The Last Day. The Final Adios.

They just put these up on a bunch of poles down in Plaza Catalunya and I couldn't resist taking a photo as it seemed a perfect design way to send me off...I love the graphic icon of Barcelona (from left to right at the top of those globule things are the silos of: MNAC, Christopher Columbus statue, the "needle" on top of Montjuic, Sagrada Familia, two towers that are down by the water at Port Olimpic and the funny-looking Agbar Tower)

I am incredulous that I am sitting here in Aroma Cafe for the last time of my stay here in Barcelona; in awe, in fact, that I am typing what will be my last blog posting from Spain. I never thought this day would come, or I did, just not what seems so soon. When I first arrived and was looking out the window of the bus and thinking "how did I even GET here?", November 7th wasn't even a blip on the radar of "near future". Even a month ago, it seemed fairly close but not realistically close. Now? Well look what happened, my trip is done, my 79 day stay here is over, and I am off to the airport with my FULLY stuffed suitcase tomorrow morning.

Without a doubt I can say that this trip has been the experience of a lifetime and if I had second thoughts about it at any time during the year (which I know I did), I am glad I ignored them and decided to come anyway. The things I have seen, learned, heard, smelled and tasted have all been amazing (well not all, but MOST). The journey to a country where I knew no one and didn't know the language all too well was an experiment in mental toughness and I think I came out fairly unscathed. There were definitely times when I longed for things very American; a good brunch, peanut butter, English speakers at transportation terminals, warm water that I don't need to "heat" first, and a small myriad of other things I am sure I will notice once I get back.

In terms of getting everything I wanted out of this journey while being here, I can confidently say I have. This also seems like it has been the biggest "field trip" of my life. I just hope my memory can retain all that I have learned and taken in; especially my Spanish. Though I am definitely not fluent by any means, I feel much more confident about talking to people and asking about things; I've even been watching "Anatomía de Grey" with my flatmates and have come to understand MOST of what's going on (though its still strange to me not hearing the REAL Cristina or George's voice) though I'm excited to watch it in English.

A few people have been asking me what my feelings are about coming home. I remember right before I arrived to Barcelona and wondering that same thing, what would I be thinking on November 6th? Well, I can say that I am ready to come back to the States. I feel very fortunate that I was able to do this for myself and seen what I have but "real life" calls and I am ready to: go back to working fulltime, seeing my friends and Matt, picking up my cell phone to call people whenever I want (without having to do the math of the time difference), being able to dry my clothes in a dryer and not on a clothesline where I pray to god that the neighbors above don't empty their buckets of water, knowing how to read all of the menus in any restaurant I may go into, not having to inhale second hand smoke (like I am right at this very mooment) in all public places, drinking water from the faucet and overall living in New York City!

In case anyone was wondering this is a quick list of things that I have accumulated since being here:

• 6 times I have gone to the Sagrada Familia
• 10 times I will have been to the Barcelona Airport (I am up to 9 now and tomorrow morning will make the 10th)
• 4 flatmates I have had since living here
• over 2500 photos I have taken since leaving JFK Airport
• 2 articles of clothing I have dropped from the clothesline - but retrieved with the handle of the broom
• 9 flats I looked at when needing a place to live
• too many to count are the number of olives I have eaten
• 5 friends/family I was lucky enough to see while being over here
• 1 trip I will never forget

I want to thank all of you who have been reading this blog since I came here. Thank you for your kind words in either the comments or in your emails you have sent me. It means SO much that my friends and family have been reading and 'seeing' what I have been doing; it feels good to have "been in touch" even if I haven't physically seen or talked to anyone.

Signing off from Barcelona for the last time...
Jen

Last of the Park...and Madrid.

Some more pictures from the park. The last one is actually a view through a cool railing that overlooked the entrance; which is NOT how I had entered, I came in through a much less perfectly manicured lawn.

Overall, I liked Madrid more than I had initially thought I would; it grew on me after I woke up my first morning there. I loved the energy of the people and I also liked that it sort of reminded me of a Spanish NYC, complete with people dressed mostly in black. It is definitely very different from the “anything goes” attitude of Barcelona but I still enjoyed my stay there.

Crystal Palace IN the Park.

These photos are ALL from the Palacio de Cristal inside the park. I couldn’t stop shooting it! I guess there is a “water exhibit” of some sort inside but alas, it was closed one day of the week – Tuesday (aka the day I was there).

