Lisping the Esses

At dinner with two Serbian women, one American, and three guys from Mexico I met on my train to Barcelona.
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I really enjoyed Paris.  Entertainment ranged from opera to public park.  Food from l'escargots to kebab.  And people from look-down-your-nose to pierce-your-nose.  However, had I the power to wave a magic wand over the city, I would have added a few more things.  To start, I'd clear up the weather.  Then add a coast with loungeable beach.  And, just for good measure, finish with a world-class football team.  I couldn't have known it at the time, but had I done that, I would have created another Barcelona.  Well, minus the speech impediment.

Palau Guell, one of the many Gaudi buildings throughout this city.
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I stayed in Barcelona for six nights split between two separate trips.  The first had a single purpose: watch Spain play for the European Football Championship.  Once they won their semi-final match, I rescheduled train tickets for a two-day stay in Catalonya's capital in hopes of sharing a Spanish victory with the locals.  My gamble paid off in full.  Aboard my train, I met six great people from different countries, including a soccer player from the U.S., with whom I'd watch the match.  I arrived the day before game day to give myself plenty of time to find an appropriate venue for the worthy event.  But after a day of investigating public parks in hopes of finding a big screen, Brian and I were empty-handed.  Feeling somewhat defeated, we resolved ourselves to watch the match at a beachfront bar.  It was on our metro ride to the beach the first half of our redemption came.  A local couple told us the city had banned public big screens after some unpleasant rowdiness occurred.  It seems our search may have been in vain but at least not due to our own stupidity, and that was a comforting consolation.

A rare opportunity to see the metamorphosis of uncut stone into a wonder of the world.

Walking along one of the many seaports in the city.
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Redemption part two came as the final seconds of the game ticked away.  Handshakes and high fives.  Singing and dancing.  Spain were 'could-have-beens' no longer.  They were European champions.  The festivities transferred from the private venues of homes and pubs to the public ones of Plazas Catalunya and Espanya in true Spanish fashion.  Red and gold war paint was striped below the eyes, and every fourth person was a national superhero with the flag as his cape.  The hours passed and little changed.  As the booze flowed, more lampposts and fountains were scaled as jungle gyms while firecracker detonations and airhorn blasts replaced song and chant.  Near 2am, early by Spanish standards, I had given and received enough congratulations for something over which none of us had any control, so I endowed the duty of watching the post V-day sunrise to the hardcore Catalonians.

Don't know who it's by or where it was...but that doesn't keep it from being interesting.
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This first trip to the city was entirely football driven, but I did manage to diversify my interests for a few hours with one very significant visit.  During our search for a public TV screen, Brian and I found ourselves close to La Sagrada Familia.  Since he knew nothing about Antoni Gaudi's work, I thought the unfinished masterpiece was a good place to start.  It has been under construction for over 120 years.  Some say it is due to its funding coming only from private donations and alms.  Others say the government's desire to build a high-speed train near its foundation has slowed progress.  While these may be real factors, I believe it is largely due to its complexity and detail.  Look at the the album photos and decide for yourself, but even throughout his 43 years as Project Director, Gaudi is quoted as saying, "Our customer is in no rush."  When he entered the church, at first all Brian saw were the cranes, forklifts, and scaffolding of the world's most visited construction site.  But after reading about and pondering its synthesis, he soon came to see it as I do - a rare opportunity to see the metamorphosis of uncut stone and raw iron into a wonder of the world.

One of the draws of Barcelona, its gorgeous Mediterranean coast.
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Gaudi's Barcelona is odd, intriguing, and beautiful.  The gothic palace of Palau Guell was the first building commissioned for his patron, Eusebi Guell.  Now a small museum, Casa Battlo's ripples and undulations mark the first work entirely Gaudian.  And Parc Guell crowns the city by spanning acres of hilltop with naturalist motifs mixing with modern mosaics.  But as Antoni Gaudi concentrated solely on La Sagrada Familia, another artist synonymous with the city creeped into brighter spotlight, Pablo Picasso.  His life and artistic maturation is wonderfully laid out chronologically in the Museu Picasso, the foremost Picasso museum in the world.  It depicts his growth from a talented young portrait and landscape painter through his well-known Blue and Red Periods and up to the creation of Cubism.  Not many of his Cubist works are here since they are shared in galleries throughout the world, but this museum does have several post-Cubist studies: pottery, interpretive copies of 'Las Meninas', and the private collection of his closest friend and confidant, Jaume Sabartes.

La Sagrada Familia, the world's most visited construction site.
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As alluded to earlier, Barcelona has the draw of a beautiful Mediterranean coastline.  Many visitors jump to the beaches within reach of their hotels.  However, a 20-minute train ride out of the city offers more spacious beaches and clearer waters.  I wouldn't have known about Ocata, the beach I visited on my lazy Sunday, if not for the resident knowledge of Amelie, the sister of my good friend from New Zealand and Shanghai, Alex.  Since the weather was scheduled to change, especially with my next destination being Ireland, we all soaked in as much of the 30+ degree rays but always tempered them with dips in the cool, blue sea.

Jesus meets the Stormtroopers at La Sagrada Familia.
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For my final day in Catalonya's capital, I stuck with the naturalist theme.  The city is nestled amongst several hills before it reaches the sea, and the largest of these is Montjuic.  Situated just west of the main drags, this mountain peers east into the everyday life of the urbanites as well as west into the docks and industrial heart of this port city.  With a day's time, there is much to see on Montjuic.  At the top is Castell de Montjuic, a 17th century fortification.  To reach it, there are numerous footpaths accompanied by silent gardens, and a teleferic, or gondola, providing aerial views of the city during transit.  For museum junkies, the Museu Nacional D'art de Catalunya and Museu D'arqueologia de Catalunya boast large collections and are impressive architectural feats in their own rights.  And for the sports fans like myself, this where the world drew its attention in 1992.  The Estadi Olimpic, Galeria Olimpica, Anella Olimpica, and Museu Olimpic are all here on this hill, ideally situated for a grocery-store lunch of jamon serrano, queso manchego, fruit, and wine.