"Take a holiday in Spain..."

I'm looking out my bedroom window over the Montparnasse cemetery at the rainy, grey sky listening to the Counting Crows and the sound of cabs zipping down my street. People walk briskly wearing dark colors, blank faces look down at the pavement. It's so Paris. 

This week marked my first trip from one European country to another. The flight was very short - only an hour and a half. When I arrived at BCN and walked outside I felt like I was going to break into a sweat wearing my black, quilted coat. It was then I knew I'd love Spain. Noticing cultural differences between France and Spain was interesting. Barcelona was so colorful and lively compared to Paris. People were more relaxed in general. In my experience, people made eye contact and acknowledged other's presence in the street or in the metro. I could feel looks from strangers, sometimes unwanted. Frenchmen would never dare wink or whistle at women in public. Aside from tourist destinations, all of the stores shut down for day time siestas. In a week I was able to see a lot in Barcelona and the surrounding area. I went to the well-known destinations like Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, Park Güell and the mercat de la Boqueria on la Rambla. But I enjoyed the less crowded spots and neighborhoods like the small streets leading out from the  Plaça de la Virreina in Gracia. La Rambla is tourist central. The street is lined with food vendors, street artists, bad restaurants, and people taking photos of all of these uninteresting things. The Boqueria is a fun place to walk through, but the mercat Santa Caterina has all of the same goods with a fraction of the people. I loved the fresh pineapple juice. There was also a restaurant in the corner of the market called Cuines Santa-Caterina that I didn't get too, but it looked good. I will have to make a separate post about the restaurants. 

Santa Caterina Market

I found a number of nice food shops throughout Barcelona. There were also hip boutiques on tiny side streets, around the Born neighborhood, and near the Picasso Museum. These were my favorite:  

Olive, Plaça de les Olles 2

Hofman Pastry Shop, Flassaders 44

Teicawey, Gracia

I went to these museums: Museo Picasso, Fundació Joan Miró, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Teatre-Museu Dalí. I'd say if you only go to one in Barcelona it should be the Picasso Museum. It's inside adjoining medieval palaces so it's like a maze walking through each gallery. The Dali museum was in a beautiful small town about two hours (by train) north of Barcelona called Figueres. Some of or much of Dali's work is crazy. It really makes you wonder...

Anyone will tell you that Barcelona has great nightlife and now I understand why siestas are essential to Spanish life. There are lots of clubs along the beach in Barconleta. I went to one called Shoko with people on my program in Paris and some of their friends on similar ones in Barcelona. I will leave it at that. It was fitting that I visited the Barcelona Cathedral during noon mass on Sunday. Even though there are lots of visitors walking around inside the church, mass continues as normal. Listening to the choir inside such a beautiful cathedral was neat. 

Outside, men played music and older people danced in circles. I learned afterwards they were performing a traditional Catalan folk dance called Sardana. It symbolizes unity. 

Real World: Paris

"The Italian Woman" Vincent van Gogh 

The days are going by so quickly. I can't believe it's mid-February already. My family went to their country home three hours south of Paris leaving me home alone with Prosper and Victor for five days. I missed family dinners, but it was kind of nice at the same time. I had permission to have friends over and definitely took advantage this weekend. The house is great for entertaining because the kitchen and dining area is so big. I had a little dinner party on Saturday night and had a few girls from my program over for wine last night. My old friend from Camp Mystic that happens to be studying in Paris as well came too. It was nice to see a familiar face and reconnect. Classes are just alright. I take a class on architecture and impressionism back to back on Mondays and Wednesdays with the same professor. Sometimes she does not organize our museum visits well and we bounce around from place to place too much. She also has difficulty articulating her lectures in English. It's definitely frustrating. I have high standards since have taken four Art History classes at W&L with some great professors. Today we went to the Musee d'Orsay and chose paintings to base a presentation on later in the semester. I really like this museum because there is a lot of work from the 19th and 20th centuries. The building itself is neat too. The d'Orsay was originally a train station and was converted into a museum in 1986. My group chose the Church at Auvers by van Gogh. I've never studied this work, so I'm interested in learning more. I especially liked The Italian Woman. Its bold colors and the woman's patterned skirt immediately grabbed my attention. The original oil painting is truly stunning unlike the above picture I got from impressionism-art.org. See: Musee d'Orsay

"The Church at Auvers"

Tonight I am going out to a restaurant in the 9th called Le Petrelle to celebrate Emily's 21st birthday.  Apparently it's a favorite of Christian Lacroix. Plus, Madonna dined here when she performed in Paris. Friday, I'm off to Barcelona for a whole week. I have lots to look forward to. Adios!