Bye Bye Barcelona!
Last day in Barcelona. Wow, what a beautiful city!!! Right now I have to think that it is THE most beautiful city that I´ve been to, but we´ll be in Paris and Amsterdam next week to make some comparisons. [sorry, no spellchecker again...]
Barcelona is certainly very different from Madrid or Sevilla. The way people dress is probably the biggest most obvious difference. The dress in southern Spain is certainly more, um, provocative. :-) This may be because of the weather (about 10-15 degress warmer for us in Sevilla vs. Barcelona), but there is definitely a cultural change. The other difference is the number of people here who can speak at least some English. In Madrid/Sevilla English was pretty rare, but in Barcelona it is much more likely that the people you encounter speak at least a little English. Finally, I don´t want to say Barcelona is more conservative than the southern Spain, but it does seem more European. In general I´d say we´ve been treated very well through out Spain. Not everyone was completely patient, but most at least tried to be helpful. It certainly ranks higher than my experiences in Italy...
I think we´ve seen most of the outdoor sites that can be seen here in Barcelona, but we didn´t get to any of the major museums. Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi! Yesterday we saw the park Guell(sp) and the famous cathedral Sagrada Familia. Both outragous! Really amazing. Can´t say enough superlatives. Today we saw the two Gaudi builds on Gracia. We toured La Pedrera and got to see an apartment displayed in original condition and went up to the roof. Beautiful! We also went down to the first floor, where they have an art museum, where they were displaying works of famous artist that have drawn seens from Don Quiote. They included Dali, Picaso, and others.
Yesterday I tried to book our next stay in Avignon, but couldn´t find anything reasonably priced in the center of town. So, we´re going to spend the next 3 nights in Arles, France (much cheaper!). This is only barely a disapointment. Arles appears to have many cools things to see and places to be. This town is probably best known for Vincent Van Goah´s extended stay here. The guide book says that Vincent´s craziness got him in so much trouble here, that they imprisoned him in his house for over a month! It may be no suprise then that there are no original paintings of his left in the town... :-( But, we will be able to see some of the things he painted, including, famously, the cafe at night scene, of which we have a print in our living room (and saw the original in Seatle last year with Lynda and Carter). Very cool!
Oh, one more funny that happened to us today. We were stiting in a cafe in front of Sagrada Familia (we just had to see it one more time before we left) and they had this mocking bird in this cage. It is apparently it belongs to the cafe. But, the funny thing is that this bird was apparently mocking the traffic noices! Laugh! A bus would go by and make this creaking noice and the bird would go ´CREAK´. Then a care would hit the breaks hard and the bird would go ´SCREACH´. But, the funniest was his mock of a moped taking off. ´Gahrrrrrrrr´ Too funny!
So, tomorrow we take the 8:45am train to France. This will be a bigger challenge for both Jenn and I. We both at least had a little Spanish in school, but no French. Should be interesting, but as long as we at least find our hotel, I´ll be happy. Oh, did I mention that we have a 15 minute layover and have to change trains? I can´t even remember where...
Oh, I finally finished up my 1GB card. I think I ended up getting around 700 pictures on it, at 5MP each (Btw, Jenn´s waaay ahead of me on the picutre count -- I think around 1000!). Man, I can hardly wait to get them uploaded. I´m typing right now in a cafe that has already said I cannot upload photos here. Oh well. As soon as we get home!
Next time I type, we´ll be in France!!! We´re planning to start off in Arles, then do day trips to Avignon, maybe Orange, maybe Aix en Provence. We´ll see. Then, perhaps a night in Nice, though it is a little out of the way... Then Paris, then Amsterdam. What a GREAT trip! Wish you all were here with us. :-) We are reading each of your comments, but haven´t had time to respond to them. sorry...
