Ok, get comfortable we have a lot to cover...

So since the last post a lot has happened. Starting the week before reading week...

A while ago, Nelle, Sam (nelles flatmate from washington), and I sat down and figured out what we wanted to do and see while we were here. We found 7 pound tickets to La Cage aux Folles. The show was awesome and by the end I really really liked it. As we walked out it was pouring, really heavily and it almost looked liek snow. It was almost sleety. Then it became sleety. Then it became snow. Which was really exciting! It didn't last very long but it was still fun while it lasted.

Next night was A Disappearing Number with the London Theatre class which was about how if you add up all the numbers between 0 and infinity it comes out to -1/12. It has a whole other way of looking at math as artistic and beautiful which was kind of nice. Outside of that the story was really convoluted but at the same time nice enough.

The next night, Thursday, Mike and I went into the city to wander around and got quick tickets for Blood Brothers. It was good in a different way, but totally quintessentially English. It's about two brothers separated at birth and they grow up as best friends and then die together. Not great in the Broadway sense of great but still impressive.

The next day after class I speed packed and Carolina, Nick, Stephen, Mike and I left for the airport to get to Barcelona. We got to the airport no problem, went to grab dinner and then Nick realizes he doesn't have his passport with him. He had it before but its not there now. So he tells us to go catch the plane and hes going to check the lost and found and security. So we all get on the plane and as Mike and I are sitting there contemplating how Nick could not be freaking out over losing his passport and wondering if we'd find him again before getting back to London we looked up and see Nick getting on the plane into a seat.

After an uneventful flight we landed in Girona and took the bus all the way to Barcelona (only about an hour). We then took a cab to our hostel which ended up being on a really big hill/ in a park a short train ride outside of the central city. It was pretty late by the time we got there so we grabbed a bag of chips and went to bed.


The next morning we took the metro into Barcelona and started by walking down Las Ramblas which is really just a street that leads from the center of town down to the water with a lot of stands and street performers along the way. At the end of the street was a bus tour ticket booth so we got a 2 day pass which would get us around the city and tell us what to see. We started with going to the beach and taking a little bit to be at the Mediterranean before grabbing a quick snack at McDonalds and getting back on the bus.

The next stop was a Chocolate Museum. Your ticket was a bar of chocolate and it sort of gave you some information about the history of chocolate but mostly was all about chocolate sculptures including a white chocolate gorilla and a Milk Chocolate Pieta. We walked around the area a bit which was still beautiful and found a Picasso Museum that we decided to explore. Most of us weren't really Picasso fans but it wasn't the biggest museum so we decided it was worth the time and it was. I think everyone found something they liked and the way the museum was set up was more chronological than most which gave you the chance to see the whole progression and how his style developed.

Afterwards we headed toward a Gaudi house that we'd found in a coupon booklet that came with our tour. The house was called Casa Batllo. The house had been renovated by Gaudi and was totally inspired by the ocean and sea life and stuff. It was awesome and beautiful. The coolest part was that he did it with no plans. He had drawings and a model but no real plans. There were also no straight lines and he'd figure out arch ways by holding a chain upside down and seeing how it fell. It was brilliant.

We got back on the bus and finished the loop for the day so we could see the rest of Barcelona and get a view of Barcelona at night. We ended up back on Las Ramblas to get dinner and then headed home.

The next day it was pouring and windy. So we picked up the bus again to do a different loop. We got off at Sagrada Familia which is a Cathedral that was designed by Gaudi but has yet to be completed. It was insane. The outsides far more completed than the inside with tons of spires and just a lot of really cool images going on. The back had all the stations of the cross while the front had the whole nativity and the creation story going on with all the animals.

The rest of the bus tour was less interesting because it was pouring so we couldnt sit on top to see everything and it wasnt as entertaining. We eventually got off for a late lunch and then walked down towards the water again where the aquarium was. After a lot of debate we hit up the aquarium and saw cool penguins who thought we were going to feed them, a giant stingray and went through this tunnel where the sharks and other fish all swam around you. We also got to see an octopus or two up close which was really cool.

Afterwards we walked around the mall that was right next door, got coffee and just sat out on the porch and talked. It was a nice ending.

The next morning we headed to Rome. Check back for that update because I think this is pretty long already and there are still three more cities to do before we're back in London. Stay tuned!