Sunday, May 23, 2004
From Friday night:What an incredible day. At 2:30 am can’t use main computer so taking it down before I forget everything.
Where I left off yesterday. Left UPC around 7 after mainly doing internet catch-up. On train ride, saw that woman across from me was reading Japanese book so asked her about it in Japanese. She was surprised that I could speak a little so I told her about being in Tokyo last summer. She had an instrument strapped to her back--turns out she plays violin professionally for a local orchestra and has been living in Barcelona for 9 years. She invited me to the Japanese library, where she volunteers.
Got off at Plaza Espanya for Dali exhibit. Arrived there kind of late--only 20 minutes to go through before closing but still enough for a good look. Most amusing was a photo with Dali, a chair, paint, and three cats all suspended in the air.
Friday got off to a lazy start, thinking I was just going to study but then I remembered the weather report saying that rain was predicted for the weekend so if I wanted to go to Montserrat, that was the day. So rush to make lunch to go and consult my travel guides, then training back to Plaza Espanya. Kind of a mess since I was running late and asked for help so ended up getting on wrong train and luckily realized my mistake and got off, but had already missed my own train. Luckily they let me go in and out so I could spend more time in the Dali exhibit. This time it was a really different experience. A LOT more people, several school groups as well as a group of “special” adults who were a little loud. Noticed many pictures I missed the first time, especially Dali's advertisements which were surprisingly many. He even did several TV ads, including one for Alka Seltzer and Datsun.
So I got back with a little time to spare before train arrived. When it did, followed mom and kid who ran madly to train car further down so I could get a seat. Hour long trip, entertained by an Indian family, mom and three small kids who were playing. Got off at wrong stop as it turned out since we weren’t told where to get off and my stupid Let’s Go guide was wrong. A lot of people made the same mistake since we had the cable car ticket instead of funicular ticket so we had to buy another ticket unless we wanted to wait an hour.
Same woman who I had followed previously heard my story and tried to talk the attendant into letting me through or looking the other way, calling her love in several different languages, at which point she gave up and said her only other option was swearing. She was so calm and smooth, with a gentle Australian or soft British sounding accent. Both she and the kid had long blond hair and were dressed similarly in sandals,tank tops and skirts. Vaguely reminded of slightly older and more peaceful version of Kate Winslet's character from "Hideous Kinky".
I bought the ticket and ended up talking with them. Girl asked me where I was from and when I said U.S., mum said “She’s an American girl” to which daughter said “No one is where I’m from --Canadian. And my mom’s from Africa” Teased her for not having Canadian patch on her backpack but mum said they had playing cards to show off where they were from. Turns out mum was born in Zambia and spent a lot of time in Botswana. They try to travel a lot, mentioned it would be good to visit a new country every year, and they were spending this holiday in Spain. Got separated as they looked for food and I walked in the wrong direction but then we both ended up walking towards the monastery. Girl (Molly) took my hand and started running. Was hoping to hear singing boys at 1, but guess they had already sung. Instead caught some regular school kids singing in courtyard. Went through wrong corridor which which the candle/offering section and wanted to go in church, but mum said they were taking their time and would wander in later. Had that wistful feeling of knowing I would probably never see them again but went on into church. Ended up feeling like stupid tourist since just fell into line which ended up being a 20 minute wait to see La Morenita, the black virgin who was Catalunya's patron saint.
Stopped by art museum next, but was short on cash so decided to go up mountain with cable cars first. Went up to Sant Joan first. Saw the Indian family again and talked with the mom a little. She had already come so wished I had said something to her on the train so she could have told me where to get off. Her friend was visiting from India so she was serving as a tour guide. Hiked up to where monastery supposedly was, was run down, graffiti filled building with terrace that gave great views. Went back down other paths to find other monastery, but went down part of way of mountain instead. Came back in time to take picture of Norwegian couple going down mountain. Much less crowded than monastery below and very peaceful. Was about to go down when talked to cable car attendant who pointed me in direction of other path. Would have been 1-1/2 hr walk to peak, so just walked 15 minutes to mirador and turned back. Passed several rock climbers--much scarier looking than rock walls in gym.
