Barcelona

For the past couple of weeks, I have been fortunate enough to travel and see things that I never thought that I would. Because of my travels and the fact that I actually am an architecture student needing to work on my studio project, I have been absent from my posts. The weekend before my studio left for Venice, seven of my friends and I went to Barcelona. At this point I have completely run out of new adjectives to describe how much I love these cities. We left on Thursday afternoon from CF to get to Rome where our plane flew out of. Upon arriving at the Roma Termini station in order to catch our connecting train to the smaller train station in Ciampino, we realized that our time was a little more limited than we expected. We ended up running, almost sprinting across the station. With my bag flailing behind me, I am positive that I looked ridiculous. Sweating, we made it to Ciampino and caught our first Ryanair flight to Barca. We arrived pretty late that evening and went to a small restaurant for tapas and wine close to our hostel. We all immediately noticed how much we loved the urban feel of Barcelona in comparison to the much more historic Italian cities that we had seen thus far. On Friday morning we got up and began our adventures starting at Sagrada Familia. It is safe to say that there is no other cathedral quite like it. Originally designed by Gaudi, it is still under construction. 

 It was such a change to what we had seen that it took our breathe away. 

 The front door

 Interior. It was difficult to find any rational pattern or geometry so all that we could do was stare. The light inside bounced off every faceted surface and made the interior almost seem delicate. 

 William and Todd

 We continued on our Gaudi hunt through Barcelona to Casa Mila, something that we had studied since the beginning of our architectural schooling. Inside we got to see one of the apartments, the attic which now houses a small museum about Gaudi and his inspiration, and the roof. He took much of his design from forms that he saw in nature, from sea creatures to the veins in a leaf.

 One of the doors. 

 Drew, Todd, and me in front of one of the many chimneys that popped up all over the roof

 We then travelled down to the historic district to the Santa Caterina market for lunch. After wandering through the fresh produce, meat, and fish, we found a really cute restaurant within the market. After our beers with lunch, we decided to try their sangria; it was the best I have ever had!

 Park Guell, another Gaudi production. The weather was awesome and the views out to the ocean were pretty amazing.

 Most of us. After the park we went back to our hostel to get ready for dinner and our night out. We had an amazing dinner at a really cute restaurant suggested by my friend Alix who lived there last summer on Las Ramblas. It was so fun to people watch and have good food with good friends. We all went to a small bar on Las Ramblas after dinner before a couple of us went to a discoteca on the beach. All that needs to be said is that it was a good night. After arriving back to our hostel at about 5:30 in the morning we all realized that we had a night to remember. 

 We slept in on Saturday morning and began our day two near the marina. This is my roommates and me at the park by the harbor. 

 The group but sweet Christine is taking the picture. 

 Barcelona Pavilion by Mies Van Der Rohe. The quintessential architecture project; it is actually the first project that i remember learning about.  

 The reflection pond was perfect. 

 National Museum

 Amanda and I sat here for a long time taking in all that is Barcelona. The view was incredible and an adorable spanish man was in front of us playing music. There was nothing more to do than just stare.

 Olympic torch from the 80s.

Andrew and me at the fountain at Olympic park right before we had dinner and had to get some sleep to get up 3:30am venture to the airport. Barcelona was magical and more than any of us could have ever asked for. We loved the contrast with the Italian culture and all agreed that we would go back as soon as possible. 
There is so much more that I could say about this place but for the sake of not rambling, life couldn't get better.