Barcelona is Beautiful!

Barcelona is a beautiful city. It is very clean friendly and we are so welcome here. We are staying very near the business school for now as the international student Exchange is ongoing. What are learning a bit of the languages that are spoken here.  Two languages are spoken primarily: Catalan is most prominent and then Spanish.  Catalan is a stand-alone language; I first thought it might be a dialect of Spanish, however, we’ve learned it has more resemblances to French, but not even that close to French either!  There is a much more laid-back approach to the day-to-day living which is very appealing! Sunday we did a walking and bus tour through both the new and the old city areas. The first Christmas market was open on the square. 

The key name to know in Barcelona is GAUDI.  So much of the architecture, and gardens and palaces and, of course, the Basilica Sagrada Familia, his most famous. So I looked him up on Wikipedia to share:

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (Catalan pronunciation: [ənˈtɔni ɣəwˈði]; 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926) was a SpanishCatalan architect from Reus and the best known practitioner of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí’s works reflect an individualized and distinctive style. Most are located in Barcelona, including his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.

Gaudí’s work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion.^[3] Gaudí considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.

Under the influence of neo-Gothic art and Oriental techniques, Gaudí became part of the Modernistamovement which was reaching its peak in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work transcended mainstream Modernisme, culminating in an organic style inspired by natural forms. Gaudí rarely drew detailed plans of his works, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models and molding the details as he conceived them.

Gaudí’s work enjoys global popularity and continuing admiration and study by architects. His masterpiece, the still-incomplete Sagrada Família, is the most-visited monument in Spain.^[4] Between 1984 and 2005, seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Gaudí’s Roman Catholic faith intensified during his life and religious images appear in many of his works. This earned him the nickname “God’s Architect”^[5] and led to calls for his beatification.

We’ve been to a delicious Tapas Restaurant.  I have had Tapas in Belgium before and in Cleveland.  NOBODY REALLY KNOWS how to do Tapas except here I swear!!!  Let me share what WikiPedia says:

Tapas (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈtapas]) are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). In select bars in Spain, tapas have evolved into an entire, sophisticated cuisine. In Spain, patrons of tapas can order many different tapas and combine them to make a full meal. In some Central American countries, such snacks are known as bocas. In Mexico, similar dishes are called botanas.

The serving of tapas is designed to encourage conversation, because people are not so focused upon eating an entire meal that is set before them.^{[citation needed]} Also, in some countries it is customary for diners to stand and move about while eating tapas.

The weather is so lovely; they get snow in winter only once every 20 years or so! We have had a few rain drops but nothing to stop the fun and sightseeing. It is around 62 degrees most days!  And, oddly enough, the citizenry here are COLD!!!  They’are wearing coats and scarves and boots!

The pictures below are an assortment and seem to be coming in totally out of order.  I took pics of some of the Gaudi buildings we will see more of later.  The old city pics sort of show themselves really!  And they showed us many alterations that were done to the city for the 1929 Expo and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

The neatest thing I’ve seen so far, but didn’t get good pics of because we were in the bus, was how they have redone the bull fighting rings and made them into shopping centers/malls and other really neat places.  The buildings were gorgeous and so they preserved them and re-purposed them in the neatest ways.  I hope I get to catch more pics of that for here.

Mostly I’ve been doing a lot of walking.  Trying to work my steps up of course.  I am supposed to read my nearly 400 page book for class that I have to then write a 15-20 page paper on when I get back.  I’m not finished with the PREFACE yet.  I’m not giving up, I’m justifying the lack of progress by getting adjusted to time changes, etc. but I really need to make some better progress or I’m going to have some serious trouble.