La Merce!

This past weekend Barcelona has been a constant party. They are celebrating this three-day musical, cultural, and artistic Independence Day. We have been going, going, going, non stop. Thursday we rode the metro towards the beach into an area very much like the Seattle Center. Built for the 1992 Olympic games this event probably is the one time each year that some many people converge in this area. This area, Park Forum, had carnival rides, food stands and games to play.

Me in the black shirt and my friend Leah, we were dancing to the bumper cars music.

All the concert events this weekend was free! The majority of people in this area were our age mainly because of the type of music we were going to see. We didn't know the artist but some Spanish students that we met said it was good dance music. We stayed at this covered area and danced for maybe two hours. It was so much fun.

The dancing is different here, staying in the same spot with your feet you just move your shoulders and head with the beat, it’s not like at home where people put their whole body into it. We then made our way to a different stage maybe 100 yards away.

The music here was Spanish dance, flamenco with fast beats, it's hard to describe because I haven't really heard it before.

We found ourselves dancing and forgetting about the time. And when we just couldn't dance anymore we traveled home ready to pass out in our beds and get ready for tomorrow.

Lunch on Friday, Doner Kebabs. Sliced chicken with sour cream cucumber sauce and veggies. Our favorite cheap meal. Seen in pic two down.

Friday afternoon we planned on going to the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art. All museums were free that Friday and thought it would be a perfect day to go. We stumbled upon another museum thinking it was the BMCA but realized once we got out it was not the right building. When we finally found the actual Contemporary Art Museum it was closed, and had closed while we were in this Cultural Center Museum.

In the cultural center we saw an exhibit on mazes and labyrinths (we were all very confused because we thought at this time it was the contemporary art museum). But plans have already been made to go back one day. Right outside the BMAC was a stage and a french band was warming up of the nights later performance. As none of us spoke French we soon realized no one else understood what they were saying. It was almost like French slam poetry to some intermittent music. We watched for a while then walked to get gelato. I got hazelnut and chocolate, so delicious.

This was the stage with the French slam poetry.

We then traveled home took a nap and got ready for the evening. That night we went to see a band called the Morning Benders. The venue was very different from the last, it was in a square plaza with buildings all around (Plaza Real).

We were walled in with an open sky it was beautiful. We left early from the show to go back to the venue we were at Thursday night Park Forum to see Goldfrapp. This band has some good pop hits, the band has a female main singer and she puts on a great show. She wore fur coat but imagine that the fur was tinsel instead, she would stand in front of the fan and it would blow all over. It was very cool. We then actually couldn't decide what to do. We flipped a coin it was either stay in that area and hear another artist or go to metro near the beach and go to a disco called Opium, where we could get in for free. It was decided that we would go to the disco. What happened next I thought about writing about it on the blog. While we were exiting the metro we were wondering why it was so crowded, we stepped on the escalator and as we were trapped we finally noticed why everyone was still standing inside, it was pouring outside! It was so funny because no one wanted to move, no one ventured outside to make a run for it.

It's like they knew that it would pass so they waited. When we got off the escalator and quickly ran back down the stairs into the area that was covered. We didn't know the area so we needed to ask for directions. Ha ha asking directions is always hilarious, because between the three of us we would all pick out the same words but never enough to know exactly where we were going. We found the direction we need to go but it was still pouring, we all then came to the realization that a cab ride would be a very good investment right now. We hopped in the cab and in a quick ride we got to the disco. But did we get in for free...? Nope, we didn't even get in because two of us were wearing t-shirts and this was an up scale disco. Well laa dee daaa.

The pink building was Opium Mar the disco we were trying to get into.

We then just decided to continue with the night and see where it was going. We walked along the beach were Indian vendors are selling many things along the beach boardwalk. You can’t walk five feet without someone asking if we want to buy a hat, rose or beer. We were in a group of three Daniel my roommate, myself and our friend Andrew who we met on our trip to Coasta Brava.

Does it look like we want to buy hats or roses??