Parque del Retiro.

The last sightseeing of this trip to Madrid was at the Parque del Retiro. I was one minute from not going to the park because it was just way too cold to be strolling around on the cloudy, raw day that it was on Tuesday but I decided to plow through as it was on my list of things to do, I love parks, and I would be in a warm airport soon enough!

Well, as with almost everything I have almost decided not to do, I was very happy I had that little pep-talk with myself because I loved the park and would have been sad if I had not seen it. I couldn’t stop taking pictures and I was even getting annoyed with myself each time I HAD to take a photo (which involved taking off my right mitten and exposing that hand to the elements); but there were such pretty things to take photos of! The park also re-reminded me how much I have missed running (there were a lot of runners in the park) since I have been here and made me for the only time jealous that I hadn’t chosen Madrid to live instead of Barcelona because I would have had a FABULOUS park to run in as much as I wanted.

The Barefoot Royals (though, it's cold in there, so I hope they have slippers)

Monasterio de las Descalzes Reales was started in the 17th century by a woman named Joan of Asturias who had been sadly widowed by her Portuguese husband at the young age of 19. Since she was part of the royal family of Spain at the time, she returned and with the means her family provided her she opened the monastery. It was also noted once we saw a few portraits of young Joan that from the time of her husband’s death she only wore black as a way of mourning forever.

The reason this monastery is a stop on some tourist routes is for its wealth of paintings and sculpture; mostly from the 15 through 17th century and many given specifically to the monastery (as prior the building had been a palace). Maybe it was because every other painting was of Jesus or Mary with child or St. Francis or St. Claire (the two saints from whom two different churches have nuns living there from) but I wasn’t overly impressed with it all. I mean all of the little chapels we got a tour of had small, great collections as well as the different other rooms we saw, but compared to what I had seen the day before it was a bit of a letdown. And it was FREEZING in there! I hope the nuns rooms are warmer than the rest of the monastery. The three highlights for me were a collection of tapestries which were commissioned by Joan’s sister and which were weaved outside of Spain and based on drawings from Rubens, a wooden sculpture of Mary which was the most delicate and beautiful I have seen her look in any works of art thus far, and the third best thing was an enormous painting of a huge ship docking into a port with small boats flanking it to the sides. All of which were FILLED with people. I know I am not describing it that well and since the monastery doesn’t know who painted it, I can’t even look it up but take my word for it, it was pretty good. Again, there was no photography allowed so I have nothing to show.

Third Day in (cold) Madrid.

This has nothing to do with the writing in this post, but I loved this sign that was up in a tapas bar I was in my first night. It translates to:

Singing is prohibited.

I didn’t get much sleep Monday night which I think was due to ruminating a lot about the election, life as I have known it for the past 2 months and three weeks, life as it is going to be after I return, and just thoughts running through my head at warp speeds until almost 3 in the morning. I tried reading (though had a TERRIBLE book which I have since abandoned after plugging through over 200 pages and convincing myself it would get better. It didn’t.). I tried watching/interpreting a terrible movie with Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, and Bruce Willis. Nothing helped as soon as I would have liked it to but alas I did finally fall asleep; only to be awakened at 8:14 by that construction I mentioned a few posts back.

Anyhow, I wouldn’t let tiredness slow me down since it was my last day in Madrid and I had only until about 5 at night before I needed to make my way to the airport. So I started it yet again at ye ole’ faithful La Suiza for breakfast and some writing and then walked west again towards my first destination of the day which was Monasterio de las Descalzes Reales (which literally means Monastery of the Barefoot Royals). On the walk I passed a chain bookstore which I knew sold a good collection of books in English so I stopped in to remedy the book “problem” I have had for the past month and a half called “Night Train to Lisbon” by a Swiss author (I wasn’t going to mention it by name but if you happen to be darting around Barnes & Noble – or the library – and this catches your eye, I would like to save you the time, effort and 10Euros).

Armed with the prospect of a new book (which I must say I have already dove into 160 of its 540 pages and I am VERY happen with my decision. It is called “White Teeth” by an English author named Zadie Smith who won a few awards for it when it was first published in 2000. I will of course let you know when I finish it if I would recommend it.) I made my way to the monastery to find out they do indeed give tours in English (RoughGuides had told me only Spanish and that you could just walk around the monastery if you wanted, sans guide) and that’s the only way to see the place. I ended up having to wait 45 minutes but there was a Corte Ingles nearby so I popped in and just wandered around since it was warm in there until it was time to head back to take my tour.

