So I will start with Montserrat. This is a mountain about an hour north of Barcelona. The name means "mountain saw" because of the jagged cliffs that come out from the earth. It is about 1400 meters above sea level and the town right below it is somewhere around 200 meters up. I kind of blew it though with my camera because the exposure was not on auto and it was extremely sunny so all of my pictures are really bright.
This was not my picture but that is where we got off the bus at the bottom there (btw this is not the town, this is already about half way up the mountain) and it was sunny and not cloudy.
We started by taking a tram up higher from there and started to walk around on top. I think they said it is like 5 km from one side to the other. We also didn't go all the way to the top where there is a 360 degree view of the ocean, the Pyrenees, and Barcelona. It is like a 6 hour hike up an old stair case winding through the cliffs to get up and down. It would be cool to do that one day but I am not sure if I will go there again. We just walked around, checking out the area and learning about the history. I think around 800 AD, the mountain was given to a group of monks who built a monastery, which is where all the buildings are. We also went in there and the church is amazing. But the monks lived there. Other people went on pilgrimages to the mountain mainly for religious reasons and they would talk to the monks about their problems. This continued all the way until 10 years ago when the last monk died. The monks would never leave and had no connection to the outside world so they could give people a different perspective on life. This history seemed very interesting and it would have been awesome to be able to talk to one of them but I guess it is too late.
This is the group I was with. We had to split up in 3 groups because we were about 80 people. After the hike we had about an hour for lunch and then went on another tour of the museum and the church. The museum had a lot of random stuff since it was all donations but there were some cool paintings, a mummy from Egypt, and some other artifacts. This was probably my favorite painting. It is called Enchanted Cove, painted in 1903
And here is a picture of the Church.
And this is like the main attraction of the whole place. It is called the Black Virgin and it is the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus
The trip to Montserrat was very fun and well worth the 30 euros. I passed out on the ride home listening to some Sim Redmond Band.
Later that night we went to the bar called L'ovella Negra to watch the soccer game. We ordered a pitcher of sangria and sat down to watch. When we sat down we noticed a bottle of Cava on the table. It was unopened and after about a half an hour I started asking people around us if it was theirs and no one claimed it so we decided to open it up. It didn't taste great but it was free. After that we went to a friends apartment to have some drinks before we went out. I have noticed that no one really likes the apartment situation. The walls are paper thin and everyone lives with an RA. It was also an extra 1300 euros, and you don't get authentic food for free every night or the language practice or someone to do your laundry. So...since we were too loud at the apartment we left and went to a bar. At this point we all got a little separated and my roommate and I ended up at a sports bar with our 2 friends. It was right next to this giant club called Razzmatazz. We just had a drink their and went to the club. This place was insane. It was 15 euros to get in but it came with a free drink and it had about 5 different rooms. Here is a picture of the largest room when you walk in.
We ended up staying there until about 5 in the morning dancing and having a great time. I was extremely tired when we walked in the door around 5:30 and we were planning on going to Montjuic the next day.
I woke up around noon and ate some breakfast. We went to go meet a friend at Placa de Catalonia around 1:30 and we sat outside for a while waiting for another friend who was coming with us. We were sitting in the sun and it was probably the nicest day of the year so far. It was sunny and probably high 60's, so I did not mind waiting at all.
Montjuic is a large hill in Barcelona that overlooks the city and the ocean. On the top is a castle and around the middle is the Olympic Village from 1992. We got off the bus at the Olympic Village and walked up to the castle. Here are some pictures.
This is the view from the top
There was a telescope for 1 euro and I took this picture of Sagrada Familia
and this is the Castle
We just walked around and enjoyed the view. There were also some cannons because it used to be a military base. Then we walked back down to the Olympic Village
We took this really cool picture in the water where there were 4 cinder blocks to stand on. I am not sure what the building is in the background but it is one of the Olympic stadiums
The sun was also setting so I tried to be artistic and take this picture. This is just a big fountain
After the sun set below the mountains we went home and planned to meet up for the super bowl. We all bought tickets to a bar. For 10 euros each we got a table, 2 drinks, a plate of nachos, and unlimited wings. There was also a trivia game while waiting for the game to start and we got 2nd place so we also got a free round of shots. very good deal, although they didn't show the commercials, but they will be online.
Here is our table
This wasn't the best picture because there are more people on the other side of the table but it shows the scene a little. I like how we had a lot of room and could sit down. The other place, George Paynes, was probably extremely hectic and you would have to stand for the whole game. Also the 3rd and 4th people from the left side were some people we didn't know. They were Americans teaching in Saudi Arabia and in Barcelona for the weekend.
Also bars are not allowed to stay open past 2:30 in some areas...not sure why so they had to lock the door and close the gate. We also had to buy tickets for beers. It was kind of strange and technically they held us hostage for 2 hours until the game ended but you either had to leave or stay until the end. So obviously we all stayed. Here is a picture of the front door
It turned out to be a good game and I thought the half time show was pretty cool. The game also started around 12:30 and ended around 4:15. The metro opens at 5 so we decided to take a cab home and I got to sleep around 5 and had my alarm set for 11 for class. I debated skipping but I felt pretty good when I woke up so went and was exhausted the entire day. It was all well worth being tired though. I had a great busy weekend.
Now it is about 11:00 PM and I have some reading to do for my architecture class at 9. So I need to wake up at 7:30.
O one more thing. The Korean girl left last week and yesterday we got two new homestay siblings. One is a 26 year old girl from Brazil who speaks Spanish and English pretty well. The other is a 17 year old boy from Holland who speaks no Spanish but is almost fluent in English. So I guess our translating skills will be tested with him.
Goodnight everyone
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