bryndia spent a little over a week in barcelona. after jumping between cities, it felt nice to put some temporary roots down. being able to rent a room in gabi´s apartment was the best. waking up late to swing the huge windows in the living room open, almost always exclaiming what a beautiful day it´s going to be!, and stare in awe at their view of the sagrada familia. making a lot of home cooked vegetarian meals in the kitchen (because, unless you want to eat falafal every day, which, don´t get them wrong, they eat a TON of falafal here, spain doesn´t have a lot to offer when it comes to the veggie community). at night, drinking wine and watching movies and played a million card games, of which india won maybe three. turns out bryn is the king of crazy eight countdown.
during the day, the two of them wandered throughout the city by foot. because barcelona, as big as it sounds, is actually a city where you can walk anywhere in under 30 minutes. or so it seemed to bryn & india.
the first thing to note is the sagrada familia, the most amazing and beautiful church, antonio gaudi´s masterpiece that is STILL under construction, almost 100 years after it was first erected. it was literally in the apartment´s front yard, and it was so lucky to be able to just take a stroll around it, morning noon or night. the stone looks like it´s melting candle wax, the details are so natural, so unique, animals and plants blend around images of jesus and the virgin so it looks like a finger painting, all swirled together. just like everyone else in barcelona, bryn & india were engulfed with gaudi´s little touches that were all over the city.
one hot afternoon, gabi took bryn & india to parque guell, gaudi´s gigantic sprawling park that overlooks the entire city. the three of them packed a picnic, drank 40s, and stared out at all of this bright mosaic art, sprawling trees, swirling rooftop towers. india bought some handmade jewelry for cheap. bryn snapped a million photos.
another day, the two of them rented bikes and rode the entire boardwalk next to the ocean, around the huge new w hotel that looks like a sail on the horizon. bryn taught india how to ´bunny hop´ on her cruiser. after, sunburned and exhausted, the two of them took nick yerkovich´s recommendation and set out to find la champagneria, a tapas bar that serves 90 cent glasses of champagne and three euro greasy chorizo and any other meat filled sandwiches you can think of. one of the most delicious recommendations we´ve had thus far. thanks, you dirty doggy.
on friday, gabi and bryndia woke up early to catch a five hour train down to valencia for the final night of las fallas, a huge festival that celebrates the end of winter by burning gigantic (and expensive!) paper mache sculptures celebrating spanish culture. each neighborhood in valencia puts a ton of money into building their own unique fallas, most of which have to do with political satire or successful spaniards, most noteably pau gasol. when the three of them stepped off the train, they knew we were in for a crazy 24 hours. the city was packed with tourists, firecrackers going off in every direction, toddlers running around with lighters, throwing huge sparkling cherry bombs at unsuspecting onlookers.
gabi, bryn and india immediately met up with chrissy and caitlin, bryndia´s friends from univeristy of oregon, who are there teaching english for the year. both of their respective mothers were visiting from the states as well, and the group wandered throughout the curvy streets, admiring everything the city had to offer.
when it started to get dark, bryn bought a fifth of johnny walker and mixed some whiskey and cokes for the group. next thing you know, it was almost 1 am and the city was screaming for the burning of the fallas. fireworks were lit underneath the statues which all immediately went up in flames. it is an impossible thing to describe. the statue that gabi and bryndia watched was almost 20 meters high, so when it caught fire, it wasn´t going to stop without help from the firefighters who were surrounding it. the heat was incredible. a blind man would have thought he was in a brick oven. it went from the middle of the night to high noon in seconds. the whole city was doused in bright light and black smoke.
after the burnings ended, the party was just getting started. chrissy and caitlin took the group to one of their favorite clubs, la clakas. ´we´re really tired, we´ll take you to this club and have one drink,´ explained the two. but you can´t deny a good dj. and he was playing american club bangers the whole night. 50 cent. black eyed peas. kanye west. THE DREAM. bryndia and crew cut a rug until six am. and the dj was real into that, so he bought the group some beers, and some shots, and they all became friends.
when the sun rose, bryndia & gabi went to a coffee shop, where bryn took a little nap and gabi and india drank some coffee in total silence. next thing you know, the three of them were passed out on chrissy and caitlin´s floor. before you die, if you have to do carnival in rio, or mardi gras in new orleans, you also have to do las fallas in valencia. it was epic.
after las fallas, gabi and bryndia rode the long train back to barcelona and slept for about 16 hours. when they awoke, bryn had already planned the next adventure: going to a barcelona versus madrid playoff basketball game to see ricky rubio. the stadium size was that of mac court in eugene but as loud as autzen, with no loud speakers or sound bites played after dunks, it was amazing to see these die hard basketball fans cheer for, literally, the entire 40 minutes. (it should be noted that what they were cheering was not exactly family friendly either. they showed the refs no mercy.) bryn was underwhelmed with the play of ricky, but fran vazquez posterized the whole madrid team with a nasty dunk late in the first half which was well worth the 35 euro to see the spanish team ball.
barcelona was action packed and relaxing at the same time. bryn & india headed to the captial next. madrid and tyler andre awaited.
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