The Tracks & Some Tiles.

Strange, but the very first thing I noticed about Madrid is that their metro runs in the opposite direction. Usually (or at least in Barcelona, Boston, and New York City) the trains pull into the station from left to right and so you are boarding through the doors on the right side. Well in Madrid it goes the other way around! Just a small observation I thought I would share. These pictures above are not of the subways of course but of some great tiles and restaurant fronts around the city.

Plaza Oriente.

Next stop for the afternoon was to the Plaza Oriente who’s highlight is 44 marble sculptures surrounding the gardens (don’t worry, I didn’t take pictures of more than 2 of them).

Royal Palace.

I then went 3-for-3 in my ratio of not finding major LARGE city monuments as I attempted to search for the Palacios Real (Royal Palace) – as you may or may not know, I couldn’t find MNAC in Barcelona and then the Alhambra in Granada and now the Royal Palace in Madrid. I wouldn’t feel so bad about this except these are all BIG places and take up good chunks on city maps that I have no excuse for NOT being able to find them. Alas, it is what it is.

Anyhow, I finally found it and am so glad I did. The presence of it from the street and just once you step into the plaza of the Palace is so overwhelming and just royal. It is still in use for the King and Queen of Spain when they have royal guests and other events so it made it even more interesting walking around the many, many rooms. I decided to take the audioguide tour – they totally hooked me with their advertising which was a big poster (in 4 languages) next to the audioguide rental desk asking “Do you know how many guests can be seated at once in the royal dining room?....Take the audioguide and find out!” Da*n, they are good. Or I am just curious but either way, I’m glad I took it because I learned way much more about each room than I never would have known otherwise.

So the rooms of the Palace. Wow. Amazing. Opulent. Artistic. Detailed. Perfect craftsmanship. Jaw-dropping. I sadly can’t show you any pictures because yet again, there were none allowed and if I slightly feared the guards working at Palau Musica, was a bit worried about those at the Picasso Museum, and fully feared the man working at the Sistine Chapel, then I was beyond fearful of the men and women who worked for the royal court of Spain! Alas, I did not even attempt a photo but am hoping my memory can retain it all for years to come because it was seriously incredible and I would definitely put it on my Top 10 of things I have seen/done since I have been here. Each room had the finest of silks and carpets and marble and commissioned paintings (on the walls AND many of the ceilings) and clocks and sculptures and furniture and floors and wallpaper and windows and the colors. The colors! Each room had a color scheme just a little different from the next but all so rich. The armory was also pretty impressive (where the kings had displayed all of their armor and swords and guns) and surprisingly, I loved the Royal Pharmacy. Just six smallish rooms but each containing shelves and shelves of ceramic urns and glass jars and some with rows upon rows of drawers all labeled with different medicines or herbs. I also found out (via my handy dandy audioguide) that there was a locked cabinet filled with poisons!

I am sorry I can’t show you anything but the exterior of the building but I CAN give you the answer to the audioguide’s intriguing question on their advertising. 140. Yes, one-hundred and forty people can sit around that royal dining room table for dinner when all of the leaves are in place and chairs are set around.

The Plaza Mayor.

After I was caffeinated, I made my way west through Plaza Sol (which is the center of the city and where you really must walk through to get to any other part of the city as it seems almost all roads lead to Sol) and then onto a much prettier and quieter square called Plaza Mayor where I took a stroll around, inspecting it from all sides and then headed out one of the arched entryways. These all seemed to have a great sideways view down a street which emptied out of the Plaza.

La Suiza.

The second day of my Madrid trip began with a stop at a really cute café called La Suiza which was in the Plaza next to mine. It was exactly what I was looking for; a place with SEATS (as it seems that since arriving I hadn’t sat down much since everywhere I went had no chairs) where I could do some writing, a good café Americano and good croissant with minimal smokers.

Yes, This IS Where I Stayed in Madrid.

