Bronze Babes in Barcelona

Hola to you all from Terrassa!

This is both of us and starting from where we left off, we´ll update you of our most recent happenings. Our first full day in the area was spent exploring the little town of Terrassa, where everything is very sleepy in the afternoons. From 1:30-4, all stores and museums were closed, which was of course when touristy us tried to visit them all. We walked about the area, through a gorgeous long park, and discovered that Barcelona playgrounds are very difficult to maneuver. As we were both sweating from our walk in the Spanish heat, a pool that we stumbled upon looked quite tempting. Although Lissa called it a "child´s wading pool" we went anyone and it turned out to indeed be a wading pool, with no place deeper than about 5 feet, but was enjoyable nonetheless.

That evening, we made dinner for ourselves of rice and beans. Our culinary skills really do seem to be improving, if we might say so ourselves. We also managed to eat an entire half of a Spanish melon between the two of us. Those things are quite addicting!

Now to Liz for Day 2

Yesterday was Gaudi day. We started off the morning with Sagrada Familia, which I had visted two years ago when my family and I had come to Barcelona, but the fantastic thing about Sagrada Familia is that since it is still be constructed, it was a whole new experience. We took a guided tour around the partially complete church (hopeful finish date is 2028) and were both enthralled by the way the building was so inspired by nature and also how there are 52 columns as in 52 Sundays in a year and that is a sneaky little touch. After Sagrada Familia we ate our homely packed lunches in a park than walked around Park Guill, a Gaudi designed park that was intended as a "playground for the rich," but was bought by the city for public use. The park was very Amazon-esque and we had an enjoyable though slightly dehyrated ramble through it. We ended up having to walk around an hour and a half to get back towards the center of the city since Park Guill was actually off the map so we had to do some imrpovising in way of directions. After a bit of La Rambla exploration, the main street in Barcelona that is notable for its over-priced cafes and street perfoermers, except we only saw three street performers so it was mainly a walk filled with paella advertisements. Although we did see one man selling pets on the side of the road-rabbits and hamsters and teenie tiny turtles which sent Grace into flury of PETA vengence. Dinner was a small little restaurant off the main streets where Grace had a love affair with some cheese sauce and I enjoyed my roasted veggies and goat cheese the publicly appropriate amount.

Finally we did the tourist thing and went and sawa some flamenco dancers, which was a lot of fast feet and throaty singers that sounded very reminiscent of the Lion King.

A kiss on both cheeks because we are in Spain
-Liz (and Grace)

and now to Grace- Day 3

Our Thursday was spent at the beach, which is highlighted as a definite drawing point to Barcelona. Only about an hour away from Lissa and Alex´s by train and metro, we arrived at the beach ready for a full day of sunshine and waves! The sunshine part was definitely satisfied, but much to my chagrin, waves don´t really exist on these beaches. That fact was in no way a downer for our beach day, however, as we were overwhelmed by the cleanliness and clearness of the beach. The water was so clear that I was actually able to see my feet when I was swimming out deep! The sky was equally clear, as were many of the chests of the fellow sunbathers, both male and female. We both laid there, reading our books, not quite as natural as the locals, but uttering to each other every so often of just how perfect this day really was, with the sun shining, the water warm, and plenty of people to watch (some of whom we´d rather not see in their present state-read:topless middle aged women). I went for a run along the beach, which was absolutely incredible! With the spray of the ocean on my face, I jogged down a while to find a section that was actually more nudist than ours! Certainly new sights in Spain :) Lissa advised us that we never should leave our things unattended, as pickpocketers abound, so any swimming we did was solo. It was fun in a different way, just swimming out as far as we could and floating around for a while, reveling in the fact that we were on an absoutely gorgeous beach in Spain, as I forget every so often!

We scoffed down a lunch of salad bar buffet in quite an animal-like fashion, and then headed out for some additional beach time. When we´d filled our quota of water and sun, we headed back to Terrassa for a special evening. Lissa and Alex had prepared for us and her neighbor family a delicious meal and some harpsichord pieces that she´s preparing for a concert. We had the privilege of our own private concert and I learned that the plucking of the harpsichord is a very moving thing, which almost takes you to another place. Dinner on the terrace was lovely as usual, and then we were treated to even more music from the flute-playing 13-year-old neighbor girl, and later an impromptu guitar/singing duet from Liz and Grace. I was enlightened by how music (and food) can bring people together, as we were all struggling a little bit to communicate between Catalan and English, but any barriers were broken down with melodies and arpeggios flying through the air.

Today is looking to be another day of exploring the city, and then the Festiva Major, the town festival of Terrassa begins. Lissa and Alex have been very closed-lipped about the event, only hinting that there will be lots of fire and dragons, so we are anxious and excited about what is to come!

All my love from Catalonia,
Grace (and Liz)

+ Meeting a kind, rock climbing au pair from Poland who helped us to find the right train station
- Slightly embarrassing ourselves by our loud giddiness over the incredible Spanish cheese
+ Being very entertained by the crazy, probably drunk man on the beach who treated the audience of sunbathers to a song, dance, and beer-can-crushing-on-his-head performance
- Sunburn from the intense sun
+ Showing off our ice cream scooping abilities to the dinner guests
- Not being able to take the Spanish melon back to the states