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Hello all! Well I have returned from my 10 day journey to Barcelona, Paris, and Berlin. I will be posting entries and photos for each city, so bare with me as I update!
My class, consisting of 15 students, left last Friday for our journey under the guidance of PSU Landscape Architecture Alum Ken Burg and his wife Nancy. They were both really nice, and fun to hang out with.
The hostel in Barcelona was pretty cool, big, but clean. All the girls shared a dorm room, and the boys another. There was free breakfast, and internet, so we were all pretty happy.
First on the agenda was walking down the famous street La Rambla. Since this field trip was all about studying urban spaces, the roadways were important. La Rambla is used by both people and cars, but people predominate because of the wide sidewalk stretching down the middle of the road (see photos). We checked out a huge market on the street, that was selling everything from candy, to veggies and fruits, to odd animal parts you don't normally see (Heads, Feet, Fetus, and some unmentionables. ek!)
On the second day we did a lot of touring around. We first went up Montjuic Mountain to see the great view of the city, as well as the botanical garden there. There were so neat elements to it (also in the photos!). At the top of the mountain was, of course, and old spanish fort. Yes Dad, I visited a fort. There was actually a pretty cool WWII giant machine gun thing up there. Next was down the mountain, to the waterfront, which was busy with tourists, street vendors, and restaurants. My friend Alix and I grabbed some delicious tapas for lunch! Afterwards, we walked the streets some, and then headed to Parc Citadella. Its a nice park, and one the first things that Gaudi (wild Spanish architect) helped design when he was a student. At night, we popped by the old Cathedral and then hit a local restaurant for some seafood Paella, Sangria, and Flan! So spanish!
Day 3, also full of activites, mostly having to do with Gaudi. First we went to La Sagrada Family, the incomplete church that Gaudi was in the middle of while he died. They are still working on it, and its pretty wild to see. What I can compare it to the most is a drip castle that you make at the beach. With the wet sand that you let plop down in piles. Very interesting. Then we hit up Parc Guell, an area when Gaudi and a developer friend wanted to develop a garden community on. Sadly, it failed for some reason, only selling 2 plots, and so they turned it into a parc with some really neat elements. Next was Casa Mila. An apartment building by Gaudi with an elaborate roof design, we also got to tour one of the apartments that was decorated according to the era (1920ish). That night, the Picasso museum was for free so we checked that out. It was cool, mostly early works. But you could really see how Picasso evolved from a typical painter to the crazy man we know today.
And that is it for Barcelona! Overall, it was my favorite city out the three. I really liked the vibe, the architecture, and how close to the water it was. Unlike Rome, who tends to push the Tiber to the side and ignore it, Barcelona embraces its waterfront. I also enjoyed how there were modern elements to the city that were mixed right in with older, more classic Spanish buildings. I was also really impressed by Gaudi, because even though he is a little wild, the people of 1920s Barcelona accepted his architecture. So I guess that kind of goes to show you what kind of people they are.
Next up ... Paris!
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