One quick note has to be written about my hostal accommodation. It was in a perfect area as I was able to walk everywhere from it without having to take transport anywhere. It was in a small plaza-walkthrough and close to many restaurants, bars, and stores but wasn’t loud at all for sleeping (except when I was awoken Tuesday morning at 8:14 on the dot by the sound of sawing metal from construction nearby). I would recommend it for anyone. As long as they are not staying alone and ARE slightly claustrophobic. I don’t know if these photos show it well or not BUT I am pretty sure my room was no more than 6 feet wide as the bed took up the entire width from head to foot and when I was laying in bed I couldn’t stretch my legs completely without hitting toes to the wall. Also, and this was the funniest thing to me, I had a shower which opened up RIGHT next to the door with only 3 sides covered (no curtain, no door, nada) which combined with REALLY strong water pressure made it difficult not to get water all over the floor and my things. Oh and I had a sink (right next to the shower as you can see) but no toilet. I knew this before I signed up for the room, but still found it funny that I had 2 out of the 3 bathroom components SANS the bathroom; just sitting in the room like they were a desk or chair or some other furniture (of which there wasn’t either).

These pictures weren’t easy to take either, as I couldn’t get far enough away to get the WHOLE room in the frame. Hahah. I am laughing again just thinking about it. The first was taken while laying in my bed and yes, that’s my blanket and no, the zoom isn’t on nor am I using any photoshop techniques; the room really was that small.

So many people...so much art!

A few hours later I went back to “museum row” and headed to the Prado Art Museum as it is also free on Sundays (but from 5-8). It seems a lot of other people in Madrid decided to do the same because when I got there I saw a sizeable line which I waited (through the cold) in front of 4 eager American college kids here on a study abroad and behind what I thought were two Americans possibly here just out of college and traveling around. For about twenty minutes the line moved little by little by little (though we had entertainment in the form of the guy in the photo above playing the violin and his buddy – not pictured – playing the guitar) and then I finally found my way to the spot where the line turned towards the museum (picture an “L” shape) and all of a sudden a foreign couple appeared in front of me as if they had been there the entire time. The woman had her back to me so I tapped her shoulder and rationally told her (in Spanish) where the line ended and where SHE was and should not be, and where I was and should be. She answered me in some other language and didn’t seem to have any care about common courtesy and ended up cutting the eager college students behind me without hearing a peep from them.

The two in front of me made a sarcastic comment about the rude couple and I smiled, which prompted them to ask if I knew English. Which made me laugh and tell them I was American! Anyhow, these two were pretty funny and were actually Canadian (but without the “eh”s peppered in their speech) AND graphic designers just graduated from college in the spring AND on their way to Barcelona the following day during their 2-month European trip. How coincidental? I ended up walking around the museum with them for awhile and parted ways giving them a small list of things to they must see in Barcelona (strange. It was my first time giving a recommendation and not taking one).

So the art in the Prado was all incredible and so wonderfully done by mostly 17th and 18th century painters – Velazquez, Rubens, Goya, Zurbaran, etc. There were a lot of well-known ones which I definitely remembered from college and overall just quite an impressive collection. I did have a couple of complaints and that was that the museum REALLY packed the exhibit rooms with their paintings; one after another and in some rooms one above another. Also, I thought the glare of the light shining down on many dark backgrounds of the paintings made it a little difficult to really take in the WHOLE painting.

All in all, it was a super art-filled day – about 5 hours in total – and a good first one in Madrid in hindsight. I must admit I wasn’t enthralled with the city the way I was when I first arrived to all of the other Spanish cities I had been to. I had heard that Madrid wasn’t all that aesthetically pleasing as most other cities are so I was prepared for that. I think maybe the cold had soured my view though.

A REAL tapas bar. Chairs not included.

I spent about 3 hours in the museum and then decided to make my way to my hostal to check in my bags and see about some “real” tapas bars (seeing as Madrid is supposedly THE city for them). Following a recommendation from RoughGuides, I walked my way (though having to stop and ask directions once) to my destined tapas bar. Along the route I noticed quite a number of OTHER tapas bars overflowing with people eating and drinking and literally spilling out onto the streets because there was just not enough room for everyone IN the bars. It was crazy! And it was 2:30 in the afternoon!

My first Madrid tapas bar experience was a good one as I just took in all of the energy from the people around me as I had found myself a little spot at the end of the bar to be able to watch the rest of the room of people around the bar and around the small high tables. There were no chairs in the place just a couple of benches, people seemed to be tossing aside their small, used, super thin napkins (that are ALL over every tapas bar/restaurant in Spain) with reckless abandon on the floor, draft beers were being plunked down on the bar by one of the bartenders at intervals of about two every two minutes, canopies covered in all sorts of seafood were placed by tongs onto little plates awaiting their recipients, men and women between 25 and 50 were happily have loud and vibrant conversations, and all of the men behind the small bar (dressed in white shirts and black aprons) seemed to always be doing something as there was never a dull moment. I must say, I liked it very much. And the food was good too!

