Howitzer

Ahh...the beach in Barcelona. Today (Wednesday), we spent a lazy afternoon eating lunch, and then lounging around at the beach. Otherwise, an uneventful day.

So we arrived in Barcelona Wednesday, after an 8 hour bus ride through the Iberian country side. We passed through dry hills sparsely filled with hardy bushes, and occasional stretches of farmland. The entire time I kept thinking about the Romans marching across the land, heading to conquer the major cities of the Spanish lands. Or the Madrid army striding into the Catalan lands, ready to make new slaves. The three of us slept on and off for the entire trip, given that we didn´t sleep much the night before.

It may have just been the area that we stayed in, but Madrid seemed more like a quaint little spanish town. In contrast, Barcelona was a big wonderful city, filled with energy and night life. We stayed right in the downtown area of the city, near a street called Rambla dels Caputxins. It´s an avenue with a huge pedestrian mall in the middle, with cars going on either side of it. There were people shopping, eating, and in general wandering around.

Our hostel hostess was very nice, and showed us all the good places to eat and have fun. We finally had paella for dinner that night. Paella is a traditional dish made of rice, stock, and various seafoods. We also had monkfish marinera, along with another bottle of wine for dinner. Afterwards we went to the happiest gelateria, for an awesome dessert.


Our first day in Barcelona didn´t come without hitch. We ended up going to the wrong area of Barcelona first, when looking for our hostel. We ended up in the immigrant area (read: Chinatown), and couldn´t find our hostel. Luckily we figured out that our actual hostel was in the city center, and were promptly on our way.

-Howitzer

Madrid Day 2, Tuesday 29^th: We spent our second day in Madrid mainly touring the Prado Museum of Art, watching the Spain-Portugal soccer game, and general lazing around. Phil tried to go back to the airport to look for his wallet, except we found out that there was an unexpected worker’s strike for the metro. Unfortunately, that means there’s no chance of us finding his wallet, and we won’t be getting devious discounts using his student card.

Drinking wine in Spain seems very common. For lunch, we ordered a bottle of wine along with our meal, which cost 5 euro! For some reason, they never charged us for it. We even saw an insurance salesman eating lunch alone, who ordered a whole bottle of red wine for himself. I remember staring at him as he finished that bottle on his own. After finishing our bottle for lunch, we went straight to another bar, and ordered a second bottle of wine, this time a red wine. In fact, people here seem to drink alcohol all the time. Just today, Richard witnessed an old man down a bottle of beer for breakfast; we were in a little restaurant with a diner bar in it. I saw a singular tap that customers were getting beer from. Furthermore, I noticed that most of the 3 course meal combos included a choice of wine, beer, or water.

After lunch wine and olives...delicious.

Back to the wine itself, I find it to be really good. As Phil describes it, it’s very mild tasting. Sweet to taste, it’s almost like a delectable juice, with a hint of alcohol, mixed in with different fruity aromas. I’m making up the part about aromas, as I can barely smell, but I’m pretty sure I’m right here. “Rioja” is for reds, “Tinted” is for pinks, and “Blanca” is for whites. I think our tastes in wine tend towards whites.

The Prado Museum was our main attraction for the date. Housing over XXXX pieces of art, mostly Spain paintings, we spent a good many hours in there. I don’t really like Spanish art all that much, compared to French or Italian works, but there were a few famous pieces there that I had learned about in art history class. It’s pretty cool to learn about masterpieces, and then to actually see them in real life later. I think my first such experience was in the DIA in Detroit, where I saw Judith with the Head of Holofernes. I remember thinking “…hey….I know that piece….” and staring in semi-awe. I still had the same feeling in the Prado Museum. Here’s a list of the more famous pieces I saw in Prado.

The Family of Charles IV – Goya

The Third of May – Goya

Self Portrait – Durer

The Garden of Earthly Delights – Bosch

Las Meninas – Velasquez

David Victorious over Goliath – Carvaggio

We haven’t been sleeping much the past few days. Including this morning (Wed 30^th), the three of us have missed 3 nights of sleep the past week. After the Prado Museum, we headed to Retiro Park, which is sort of like Central Park in NYC. I think we made it about 50 meters into the park before passing out for an hour on the first park benches we saw. Funny, because after waking up and continuing our walk, we found that there were grassy areas that we could have slept on instead, just around the corner.

