Grandparents Visit Barcelona!

This weekend, after my Grandma and Grandpa returned from the week-long cruise through the beautiful Mediterranean, I was lucky enough to get another several days to spend with them here in Barcelona. We fit in so much; the first day I took them by the funicular up to Montjuic, where we walked to the Olympic Stadium, through a few park areas, and down to the Museum of National Art of Catalunya, which looks over Plaza Espanya.

 I had gone to see the view before, but hadn't yet explored the museum, so I was so excited to go in. We ate lunch at the cafe in front of the museum, and had the lovely background music of a man playing Flamenco guitar on the steps for spare change. After lunch, we headed into the museum. Although the building looks ancient (I have pictures of it in a previous blog), the paintings on the walls, and ceilings (non-exhibit, but building decoration) were in old-style but looked fairly new, so when I asked the lady at the information booth, it was interesting to learn that the building is only 30 years old! It was built as a pavilion during the World Fair, and has since been converted to an art museum. We first walked into the large open room which was beautiful and had seating and a giant organ, but looked like it wasn't really used for much at all.

Then we walked into the room with the largest dome, and were very impressed by the beautiful paintings that danced across the ceiling.

They even had large reclining chairs to lay down in simply to admire the painting. We definitely had trouble getting back up after plopping down in one of these!

First we went into the contemporary art wing, which held works by artists such as Dalí, Miró, Picasso, and Gaudí.

I took a picture of one of my favorites by Dalí, the portrait of his father:

But unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures of any of the Picasso pieces because they are all privately owned. After we finished this wing, we headed into Renaissance and Baroque art.

Afterwards we headed back, and everybody got ready before we met up again for dinner. Grandma and Grandpa were true Spaniards, as we dined after a long day of walking and exploring, from 8:30-11:00pm. The restaurant was called Alba, just two blocks from the hotel, and it was such a special treat for me! White table clothes, mood-music, racks of very expensive and I'm sure delicious wine along the walls. I even had a glass of champagne with dinner! We each got salads which were presented so beautifully, then Grandpa got steak, which was like 2 cubic inches, served on a piece of flat wood with a cube of scalloped potatoes and some garnish. It was very interesting looking. I got gazpacho, and for dessert they each got chocolate cake and I got a personal chocolate fondue with exotic fruit! It was soooo good! The next day, all of our legs were arching quite a bit, so we chose a more mellow way of seeing the city--a bus tour. This way they got to see areas of the city I hadn't even made my way to yet! It was cool to be able to hop on and off wherever, or just sit and cruise for a couple of hours. We eventually got off at La Sagrada Familia because that was one of the site that they definitely wanted to visit. However, we were tired at the end of the day, and after taking a load off at the corner Starbucks with some piping hot cocoa, we decided to retire for the day, and dedicate the better part of the next one to giving our full attention to the cathedral. That evening I took them to a local pizza joint down the street from my apartment, and then for gelato across the street. Another great day. The next morning, we headed out, just as planned to the Sagrada Familia after our regular morning coffeehouse stop (more on that in a minute), only to find a line of people literally wrapped around the entire perimeter. Although tourist season has mostly died down, the Pope is coming to Barcelona this Sunday to consecrate the cathedral, and perhaps all the advertising has got people excited. Well we had to ditch our plans to take an inside tour, but instead we went to La Rambla. Although this crowded, colorful street can be overwhelming, entertaining, even scary, intense stimuli-overload, it is a big part of Barcelona today, so a good sight to see on a short visit. They got to see the crazy costumes of street performers wearing goblin masks, dragon costumes, or princess dresses, the vendors selling birds and hamsters, yummy artisan chocolates (not from the same vendor of course, that'd be risky), and finally we made our way to a cafe on a side street to relax. The evening ended with us visiting our American-themed restaurant (came to be our most frequent stop as the only thing open for dinner before 8:30), and a nice long chat before heading back to their hotel and saying goodbye. Okay so now about the cafe. We found a yummy, cozy cafe right between their hotel and my apartment that we made a habit of going to every morning and getting the same things. They always grabbed the comfy chairs in the window while I went up to order their fresh-squeezed orange juice and pastries, and my morning cafe americano. A perfect start to the mornings.

I had such a fun time having family here, and to be able to show people around and take them to the places and things I see everyday was really enjoyable.

It's hard to get back on to a normal schedule after family visits, because you feel like your on vacation. This week I have been really sick, and am just now starting to get better. I can go to class now, but annoy the heck out of everyone sitting near me who have to listen to an hour and a half of my pitiful half-coughs.  With midterms and papers knocking on my door, the pressure to stay on top of everything, even with all of the upcoming travel plans, is causing the reality of school and responsibilities to really kick in. However, my lovely friend Leslie from Santa Cruz just finished her abroad program in Europe and will be visiting me in Barcelona for 4 days this week which I'm really excited about! I have a few more pictures to add that don't really fit anywhere in my blog, but I though I should post them anyways:
Here is a picture of the Cram Hotel, where we walked in circles around the elevator like three times pushing on walls before we could find the bathroom door:

I though this was interesting. I have shown the view from my balcony onto Gran Via, a busy city street, but I hadn't seen the view from my roommates window on the other side of the house which looks like it could be from a different country!:

And here is lovely Layla soaking up the view:

Tomorrow I am meeting friends for the once-a-month honey and cheese market in Barcelona, in the Gothic Quarter, that is supposed to be really neat and sweet. Then this weekend will be hard studying and writing so that I won't have my head in the books once Leslie gets here. I hope you are all doing really well, and I miss you all bunches and bunches! Love, Megs