Madrid!

Cool detail of a platform of a column I saw.

Well I am back from Madrid and now enjoying my second to last day here in Spain. I have a small list of things I need to get done before leaving (souvenir shopping, getting in touch with Verizon so I have a working cell phone when my plane lands, throwing away all of the brochures and ticket stubs from all of my sightseeing that I of coursed either stashed in my bag or in my night table drawers, doing a little laundry, and of course the most major chore is for tomorrow (no, not eating as much jamón as possible): packing up all of my belongings. It is strange to me that this journey is almost over but more on those musings tomorrow. For now, I would like to share my “captures” of Madrid.

Arriving in Madrid at a little bit after 10am on Sunday morning (though I swear there was a hurricane in Barcelona when we left and I questioned the sanity of the pilot for taking off only 20 minutes late rather than at least 4 hours later), I made my way to the metro, transferred twice, and then came aboveground about 45 minutes later and walked 5 minutes to the Reina Sofia art museum (free on Sundays from 10:30 – 2:30; pictured above in the second photo). The first thing that happened when I came up out of the metro station was that I noticed it was EXTREMELY cold; as in northeast in November cold. To answer your question, no I did not bring a heavy jacket with me to Spain and so I was wearing all possible layers of clothing possible (and ended up having to buy some gloves at H&M the next day). The second thing that happened upon exiting the metro station was that I was asked for directions by some tourists. I find this remarkable but then again, I guess I blend in with the locals pretty well.

So after not being able to help tourists and realizing it was about 39 degrees (or about 5 degrees C I think…), I entered the warm art museum, dropped my bag at the coatcheck and made my way up to the start of the permanent collection on the 2nd floor. Before coming I really had no idea what to expect though had heard it was more on the modern side with artists of the 20th century. It turned out to be an incredible art-viewing experience with (in my opinion) perfect curation and order as well as an amazing collection from some highly talented (in my opinion) Spanish artists from the early to mid-20th century; Dalí, Miró, and Picasso were all very well represented. What this particular museum boasts as the best and most viewed of it’s collection is Picasso’s Guernica which I had remembered visually from art history class in college but not what the major history behind it was; the fact that it was to bring attention to the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War that were going on at the time to the rest of the world. There was a whole alcove/room dedicated to the painting (since it is huge), as well as the scale model for Spain at the 1937 World’s Fair held in Paris, where the painting first made its debut, showing that it was the first piece of art people saw when walking into the exhibition.

A Land's Transformation: Parc de la Ciutadella.

Boats you can take rowing out on the pond

The main fountain in the park that only goes on at noon and 5pm.

The city park of Barcelona is Parc de la Ciutadella, which lies just a bit west of the ocean. Looking at it now and walking around its wonderfully manicured lawns with its fountains and walkways, you would never know the land has had a tumultuous history. The property was once filled with houses of the residents of Barcelona but then in the early 18th Century was destroyed by the king at the time and a citadel was put up in its place – demolishing all of the homes on the way. Earlier in the 20th Century the land was given BACK to the citizens of Barcelona and in place of the citadel, a beautiful park was built for all.

The Geese of the Cathedral of Barcelona.

I loved these white geese as they loved hamming it up for the camera! They are inside the beautiful courtyard of the Catedral of Barcelona and supposedly there are 13 of them (though I only counted 12) to represent the age of Saint Eulalia who was burned at the stake in the 4th Century by the Romans for her religious beliefs. She is the patron saint of the cathedral and the geese are a beautiful reminder of her.

The Magic Fountain!

I have realized that I have a lot of pictures of some great places and things here in Barcelona that I never posted and finally finding another café that has WiFi AND and an outlet to plug into, I am taking advantage of some posting updates.

These pictures above are from the Magic Fountain here in Barcelona which is at the base of Montjuic and just down from MNAC. Every Friday and Saturday, for a half an hour, night they have a show which incorporates music, lights and of course the water splishing and splashing up and down and all around the fountain. I finally went a few Fridays ago with Kathy and Sonja.