Trip: Barcelona

Our first night and the next day it rained and was cold. It was our first bout with foul weather and after 12 days you'd expect to run into some. We were fortunate however because the rain stopped when we boarded yet another tour bus of the city. I'm telling, this is the way to go. You get to see the city get off the bus when you are interested in something and then get back on when you are ready to roll out.

One of the first stops we made was Gaudi's (Gow-dee) Sagrada Familia. This dude Gaudi was a modernistic fool. He's one of the famous architects that has several “important” works around the city. This one below was one of them. It echos the waves of the ocean.This one in particular, the Segrada Familia he never finished. He died in 1926 with it only partially finished. What makes it interesting is that it is STILL unfinished. He probably didn't get around to finishing it because it is a monstrosity. The church/family that owns it uses the money from ticket proceeds to work towards its completion. Personally I think is it a disaster. I don't see what his vision was. Maybe when it is complete I will have a better idea. But for now there are cranes everywhere working on this thing. Here are some pictures to let you decide.

With the wet weather impeding our adventuring, we stuck to the buses. Circling the city here and there and seeing the sites. The Olympics were here in 1992 as some of you may remember. We drove past the Olympic Stadium and several other venues. They laid it out in the hills on the west side of the city. Lovely views of the city from up there.

When the soccer tickets were purchased for the Barcelona game the match was scheduled for Wednesday at 2pm. My dad was tooling around on the interwebs and learned that the time had been changed to Tuesday at 8pm. We lucked out because it would have been a big let down to show up and learn that we missed the game or come across some highlights on the news. So that news cut our day a little short but in a good way.

We got to Neu Camp, home of FC Barcelona, current leader of the Spanish La Liga. We walked to our seats and found that they were under the 2^nd level. This was perfect because if the seats were 3 rows closer we'd be sitting in the rain for the entire game. Instead we stayed completely dry. Another little blessing for us. Neu Camp is an 89,700 seat stadium built in the 1950's.

Barca played Tenerife and won the game 4-1! What a site to see the fans, who were more involved than the Madrid fans, cheer on their players. Here is a video of the first goal that I happened to catch on tape.

Messi with 2 goals, Bojan, and Pedro rounded out the scoring for the home team. What a game!

We took the subway back to the hotel but first stopped in at the local McDonalds. Its good to see what foreign Micky Dees have on the menu. Spain features a burger called the NYCrispy. I had been singing and making jokes about it since Madrid, again to the chagrin of my father. The NyCrispy has bacon, crispy onions, tomatoes and cheese with a bun that has cheese and bacon bits baked into it...I know it sounds good, AND IT WAS! It didn't stand a chance. I wanted to sing more!

The next day the weather cleared and we were off to see the city in the light of the sun. We wandered to the old part of the city and went into I big church but we left because it was being bombarded by high school kids and we decided it was time to leave. More walking aimlessly and to be honest I started to get a little bored. I had done a lot of walking over the past 2 weeks and my ankle was hurting badly. We did find cool street that was divided by a giant pedestrian boulevard. Street performers, newsstands, and even pets, bunnies and birds! I convinced my dad to get on another tour bus and take a tour of the ocean front. This is where the Olympic Village was back in 92. I got close to the Mediterranean Sea, saw the beaches and wanted to jump in.

We journeyed back to the hotel because I was exhausted physically and it was still only 3pm. After a siesta, my dad and I got together to talk some business. I am looking at starting a business and I just need some direction. Who better than a venture capitalist? That's what they do!

Dinner and packing and sleep. The morning came with breakfast and a sad goodbye. Followed with 22 hours of travel from door to door. Safe and sound I finish this from my chair in my room. What a trip! It was so fun! Lots of memories and I am glad there are blogs and pictures to back it up. I hope you enjoyed the journey with me. Thank you Dad, I love you and I am more thankful now than before I left.