeous from outside. I hope I could come back there one day.
For dinner: pizza!
Barcelona Part 2
Last Saturday Martina and Helena had a birthday party in an ice rink in Barcelona. The party would take near to three hours so Queralt ask me if I want to get a ride and spent some time in Barcelona until the party was over.
It was OK. Barcelona is nice and beautiful. The old buildings are incredible and the balconies are really pretty. But of course you have to pay for everything, all the museums, it is crazy. Of course you will read about the most famous sights to visit, like Casa Milà, Casa Batllò, La Sagrada Família, La Ramblas (go and walk until the end of this street, appreciating all the beautiful and old buildings, and the nice view at the end of the Docks area), La Boqueria, Bairro Gótico, Palau da Música, Park Güell and Montjüic. I believe that apart of Park Güell, you can totally go around all the others by walking. Just try to split them in two or three days. I did my regular visit by outside and took my pictures before I came back to the ice rink that, by the way, was beside the Barcelona Stadium.
P.S.: During my whole time (3 months) here in Spain, I witnessed the attempt of Catalunya of trying to get their independence of Spain. I heard many different versions of the story, from both sides, and what I got most out of the situation was the extremely and unnecessary violence for part of the police against the people on the protests. Ridiculous! They were being cruel to every and anyone. During this second time of mine in Barcelona, another huge protest it was in progress.
Barcelona Part 3
The third time I went to Barcelona I thought it would be less rushy and I would not need another day on it. But the truth is: Barcelona is not just huge, there is also plenty of things to see. It is a super beautiful city! Besides, if you are doing everything by walking, like me, it takes time, lots of time, because most of things are quite far from each other. Barcelona and its huge blocks…
But taking the ride with Queralt and the girls changed my plans a little bit. She asked to me have lunch with them and even after a stronger ‘no’ of Helena, I decided to accepted because Queralt insisted. It is hard to find a place that has several vegetarian dishes and sometimes we get tired to have to look for vegetarian places. I just want to enter in a pace and eat.
The restaurant we went for looked pretty nice from outside and at a first look, also with the guy playing piano. But after a few minutes, me and Queralt was getting fun counting the mistakes we could find. My soup was good but the brownie was burned.
After going to some nice places, get lost and take a shit picture of Sagrada Família, I went to Montjuic. I did not know exactly what I would find there but at the end it was not that exciting at night.
When Queralt called me, we decide to meet at Spain Square. Going down by some creepy streets I get in this incredible and busy place: Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, MNAC. I guess for me it as even nicer because it came from nowhere. All the lights and the front were beautiful.
When I looked down, I saw a few hundred people around the other font, the circle one. So when I got the message form Queralt, warning me about the lights show that would starts soon, I got it. It was really beautiful! And the day that was quite bad starts to become nicer.
In the middle of all those people we finally found each other when I climbed a wall beside the stairs and shake my hands. We were very close by luck.
Queralt decided we would have dinner at the Arenas, a place that used to be for bullfighting but nowadays is a beautiful commercial centre. There are a few restaurants on the top and we have dinner in one of them, Queralt’s favorite, Mussol. It was kind of fancy and a little expensive. At least my plate it was the cheapest one, as usual. Although the waiter and waitress who were serving us were kind of worthless, even breaking on bottle of water from our table, the end of the night was pretty fun and nice.
