It was a rather cold and wet weekend in the UK. Strong winds, heck I was queuing up for the fantastic 418 when I saw some white stuff pelting on the coat of this lady before me, small pieces of ice - hail!
Anyway it was cold, wet and to be honest, when Monday came, I was almost glad I was getting out of the UK. The flight to Barcelona was easy enough. But the thing was, I wasn´t mentally prepared for Barcelona. (Simi mentally prepared, holiday, holiday lah... I can hear some people´s thoughts as I type). Well, seeing that I am an ENTJ (MBTI). I kinda need everything planned down to almost the dot before I feel secure and safe to venture into the big bad world. But this trip, I wasn´t very enthusiastic at the start so there were so many things I didn´t even prepare for this trip, not even reading about what´s there to see at Barcelona. Not till I was on board EZY6025 TO Barcelona.
By the time I got to Barcelona, I had a bit of a shock. Firstly, no one really spoke English. So I had to recall my very bad Spanish, from my 3 months of Spanish lessons some 5 years ago.* Upon reaching city centre, I somehow instinctively headed for the shopping street. hahahhaha
Anyway I am staying at Hostal Girona, this rather dodgey looking old converted hotel. The owner put me in this room that looked like some poor artiste had stayed in and decided it was too shabby even for him to stay in it. And yours truely stayed in it.
Anyway the room had a shower, but no toilet. I mean, in what parallel universe is Barcelona in? No toilet but has a shower? The room gave me the creeps. Half the night I was up trying to cover my ears with my arms, and of cos my arms were numbed halfway. So I was up half the night, and watched TV. And came onto some cheesy porn channel. Yup, you heard it, porn. I mean all other channels were in Spanish, so it made no difference what channel I watched.
But what was hilarious was that there was a scene with a car chase, and this lady came out of the car in underwear and a satin robe. God knows why she was in her undies. She, apparently, went to her friend´s house. And her friend also came out in her undies and another silky robe. So anyway this friend of hers came out with a bat, and waited for the chaser (is that the right word?) And he (had to be a guy, right?) and she seduced him, then used the bat to hit him.
Just when I was wondering where was the porn in this, she went into the house where the first lady was resting, and I think there was some hot and happening after that. It HAD to be 2 women together. Obviously this porn is for men. I don´t understand the fascination with women together sex for men. Anyway I got bored, and it even put me to sleep. hahhaha
Anyway day one of Barcelona was just some getting my directions right. Day Two was when I set off to visit Temple of La Sagrada Familia by Antoni Gaudi. You know that massive church with huge towers (tallest one to be 173m) that´s still under construction? I was thinking who the hell is this Gaudi guy, and after looking at it I am now a Gaudi convert. He had a unique way of transposing designs from nature onto buildings and his design ideas were so innovative for his time, and even now.
I took the lift up and had to be at least 100m from ground. Only to find after going down halfway the tower and back up to the lift top, that the man in the lift wouldn´t take us down in the lift. I had already done at least 100 steps of each 30cm in height. So apparently going down was something like 300 steps, seemed like 3,000 to me. By the end of it my legs were wobbly.
And my word, they hurt like hell today. My legs and my flat feet.
Anyway I was thoroughly impressed by Gaudi´s works and decided to visit another building he had done - La Pedrera. This supposed residential area that looked like it was carved out of a cave. Gaudi´s designs not only affected the exterior, it also made effective use of internal space, ergonomics and also made effective use of natural light. The house inside was so bright and cheery.
Then I walked down Passeig de Gracia which was supposedly the Orchard Road and ended up at Plaça Catalunya where all things happened. Of cos by then my feet were hurting, so I went back to my Hostal to ask for a change of room. The second room was better, but it stank of smoke. And I can´t open the windows. So my strategy was to go out for longer hours (i.e. blogging at an internet cafe) and then go home later.
* First proper sentence of Spanish that I muttered was ¿Donde esta Casa Mila? Which translates into Where is Casa Mila? Had to blog that cos the spanish keyboard has these funny keys like the upside down question mark¿ and ç and ñ and º and ª. hahhaha :)
K, 10 minutes left, I should go, feet hurting. More of days 2 and 3 later!
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