søndag 22. juni 2014

Barcelona, day 11!

Day 1 - Day 2 - Day 3 - Day 4 - Day 5 - Day 6 - Day 7 - Day 8 - Day 9 - Day 10

Friday! The plan was to go by La Boqueria, buy something we could bring to Parc de la Ciutadella and have a picnic, then visit the Zoo. Again, the best laid plans..

We started off with La Boqueria, at least, which of course means PICTURES. Since there are a lot, I'm gonna choose a smaller size for most of them. As usual, they're clickable, so you can enjoy them in full size!

Mmmacarons.

All the cute candy. All of it.

Veggies and fruits!

All of the veggies and fruits.

More candy!

Ffffuuuu..dge.

Also all of the fruit juices and smoothies.

Creatures of the sea!

So foamy.

I don't even know what these are supposed to be. D:

Some saffron.

Eggsies!

Rabbitses!

Some kind of shell.. snail.. spikey thingies for eating.

"No photos" - Did I see that sign? Actually not until I was editing the pictures. xD

Chicken hearts and feet.

PIG.

Those.. are pig's faces. Just sayin'.

Also, chicken head.

Various dried mushrooms.

OCTOPUS.

Small octopi or squid or something tentacle-y.

After walking through ALL THE TOURISTS in La Boqueria, we remembered we didn't really have any cash on us, and went to find an ATM. Then we started looking at street art and found the hostel my class stayed at on the school trip ten years ago, and then we decided we didn't really want to go back in to all the tourists in the world to find food. So we decided to just go to the park and figure stuff out as we went.

Along Las Ramblas there's a building that's easily overlooked, Casa Bruno Cuadros. I didn't take many pictures of it, because there's a lot of people swarming around on Las Ramblas and we didn't want to waste too much time. Anyway, the building was refurbished in 1883, and it ended up being a giant mix of modernist, Oriental and Egyptian elements, to name some of it. In addition, there was an umbrella shop on the ground floor, so it also has a lot of umbrellas all over, leading the locals to name the building Casa dels Paraigües - House of Umbrellas. Also, dragon:


We walked over to Carrer de Ferran, where suddenly, church. One of my favorite things about Barcelona is exactly this: You walk around some random street, and suddenly there's something beautiful right there.


We decided to pop by Starbucks and get a frappuccino each, and sat there for a while enjoying the airconditioning and .. sitting. Sitting was nice.
Then we saw these in a shop window, and I kinda wanted them because Salvador Dalí is one of my favorite artists, but I don't have anywhere to keep them, so I had to say goodbye.


After getting thoroughly lost in little streets and alleys in the Born district, we stumbled onto this amazing wall of streetart:




Some close-ups:





So much awesomeness. We stood there for a little while, just because there was SO MUCH to see, and then kept walking. What did we stumble upon but the Santa Maria del Mar?



We didn't go inside because we were kinda on a mission, but we'll see if we can squeeze it in another day!
Right next to it, we found this:


With an eternal flame type of thing on the top.
 And a street further away, this:

So much cute.
 And very close to that we found the Born Centre Cultural, which is dedicated to the Barcelona of year 1700 and the Siege of 1714 (which is what that monument just now was all about). We didn't go inside here either, mostly because we wanted ice cream and to sit in the park.


Finally, the entrance to the park. So nice:


And.. a.. diver's helmet thing?

The bottom of the pole with the diver's helmet thingie.
The Parc de la Ciutadella is the city park, a huge green oasis which houses a small lake with rowing boats for hire (also ducks and small turtles, not for hire), a huge fountain by the name of Cascada inspired by Rome's Trevi fountain, several government buildings, a few museums and the Barcelona Zoo.



We were like "Aaw, cute pavilion!"

And then we saw this and fell more in love with Barcelona.




Also, mammoth:


We bought ice cream and found a nice place to sit and relax for a while. Irene's right leg had started to act up. Technically, it had been aching all day, but it was gradually getting worse, so some rest was much needed. While sitting there, we were starting to wonder if maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go walking through the huge zoo when her leg was already starting to hurt. We finally decided we'd rather go to the nearest metro station, return to Plaça Catalunya and walk back to Bilbao-Berria for an early dinner (which actually turned out to be a reasonably timed dinner instead), then return to the hotel.

On our way through the park, we saw this statue, which is nice, but nothing special.


 Except for..

Heart butt!
 The nearest metro station was Arc de Triomf, which meant photo opportunity!


The Arc de Triomf was built as a main access gate for the 1888 World Fair, and leads straight to the Parc de la Ciutadella.

A short metro ride and a short walk later, we were suddenly near the AquaBliss fish spa where Mom got her feet nibbled on by little doctor fish last year. I told Irene about it, and she decided she wanted to test it out on her tired feet. So she did:

Busy fishies.
Forty-five minutes later, we were at Bilbao-Berria, where we ate tons of pintxos and dessert. And when we were ready to pay, Irene wanted to pay with her credit card. When the waiter put the card in the reader, he obviously saw that she could choose to pay with euros or Norwegian kroner.. and promptly said "Norsk? Er du norsk?" ("Norwegian? Are you Norwegian?") in near perfect Norwegian.
Turns out our waiter had lived in Oslo for 12 years! :D We chatted a bit with him in Norwegian before leaving. That was so insanely random and shocking that we just tipped him more than necessary and left in somewhat of a daze. I think I brought it up for almost an hour afterwards. "I just.. I'm not over it yet. That was the most Norwegian we've heard since Oslo Airport!"

Irene's leg was better after the fish spa and resting, so we decided to look in some stores before going home. I'm not sure that was the best idea we've ever had, because the walk back from our metro station (about 7-10 minutes) was excruciating for her, and we had to stop on a park bench for a while. That leg was not very happy at all, I tell you! We finally made it back to the hotel after a quick detour into a supermarket for some water and Pepsi Light, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

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