The rain had stopped we stopped outside the back of a club where we could see in, listen to the music and dance a little. We then moved on to an area, which was so busy with native Spaniards. We asked security where we could get some food and he pointed us to a marina area where there was food and more clubs. It was so funny because we stood out as foreigners and as we walked by these other smaller discos a girl host would intercept us and literally push us into the club. We never said no, so we spent about an hour going into every club these hosts lured us into. And every bar was different music. American Hip-hop, Latino salsa, it was an amazing experience. We probably danced in ten different smaller clubs that night. Much better than getting into that one club that didn't even let us in. We finally found food and headed home for the night, it was 6:30am.

Getting home that early we were ready to sleep well into the afternoon. Saturday we ventured to meet our friend Andrew for another night of who-knows-where we would end up. It started at the Corre de foc, run with fire (the devil). Here everyone gathers on the street and waits for the devil to come out of hell and chase you with fire. Huge sparkers are lit and sprayed directly at people, then when the sparkler runs out as an added bonus it explodes with a loud bang. My ears were ringing by then end of the night. Everyone was covered with scarf’s and glasses. I had my neck covered but could feel sparks on my head and down my neck. It was very scary but an amazing experience. We then left to go get a good seat for Belle and Sebastian, a band that both Andrew and I know. They are folk pop from the 90s. Once there set was over we went to the metro stop Espanya where we heard there was a huge dance party. And that it was. Everyone our age dancing to this electronic up beat music with a lot of bass. We managed to squeeze our way to the front and could see the dancers on stage so clearly. We all noticed that the men were dressed like women and women dressed like men. We all guessed they were a huge group in Europe because of the mass amounts of people. We danced, and danced and danced. Finally when they were done playing, around 4am, we went on a search for food. Something about dancing so much gets you so hungry.

What was crazy about La Merce was that while we were just at one venue each time there were six to seven other stages playing music with different types of people. We only saw a small percentage of what La Merce had to offer, even thought I think we did see a decent amount. Nothing was open except for a bakery convince store where we bought a baguette, gouda cheese, and jamon and made our own sandwiches. After hanging out and eating we all ventured home for the last night of La Merce.

What an incredible weekend!

South of France!

Bonjour!

We wandered into this cemetery only to find this homeless old man who was drinking wine and speaking to himself in french, maybe he was connecting with a lost loved one and speaking to them.

Man making crepes, I got a sandwich panini from this restaurant stand.

We couldnt really read the menu but I told him I wanted a panini and for him to pick his favorite type. He spoke no english but from what we could understand he made me a sandwhich that wasnt on the menu. Oh my gosh it was good! I watched him make it, shredded cheese, ham, honey and brie, lots of brie. It was grilled and the cheese was oozing out. We stopped and found a park bench, sat down and ate. And as we were eating two french men walked by and said, "bon appetit." It was such a cool moment.

Girona

During our trip to Costa Brava we stayed in Girona which was about a hour drive to each of the areas we visited. Each morning we got breakfast from the hotel and it was amazing. In spain breakfast it always a smaller meal consisting of toast, coffee and some fruit. There are some mornings that I am craving eggs, bacon, pancakes and orange juice. Here we got just that.A buffet style breakfast with eggs, spanish style bacon which is very thinly sliced and very fatty, Crossants with nutella, yogurt, cheese and jamon. Ah I still cant get over how good the ham is here. Each morning I would make a sandwich with a croissant, cheese, jamon, and eggs. It was perfect. After breakfast we took a walking tour of the area, first occupied by the Romans our tour guide pointed out the Roman walls, baths and cathedrals.

The ancient roman bath houses, the water would get up to 100 degrees! But I prefer my hot tubs at 104 ha ha.

I should have stood next to this police car just to compare it to my height. These cars are small! Maybe to travel around the smaller streets faster than normal cars.

This plaza reminded me of an area in Hogwarts.

Coasta Brava cont.

The futbol jersey I am wearing is from FC Barcelona. It's the one souvenir I have bought while being here.

Tapas for lunch. Bread with tomato, croquets a fried potato ham and cheese filled finger food. The croquets are so good it has a crunchy outside and soft filling inside.

Hola!