Barcelona is certainly very different from Madrid or Sevilla. The way people dress is probably the biggest most obvious difference. The dress in southern Spain is certainly more, um, provocative. :-) This may be because of the weather (about 10-15 degress warmer for us in Sevilla vs. Barcelona), but there is definitely a cultural change. The other difference is the number of people here who can speak at least some English. In Madrid/Sevilla English was pretty rare, but in Barcelona it is much more likely that the people you encounter speak at least a little English. Finally, I don´t want to say Barcelona is more conservative than the southern Spain, but it does seem more European. In general I´d say we´ve been treated very well through out Spain. Not everyone was completely patient, but most at least tried to be helpful. It certainly ranks higher than my experiences in Italy...
I think we´ve seen most of the outdoor sites that can be seen here in Barcelona, but we didn´t get to any of the major museums. Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi! Yesterday we saw the park Guell(sp) and the famous cathedral Sagrada Familia. Both outragous! Really amazing. Can´t say enough superlatives. Today we saw the two Gaudi builds on Gracia. We toured La Pedrera and got to see an apartment displayed in original condition and went up to the roof. Beautiful! We also went down to the first floor, where they have an art museum, where they were displaying works of famous artist that have drawn seens from Don Quiote. They included Dali, Picaso, and others.
Yesterday I tried to book our next stay in Avignon, but couldn´t find anything reasonably priced in the center of town. So, we´re going to spend the next 3 nights in Arles, France (much cheaper!). This is only barely a disapointment. Arles appears to have many cools things to see and places to be. This town is probably best known for Vincent Van Goah´s extended stay here. The guide book says that Vincent´s craziness got him in so much trouble here, that they imprisoned him in his house for over a month! It may be no suprise then that there are no original paintings of his left in the town... :-( But, we will be able to see some of the things he painted, including, famously, the cafe at night scene, of which we have a print in our living room (and saw the original in Seatle last year with Lynda and Carter). Very cool!
Oh, one more funny that happened to us today. We were stiting in a cafe in front of Sagrada Familia (we just had to see it one more time before we left) and they had this mocking bird in this cage. It is apparently it belongs to the cafe. But, the funny thing is that this bird was apparently mocking the traffic noices! Laugh! A bus would go by and make this creaking noice and the bird would go ´CREAK´. Then a care would hit the breaks hard and the bird would go ´SCREACH´. But, the funniest was his mock of a moped taking off. ´Gahrrrrrrrr´ Too funny!
So, tomorrow we take the 8:45am train to France. This will be a bigger challenge for both Jenn and I. We both at least had a little Spanish in school, but no French. Should be interesting, but as long as we at least find our hotel, I´ll be happy. Oh, did I mention that we have a 15 minute layover and have to change trains? I can´t even remember where...
Oh, I finally finished up my 1GB card. I think I ended up getting around 700 pictures on it, at 5MP each (Btw, Jenn´s waaay ahead of me on the picutre count -- I think around 1000!). Man, I can hardly wait to get them uploaded. I´m typing right now in a cafe that has already said I cannot upload photos here. Oh well. As soon as we get home!
Next time I type, we´ll be in France!!! We´re planning to start off in Arles, then do day trips to Avignon, maybe Orange, maybe Aix en Provence. We´ll see. Then, perhaps a night in Nice, though it is a little out of the way... Then Paris, then Amsterdam. What a GREAT trip! Wish you all were here with us. :-) We are reading each of your comments, but haven´t had time to respond to them. sorry...
posted by Greg | 9:57 AM
4 Comments:
Wonderful. I loved the Bird. Was it the Moped making it go Grrrr, or you Greg :) Have fun you two! Lots of rain here to miss.
Bonne chance!
Barcelona is great, isn't it! The art! The architecture!
The reason they speak more english is that their language is Catalonia, not Spanish, and they are very proud of their more worldly heritage. The Catalonians would much rather speak English than Spanish.
So, is the house going to start looking more like Gaudi?
Regarding destinations in France...
It may be fortunate that you are staying in Arles - I like the little town very much (stayed there when I went to the area after Peace Corps) and it is much more quiet than Avignon. Avignon, Orange, Aix are all good places to visit, but I would consider going to Les Baux instead of Orange, perhaps. Amazing ruins of a hill town where chivalry and the ideals of romatic love was to have started - and a great view over the Camargue. But you probably can't go wrong anywhere in Provence!
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