With my two best travel buddies, Maggie and Alex, we got together with some of our good friends and went to Barcelona for the weekend. We met up with 3 friends who were studying in Spain and 2 more who were studying in Italy. It was a great group!
We flew there on a wonderful air line called RyanAir. When i say wonderful i really mean a pain in the butt. They are super picky about bags and weight and such. But they get you arou
nd Europe for cheap so we love them! We flew there Friday and did the usual walk around the city, which is really really big. It is a beautiful city with lots of people and lots of sun!Saturday we hit the major places to see. We went to the Picasso art Museum which of course i loved. He is a very interesting painter and this museum set up his work very nicely. It was in chronological order which is fascinating with Picasso's work! He started out as a very meticulous and realistic painter: portraits, landscapes, the usual. But something clicked latter and life and his work become more and more abstract. We had a meeting time and a place to meet when we were each all done with the museum. I ended up breaking away from our group because i was in my own world and interested in different things. When i met up with them again they had been looking for me and were so glad i found them, haha, my bad! I just was fascinated with the way
that Picasso developed so i went through all the rooms really fast to see his development and then went back to my favorites and enjoyed the ones that caught my eye the most. I guess i do thing a little different than most people do at museums. This picture is my favorite of all the ones i saw that day! It is an odd picture because i was not suppose to take it: it was another sneaky stolen picture haha. There is a lot to this painting that i could tell you about but ill leave it up to your imagination. Just know i love it!Next we went to the famous Gaudi Cathedral. I know that i studied in it one of my first Art History classes but i do not remember much about it. Maggie however remembered a lot and loved that we were standing in front of it! In my opinion it looks like a huge 'dribble castle'
like the sand castles we made on the beach. Its pretty funky looking and is constantly under construction because it is not finished yet. It is also being cleaned so one of these pictures shows the difference between the cleaned and uncleaned areas. You can definitely tell! Pretty crazy huh!?
We conquered the public transportation of Barcelona as well. Which is always funny! But we got around in the end. On our way back to the hostel we came across the biggest farmers market i have
ever seen! It is famous but none of us knew that until after we explored it a bit. There was food everywhere! Tons of candy in all colors. Fruit literally spilling over the sides of the carts. Veggies so fresh and delicious looking. Even the fish market area was amazing! And im not a huge fan of the smell of fish but this place was awesome! We had to be careful not to lose each other or our purses because everyone was packed into this place like sardines. 
Barcelona ended up being a little bit of a sketchy city. I was more nervous about my purse there than any where else i have been. Im not sure why. Just set of my red alarm a bit more than usual. So we were all being really careful as we baught fresh fruit, veggies, and amazing chocolate :)
At the end of the day we fallowed one of the girls who was studying in Spain up to the highest points in the city and watched the sun set over the city! It was beautiful. We saw all the way to the ocean which made Maggie and miss home a bit.
Sunday morning we headed down to the ocean! Barcelona is a port city and has a beautiful dock area. Sail boat were everywhere, sorta like Long Beach. On our way down we found a bunch of outdoor artists and jewelry makers. The farmers market of art! Then we hit water! Actually before we hit water we came across this huge statue of Columbus, haha. He was Protegees but couldn't get the funding from the Portages to find America, so he went to Spain and asked the Queen. She funded his trip. In reality he gets way too much credit for something that he did not do but we will let the Spanish be proud of their rather unnecessarily large statue to the man who 
brought destruction and death to the Native Americans. Haha i know a little harsh, but true! The statue looks over the beautiful port, filled with sail boats and people. It was a beautiful morning and we loved being near the ocean again!
So this was a little longer weekend for me because i took the day off on Monday and went to Rome again. To meet Babo! Babo being the word for Dad in Italian :) Dad was in Rome for a business trip this week so i met him and we both took a ditch day to explore Rome! He came at the perfect time. I was just starting to realize how much i miss family and friends from the States. Just a side note: this trip has really showed me even more how important family is to me 
and how much family and friends make up my home, and home really is where my heart is! So dad and i walked all over Rome, and when i say all over, i MEAN ALL OVER! The Colosseum, The Roman Form, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, St. Peter's, and a few more but i think i have done enough name dropping ;) Baba worked her magic and got us a wonderful tour of the Coliseum! The ticket got us to the Form as well. It was perfect! 
I figured that if i did not see everything i wanted to this 2nd trip to Rome then i would go again with the school next week. But with the Tour of the Colosseum and all of the walking we did, i do not think there is anything else in Rome that i need to see, haha. It was a very successful adventure with Dad in Rome!
Dads favorite thing that he saw was
the Trevi Fountian and my favorite was the Pantheon. Both are amazing pieces of work.
On Tuesday moring i got back to Florence and had class until 12:30, after which i took a nice long nap! I had my Arncient Art class that morning and guess what we learned about?? All of the things Dad and i had seen the day before, litterally all of the buildings and temples my teacher mentioned Dad and i had seen, haha. Sorry Dad we should have gone one day later because i could have told you a lot more about what we were looking at! Oh but we both taused a coin into the Trevi Fountain... that means we will be back ;)
This weekend was just want i needed and was, as always, an adventure! I got a good amount of Vitamin D from the sun in Barcelona and Rome. I had a lot of fun with some great friends. And i got to see 'mia Babo' MY DAD!
Love and Miss you all!
3 comments:
Hi Jules! Wonderful to read of your continuing adventures. We feel that you should be a host on a travel channel of some sort :)
LOTS of love, Tracy, Rick and Mandixxx000
Alyssa would be in full argeement with your feelings towards Columbus. When she was in 4th grade she told me that she no longer wanted to live in the US because of what the people here had done to the Indians! Love it! Can't wait to see all the pictures that you haven't been able to post. We love you and can't wait for more!
hugs and kisses, the little Hopfs
I have to agree, your enthusiasm and knowledge would be an added plus as a tour guide. I'd say we go there as a family and we hire YOU as the guide :-). I've taken a few travel classes and I think I have learned more from your blogs!
PS: Your dad equally loved his time with you. He was telling us about the Pantheon's architecture and precision structure.
Lots of love to you and happy travels!
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