Finally went back down to get on cable car down to Covas which ended up being less exciting. More of a pilgrimage route and the so called cave had been turned into a chapel with a replica of the virgen. A lot of candles and offerings left. Talked with guy visiting from Sevilla who explained background of place. On way back met people he came with, one of whom had worked there for many years and told about helping a Puerto Rican girl who had been robbed and had come to Montserrat looking for help. He ended up housing her and helping her get to the consulate and such.
Had a little time to spare so went back to museum and looked at collection via the postcards and books. Several really cool ones including ___. Got back on 6:06, making sure of train connections this time, ran back to travel agency which was closing but which renewed my reservation. Had tried to get in touch with Elsa, woman from Basque country who I met on orkut who was in Barcelona for weekend but had to leave message with person she was staying with. He called back and Edu told him to call back around 9. Edu stayed off internet to wait for call, but finally went online so Flo suggested I send him a text message instead. He called back shortly afterwards and told me to me up with them at 10 at Plaza del Rei for a dancing event. At that point it was 9:50 already so I just ate in a rush and hopped on the metro. I brought my Basque book with me so that they could recognize me.
Plaza del Rei was filled with people dancing, live band and large neon stick figure. Looked around for several minutes but Elsa found me, recognizing me from my profile photo. She was older than I was expecting, probably in her late 30s. It turned out there were quite a variety of dances being taught/performed--the trolley? (very similar to sardana), paso doble, mazurka and several other circle dances. Very fun. Reminded me of Chicago Summerdance but in a more intimate environment surrounded by medieval architecture. Gradually met more of
Elsa's friends who were very friendly. Afterwards we went to an Irish pub where I had oj and they had Guiness. One of them,Joan got into the singing with a very good Irish accent. After chatting for a while, walked down Rambla at 2 am to catch last metro back. Got invited to dinner with them for Saturday. TBC
Where I left off yesterday. Left UPC around 7 after mainly doing internet catch-up. On train ride, saw that woman across from me was reading Japanese book so asked her about it in Japanese. She was surprised that I could speak a little so I told her about being in Tokyo last summer. She had an instrument strapped to her back--turns out she plays violin professionally for a local orchestra and has been living in Barcelona for 9 years. She invited me to the Japanese library, where she volunteers.
Got off at Plaza Espanya for Dali exhibit. Arrived there kind of late--only 20 minutes to go through before closing but still enough for a good look. Most amusing was a photo with Dali, a chair, paint, and three cats all suspended in the air.
Friday got off to a lazy start, thinking I was just going to study but then I remembered the weather report saying that rain was predicted for the weekend so if I wanted to go to Montserrat, that was the day. So rush to make lunch to go and consult my travel guides, then training back to Plaza Espanya. Kind of a mess since I was running late and asked for help so ended up getting on wrong train and luckily realized my mistake and got off, but had already missed my own train. Luckily they let me go in and out so I could spend more time in the Dali exhibit. This time it was a really different experience. A LOT more people, several school groups as well as a group of “special” adults who were a little loud. Noticed many pictures I missed the first time, especially Dali's advertisements which were surprisingly many. He even did several TV ads, including one for Alka Seltzer and Datsun.
So I got back with a little time to spare before train arrived. When it did, followed mom and kid who ran madly to train car further down so I could get a seat. Hour long trip, entertained by an Indian family, mom and three small kids who were playing. Got off at wrong stop as it turned out since we weren’t told where to get off and my stupid Let’s Go guide was wrong. A lot of people made the same mistake since we had the cable car ticket instead of funicular ticket so we had to buy another ticket unless we wanted to wait an hour.
