Hippies are the same everywhere

This weekend we decided to do some cultural sightseeing. Our theory is to see as much as we can before classes start to know what is worth going back to. On Saturday we visited Montjuïc and on Sunday Parc de la Ciutadella (slideshows below!). Both these places are definitely worth a second visit.

To get to the top of Montjuïc we took the funicular railroad to Montjuic and then the gondola lift up to the castle. It was during the gondola lift that we discovered Emily, my roommate, is terrified of heights. I was scared she was going to throw up or pass out or both. But she just gave me her camera and put her head down. It probably didn't help that the entirely glass gondola was swinging a little more that usual due to the wind. The highlight of the visit was definitely the views. If you look at the slide show you will see eight panoramic pictures of the city in a row. They start at the port, then the old town, l'Exiample and so on until the outskirts. It was quite impressive. After a walk around the castle we went to the Joan Miro museum just a little bit down the mountain. From the rooftop terrace of the museum we could see the sun set on Barcelona, giving all the buildings a beautiful Mediterranean glow (see slideshow).

Parc de la Ciutadella, as our RA Paula had told us, is a great place to go on Sundays. As we walked through the park we saw the zoological museum, the lake and the Cascada fountain (under constuction). Apparently, the park was home to a large citadel used to control subversive Catalyunians by force. This much hated symbol was demolished as soon as it was recovered by the Catalynians and made into a park. Perhaps the park's representation of nature over 'the man' explains why it is such a draw for the hippy population of Barcelona. The grassy avenue inside the park becomes a festival of sorts on Sundays when dread-locked, guitar-playing, ribbon-dancing Barcelonians congregate. We passed the entire afternoon admiring the spectacle. The scene was reminiscent of the Commons in Ithaca. To prove to Kelsey once and for all that I can juggle, I went up for one of the performers and asked if I could try (learning that pelota does in fact mean ball in Spanish, just not in the context I used it). The same performer also tried to teach my apartment-mate, Niki, how to baton twirl.

The only thing that drove us away from these sights was the temperature that occurs at sunset. When we first arrived in Barcelona, we were confused by the amount of down jackets, hats and scarfs worn by the locals. Especially when we were hot in just our fall coats. However, our upstate New York tolerance is fading and while the weather is still averaging mid 50s, we are beginning to feel the chill. But don't get my wrong, I am definitely NOT complaining!