Un Día Productivo

 So this morning I decided that today I was going to make sure I did something productive.  After class, I came home and took a look at all of my travel guides.  Now that I know my surroundings, I wanted to put it all together and kinda see where I stood in the sightseeing category.  Surprisingly, I have already got a lot covered but there is also sooooo much that I have left to do and find (yay)! Micaela and I decided that today we needed to go to down Las Ramblas and actually look and pay attention… every time we had been there before we had a direct destination and/or it was nighttime.  It was definitely a great idea! Today was one of those days where I realized how lucky I am and was most appreciative of this city, as well as the day we had a picnic in Parc Guell!  First we stopped at the Font de Canaletes*, which is the famous fountain that if you drink from it once, you will come back to Barcelona and if you drink from it twice, you will never leave.  Of course when I had the time to stop and take a sip, it wasn’t working… Not sure if that’s a sign or what!  Las Ramblas is a really cool street that is beautiful to walk down, several stores, street performers, venders, etc.  I love the gelato here… I was surprised it tasted as good as when I had it and Italy and, honestly, it’s like an art*. Look how cool it is!

We continued down Las Ramblas, wandered around into really cool buildings and random places until we ended at the Mirador de Colom*.  It’s the Columbus Monument dedicated to the Universal Exhibition.  We paid 4 euro and took an elevator to the top and saw the most incredible panoramic view of the city.  It was really good for us to look up top and piece together where everything was in relation to each other.  And not to mention, it was BEAUTIFUL.  It was a bit sunny on one side but the view was so incredible we honestly stood in awe for a while.

The trees line Las Ramblas and if you continue down that road (about four metro stops), you have our neighborhood Gracia which is, of course, the best.

 After seeing the marina, we wanted to walk closer to the water by the pier.  Ours are boring but, of course in Barcelona, theirs has cool architecture and they even have buoys* that are decorative… We were super hungry and we found a sign for cheap bocadillos so we went to this restaurant but got taken upstairs on the balcony and it ended up being super nice.  We weren’t sure what happened so we shared a pizza and it came with pan con tomate.  It was really good and the view was incredible as we watched the sun begin to set over the water.  We went to the big outdoor market La Boqueria and bought some fresh veggies.  I also found some pimienta picante (spicy pepper) and since I've been craving spicy I got sooo excited!  I had no idea what it is but it's super spicy and I like it!  I wish it was crushed but oh well! Also, the candy* here looks amazing, I was salivating just looking at it so I’ll definitely have to come back to try some.  Kris, there's tons of chocolate too!  We also found out today that apparently there's a chocolate museum?? Interesting!  Later, we met Anna to go shopping for a birthday dress!  She had been looking for one for a while and we ended up finally finding one tonight for her so she was super happy!  Her birthday’s on Thursday so I’m getting excited for the upcoming festivities!  Tonight we cooked a veggie stir fry for dinner! Hope you've enjoyed it as much as I am!!!