Retiro Park, evening nap.

Unfortunately, Tuesday night Spain defeated Portugal in soccer. You can guess how crazy the night was, with people partying until at least 5am. I was rooting for Portugal too. I guess I have a sadistic side somewhere, because I really wanted to see the people here disappointed.

That’s all for now. Not sure how long I can keep up these lengthy updates.

-Howitzer

Typed up after the fact:

I'm somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean right now. I spent most of my last two weeks enjoying the company of friends, basically giving myself a send off from Ann Arbor before heading to Europe. I went to Restaurant Week, ice skating, star gazing, night time driving, and of course, late night music sessions. After returning from Europe, my time in Ann Arbor will be limited. Hopefully, I'll be allowed to return to the solitude and banishment known as MIT. I'll try to enjoy the trip as much as I can. Though I'm looking forward to the sights, food, and culture, I'm mostly hoping to mature some more. To grow mentally stronger, and more prepared for a return to school.

"Eurotrip" is pretty much going to be epic. Richard, Phil, and I....in Europe....'nuff said. I'm gonna see awesome cathedrals and paintings, look at old statues, eat delicious food, and go to ridiculous clubs. I think though, the most important thing you take home from a trip like this isn't just the fun things you do, but the memories you create and the bonds you forge with the friends you travel with. I can always cook at home...and look at pictures on google, right? These memories will be yet one more weapon in my arsenal to fight off loneliness in Boston.

Cheers to an awesome Eurotrip.

Edit: So now we're actually in Madrid, and will be here for the next three days. Phil has already lost his wallet. "FML" - Phil. I'm also running on 3 hours of sleep in the past two days.

Today, we arrived at the hostel, and walked around the "Sol" area, which is a central location in the heart of Madrid. Madrid actually seems to be a lot smaller than I imagined. It feels more like a small town, than a bustling metropolis. Perhaps I need to see more of the city first. We walked around in the afternoon, and saw that most of the establishments were closed. For those that don't know, the Spaniards run on a slow and relaxed schedule: siesta and long lunches in the afternoon, late dinners that start around 9-10pm.

Since we hadn't slept much in the past few days, we walked around and saw a palace, and the Cathedral de la Almudena. My first cathedral in Europe! This one was quiet interesting, though I think it was relatively newly built. It had gothic-style arches, and these huge brass doors leading into the cathedral. The cathedral also had interesting stained glass artwork. The artwork depicted traditional images of Jesus and friends, but was done in a modernistic style. I think it could be considered cubist.



After some sight seeing, we took a short nap back at the hostel, and went out for some food. Spanish tapas are a sort of eat-while-standing-up small plates. We had a bunch of different plates, and glasses of wine to complement. Our wine was really mild tasting, and slightly more sweet. It was really easy to drink.



- Howitzer

Here's a great song from the venerable Michael Jackson. I discovered while watching a street performer. The song bubbles with happiness that typifies the Jackson 5. While the song is great, I also want to point out something interesting from the music video. If you watch the video, you'll notice an overabundance of the "shadow-follower" effect. I guess that effects people had just invented the special effect, and were a little over enthusiastic in playing with their new toy.

I've been listening to AC/DC quite a bit recently. I'm still discovering things about them, but more and more they're starting to reach "best band EVER" status. Today I wanted to point out the beginning drum line to Highway to Hell. The song starts with a few screeching guitar notes. It's pretty good, but nothing special, but then, the drum line starts. Elegantly simple, yet it evokes such a feeling of rocking hard badass. The almost mediocre guitar line becomes much more important in a supporting role to the simple drum line. The laid back vocals add a finishing touch to this great song.

I'm sitting here, legs crossed, letting my heartbeat rock my body gently back and forth. I must be at peace.