Same woman who I had followed previously heard my story and tried to talk the attendant into letting me through or looking the other way, calling her love in several different languages, at which point she gave up and said her only other option was swearing. She was so calm and smooth, with a gentle Australian or soft British sounding accent. Both she and the kid had long blond hair and were dressed similarly in sandals,tank tops and skirts. Vaguely reminded of slightly older and more peaceful version of Kate Winslet's character from "Hideous Kinky".
I bought the ticket and ended up talking with them. Girl asked me where I was from and when I said U.S., mum said “She’s an American girl” to which daughter said “No one is where I’m from --Canadian. And my mom’s from Africa” Teased her for not having Canadian patch on her backpack but mum said they had playing cards to show off where they were from. Turns out mum was born in Zambia and spent a lot of time in Botswana. They try to travel a lot, mentioned it would be good to visit a new country every year, and they were spending this holiday in Spain. Got separated as they looked for food and I walked in the wrong direction but then we both ended up walking towards the monastery. Girl (Molly) took my hand and started running. Was hoping to hear singing boys at 1, but guess they had already sung. Instead caught some regular school kids singing in courtyard. Went through wrong corridor which which the candle/offering section and wanted to go in church, but mum said they were taking their time and would wander in later. Had that wistful feeling of knowing I would probably never see them again but went on into church. Ended up feeling like stupid tourist since just fell into line which ended up being a 20 minute wait to see La Morenita, the black virgin who was Catalunya's patron saint.
Stopped by art museum next, but was short on cash so decided to go up mountain with cable cars first. Went up to Sant Joan first. Saw the Indian family again and talked with the mom a little. She had already come so wished I had said something to her on the train so she could have told me where to get off. Her friend was visiting from India so she was serving as a tour guide. Hiked up to where monastery supposedly was, was run down, graffiti filled building with terrace that gave great views. Went back down other paths to find other monastery, but went down part of way of mountain instead. Came back in time to take picture of Norwegian couple going down mountain. Much less crowded than monastery below and very peaceful. Was about to go down when talked to cable car attendant who pointed me in direction of other path. Would have been 1-1/2 hr walk to peak, so just walked 15 minutes to mirador and turned back. Passed several rock climbers--much scarier looking than rock walls in gym.
Finally went back down to get on cable car down to Covas which ended up being less exciting. More of a pilgrimage route and the so called cave had been turned into a chapel with a replica of the virgen. A lot of candles and offerings left. Talked with guy visiting from Sevilla who explained background of place. On way back met people he came with, one of whom had worked there for many years and told about helping a Puerto Rican girl who had been robbed and had come to Montserrat looking for help. He ended up housing her and helping her get to the consulate and such.
Had a little time to spare so went back to museum and looked at collection via the postcards and books. Several really cool ones including ___. Got back on 6:06, making sure of train connections this time, ran back to travel agency which was closing but which renewed my reservation. Had tried to get in touch with Elsa, woman from Basque country who I met on orkut who was in Barcelona for weekend but had to leave message with person she was staying with. He called back and Edu told him to call back around 9. Edu stayed off internet to wait for call, but finally went online so Flo suggested I send him a text message instead. He called back shortly afterwards and told me to me up with them at 10 at Plaza del Rei for a dancing event. At that point it was 9:50 already so I just ate in a rush and hopped on the metro. I brought my Basque book with me so that they could recognize me.
Plaza del Rei was filled with people dancing, live band and large neon stick figure. Looked around for several minutes but Elsa found me, recognizing me from my profile photo. She was older than I was expecting, probably in her late 30s. It turned out there were quite a variety of dances being taught/performed--the trolley? (very similar to sardana), paso doble, mazurka and several other circle dances. Very fun. Reminded me of Chicago Summerdance but in a more intimate environment surrounded by medieval architecture. Gradually met more of
Elsa's friends who were very friendly. Afterwards we went to an Irish pub where I had oj and they had Guiness. One of them,Joan got into the singing with a very good Irish accent. After chatting for a while, walked down Rambla at 2 am to catch last metro back. Got invited to dinner with them for Saturday. TBC
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