I have to wake up in less than 5 hours to go catch my plane to Venice, but I thought I should say a few quick words about my last excursion before I embark on a new one.
Barcelona, España, Halloween weekend
The journey
Had my first encounter with Ryanair, the UK's budget airline. Its little airport is 50km outside of Paris, so it takes a bit of time to get there. There was a marked difference in the stress level of the airport security compared with that of the staff at, say, New York's JFK. The passport checker guy asked where Missouri was, if I was good at French, if I had a Facebook. To the last question, I responded "on l'a pas aux Etats-Unis" (we don't have facebook in the US), and got a laugh out of both him and the bag x-ray lady. The guys who sat next to me on the plane helped disprove the notion that Parisians aren't friendly to strangers. On their way to Barcelona to attend the Barça-Sevilla football match, they bought drinks for me, the couple in front of us, and themselves, and the flight went by quickly.
Barcelona
It was immediately evident that Barcelona's character is very different from Paris'. Whereas Paris is nearly always in a hurry, Barcelona seems to know either fiesta or siesta time is coming right up. The relaxed feel was helped by the warm, sunny weather, and the fact that Barcelona loves Halloween. A friend from my Paris program and I stayed in a hostel right off La Rambla, which was bustling with mimes, tourists, booths, and probably pickpockets. A couple highlights: Mercat la Boqueria, a market up the street with everything imaginable from a fresh and delicious banana-cocunut smoothie, to inexpensive and beautifully presented fruit, to folds of spiny flesh of who knows what at the seafood counters. Park Güell, the Gaudi wonderland, offered great views of the city, but I was more intrigued by the dozens of illegal merchants selling jewelry and scarves. I had finally made a decision on a purchase after about an hour of browsing, when someone yelled a warning and suddenly my would-be ring was whisked away with the rest of the products for sale. In the blink of an eye there was not blanket in sight.
Montserrat
Also known as Middle Earth, as far as I'm concerned. About an hour 30 minute train ride from the city of Barcelona, Montserrat is a mountain top monastery with a Benedictine abbey. We hiked up and got some amazing views despite the clouds and eventual drizzle. Back at the abbey, paid a visit to the statue Catalonia's favorite saint, rubbed her orb for good luck. I could see why they decided to build a monastery at this location. It was one of the most beautiful, spiritual places I have seen.
Language mixing
It has been 6 months since I was in a spanish class, which is maybe why I almost said "merci" to the airport shuttle driver. Catalan is the language written everywhere since Barcelona is in the Catalonia region of Spain, but everyone speaks spanish as well. I didn't have many chances to use mine over the weekend, and there was a weird mix of english, spanish, and french swirling through my brain. Most residents (like most people these days) speak english, but I preferred to look a word up in my pocket dictionary than to take the easy way out and say everything in my native tongue. I feel I owe it to a place I'm visiting to at least attempt communication in its language.
Here are some photos from my weekend in Barça: http://s1010.photobucket.com/albums/af228/themc123/Barcelona/
Time to get some sleep so I can go further confuse myself with the Italian language. Two nights each in Venice, Florence, and Rome.
Ciao
