The last half of our time in Barcelona was spent languidly. Having been a tad overambitious in our sightseeing in the first two days, we now found ourselves in a curious predicament of not chasing a list of a bazillion things to do or see.
With this newfound downtime, I was able to dive into Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns one sunny afternoon while the boy took a nap. I had started the novel on the flight to Barcelona and was absolutely hooked on Lalia and Mariam's story by the time we'd landed; with the boy asleep, now was the perfect opportunity to voraciously inhale the rest of this haunting, emotionally-riveting book.
I managed to hold it all in until the last few pages of the book. There the floodgates opened and I started blubbering like a baby.
The boy woke up, confused as to why I was clutching onto the (now-soaked) last pages of the book and having an all-out ugly cry. I assured him that everything was ok and that my face was only temporarily impersonating the Great Wave Off Kanagawa.
Anyway, erm, I highly recommend that book. Really heart-wrenching story about two women's lives in Afghanistan. Just don't wear mascara or plan to venture out into society for a while.
After I'd recuperated from my glass box of emotions, we went and took a nice, non-emotional walk where the boy tried to cheer me up by impersonating a giant lobster.
The following day was Easter Sunday, the only gloomy morning of the trip. It was the perfect opportunity to head back to La Sagrada Familia for some more exploring - this time with a roof over our heads.
The inside of the basilica was absolutely jaw-dropping. Soaring white columns that branched hundreds of feet up into the canopy, stained glass in every color of the rainbow, geometric patterns strewn amongst the tiniest details to the most resplendent features... Gaudi's hyperboloid forest was simply incredible. Neck muscles permitting, I could have stared at the ceiling forever.
My pictures hardly do any justice:
In the evening, we walked over to the Magic Fountain for the 8 PM show. We settled in at around 7:30 and watched a crowd begin to gather around the huge fountain.
8 PM passed; then 8:30 PM. Still no magic. While we waited we chatted up the young man who was next to us waiting for the show. He was from Southern California, had just graduated from college and was taking a few weeks off to explore Europe before pursuing his full-time dream of a career as a bounty hunter.
We ended up ditching what was quickly becoming a very unmagical fountain and heading to dinner with our new acquaintance. Now I'm not the most extroverted traveler and usually don't seek the company of strangers, so this was a somewhat unusual experience for me. The three of us ended up having a great conversation over dinner and exchanging our European travel tips and recommendations. At the end of dinner, we thanked each other for the company, bid adieus and parted ways.
And thus concluded the final evening of our time in Barcelona. Overall, I loved my time in Barcelona (minus the attempted wallet theft); it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. I was surprised to learn how different it seemed to be (and wanted to be) from the rest of Spain. So even though I've obviously stepped foot in Spain, I'm very curious to go back and visit the rest of the country - especially the south - and see for myself how different it is from the Barcelona/Catalan way of life.
It'll be hard to beat, that's for sure. As they say, "Barcelona es mucho más!"
With this newfound downtime, I was able to dive into Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns one sunny afternoon while the boy took a nap. I had started the novel on the flight to Barcelona and was absolutely hooked on Lalia and Mariam's story by the time we'd landed; with the boy asleep, now was the perfect opportunity to voraciously inhale the rest of this haunting, emotionally-riveting book.
I managed to hold it all in until the last few pages of the book. There the floodgates opened and I started blubbering like a baby.
The boy woke up, confused as to why I was clutching onto the (now-soaked) last pages of the book and having an all-out ugly cry. I assured him that everything was ok and that my face was only temporarily impersonating the Great Wave Off Kanagawa.
Anyway, erm, I highly recommend that book. Really heart-wrenching story about two women's lives in Afghanistan. Just don't wear mascara or plan to venture out into society for a while.
After I'd recuperated from my glass box of emotions, we went and took a nice, non-emotional walk where the boy tried to cheer me up by impersonating a giant lobster.
The following day was Easter Sunday, the only gloomy morning of the trip. It was the perfect opportunity to head back to La Sagrada Familia for some more exploring - this time with a roof over our heads.
The inside of the basilica was absolutely jaw-dropping. Soaring white columns that branched hundreds of feet up into the canopy, stained glass in every color of the rainbow, geometric patterns strewn amongst the tiniest details to the most resplendent features... Gaudi's hyperboloid forest was simply incredible. Neck muscles permitting, I could have stared at the ceiling forever.
My pictures hardly do any justice:
 |
After a few hours of touring the museum that housed Gaudi's early works and models of the church, we reluctantly pried ourselves away. On the way out, we stopped into the much homelier parish church where Easter Mass was being conducted in Catalan. Although I consider myself an atheist and understood none of what the priest was saying, it was comforting to quietly observe all the worshippers on this very meaningful day for them, and I was glad to have witnessed a part of it, even for just a few minutes.
In the evening, we walked over to the Magic Fountain for the 8 PM show. We settled in at around 7:30 and watched a crowd begin to gather around the huge fountain.
 |
| More like squib fountain |
We ended up ditching what was quickly becoming a very unmagical fountain and heading to dinner with our new acquaintance. Now I'm not the most extroverted traveler and usually don't seek the company of strangers, so this was a somewhat unusual experience for me. The three of us ended up having a great conversation over dinner and exchanging our European travel tips and recommendations. At the end of dinner, we thanked each other for the company, bid adieus and parted ways.
And thus concluded the final evening of our time in Barcelona. Overall, I loved my time in Barcelona (minus the attempted wallet theft); it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. I was surprised to learn how different it seemed to be (and wanted to be) from the rest of Spain. So even though I've obviously stepped foot in Spain, I'm very curious to go back and visit the rest of the country - especially the south - and see for myself how different it is from the Barcelona/Catalan way of life.
It'll be hard to beat, that's for sure. As they say, "Barcelona es mucho más!"
i had to reread the sentence "before pursuing his full time dream of a career as a bounty hunter" multiple times. and then half expected him to scam/rob you in some way. glad it worked out that people are not as bad as i thought you set up the story to be :)
ReplyDeleteyeah, his career was definitely a surprising discovery! i kept thinking of the bounty hunter in arrested development, 'ice', heh.
ReplyDeletethe stranger was really normal and nice. we ended up laughing about how half the time these days he just uses social media to find people!