Today I caught a train to Barcelona. People aren't kidding - the European train system is kind of awesome. Anyway, getting to my apartment here (I'm in the guest room staying with two younger girls, Yanina and Vivianna) was relatively simple, as was getting to Placa de Catalunya. I went there first to redeem my vouchers for my Barcelona card (discounts and unlimited use of transportation) and my ticket for Montserrat. However, locating the tourism office was an annoying experience (weird, right?). It was actually in the square in the middle of the plaza downstairs underground. And guess what? Public transportation goes on strike every other day I'm here. They still run st "minimum service," but that means a train every FORTY minutes instead of every FIVE. Poor timing indeed.
Oh well, I'm still having fun. Pictured above is a view of the city from the front of the famed Park Guell, which includes landscaping and mosaic awesomeness from a famous Catalan artist from Barcelona. Pictured below is a small fraction if the kind of stuff you'd find there:
So yeah, Barcelona is a pretty cool place. The parts I've been to thus far are not as pretty as Madrid, but I still have a lot to see!
After locating the tourism office and letting time get away from me in Park Guell, I hurried to a metro station to make it just in time to my next stop: Palacio del Flamenco.
Yes, you read it correctly. I went to an authentic flamenco dinner theatre in Barcelona, Spain. The outside entrance was quite small and some of the posters looked a little cheesy, and I found myself doubting my vacation activity planning prowess, hoping it wasn't about to be a waste of money.
For clarification: it most definitely was NOT a waste of money. For starters, it was very classy and dinner (pictured below) was high quality and delicious. Fresh rolls, water and a glass of sangria, salad and my choice of a chicken and veggie dish, followed by a sort of cerements brulee/flan hybrid covered in chocolate sauce. It was a nice step up from the Snickers bar I had for lunch.
Then the show began. Most of the music was live, performed by the guys pictured below. The guitarist was unreal, playing traditional Spanish guitar that I couldn't even get my head around. Click here to listen to a clip I uploaded to YouTube from my phone.
I have a tendency to tear up for some reason when I see live performances that are extremely well done (i.e. Wicked, Dave Barnes concerts, Newsies most recently). Something spiritual happens when I'm listening to live music and watching incredibly talented performers. It's weird. At any rate, that happened last night watching these dancers and listening to these musicians. Click here to watch a video of one of the dancers, and scroll down for a few pictures from the performance (I took MUCH better pictures and video on my actual camera).
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