Tapas, Ice, & Gaudi ~ Livin' the life in Barcelona

This should say:
I BARELY survived IceBarcelona

After the near-crisis of accidently buying my plane ticket from Madrid to Barcelona for November 7th instead of October 24th (whoops), I made it to my second Spanish destination just in time to meet my friends,
Cally & Emily, for dinner and Sangria. They had been in Barcelona for a few days so over dinner, we traded stories about our fall break adventures and prepared for the next part of our vacation. After dinner, we met up with some guys from our Florence program at IceBarcelona, the only Ice bar located on the beach in the entire
world. Walking into the bar, I was immediately handed thick gloves and a jacket that made me look like a giant silver marshmallow. Inside, we found nothing but ice... From the chairs to the bar to the glasses we drank out of, everything was ice and very. very. cold.. My favorite part was that the cartoon movie "Ice Age" was playing in the background. After about 15 minutes, I needed to escape this Winter Wonderland. As I clung tightly to a fire pit, we all talked for a couple minutes as well thawed out and then parted ways, returning to
our warm hotel room.

Casa Batllo

The next morning, Emily left for Sevilla and Cally and I enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Starbucks. After that, I went to Casa Batllo, the apartment re-designed by the famous architect, Antoni Gaudi. Inside, I was in awe of every single detail of the house which has no trace of a straight line, as the entire design was inspired by nature from the ocean to pre-historic animals. Gaudi's attention to detail, use of colors, and practicality (window hinges and banisters were designed in the shape of the human hand) were genius and I felt so lucky to be able to see his work in person. 

Dinosaur spine staircase

I wish I had this on my rooftop!

And this!

Gaudi used different hues of blue for the upper and lower tiles
in relation to their distance from the sun shining
through the sun-roof

After roaming the street , we came upon the Sagrada Familia, which is easily the biggest church I have ever seen and will being even bigger in 20 years (when construction is "supposed" to be finished). The church was designed by Gaudi (of course) about 100 years ago and work continues to be done on this impressive building that is unlike anything I have ever seen. The plans are so immense that it is rumored that the surrounding apartments may be knocked down to make room for the plan. Completing our Gauldi pilgrimage, Cally and I went to Park Guell, enjoying the unique structures, fountains, and mosaics while overlooking the city and Sagrada Familia.

Another apartment designed by Gaudi

La Sagrada Familia

Just two of the incredible designs found on Sagrada Familia

Cally & I sitting in Park Guell

Beautiful Mosaics

Tapas. The Spanish meal that is more like a food fiesta than an ordinary meal. The tapas menu includes just about anything you could ever want from fried calamari and caesar salad to mini hamburgers and
tortilla chips with guacamole to traditional dishes like papas fritas. We enjoyed tapas two nights in a row and made sure to try the whole spectrum of dishes, all of which were so delicious! 

Meeting up with my high school friend, Mallory, at her
favorite tapas restaurant. She is studying in Barcelona this
semester and loving every minute!

- The Dow Jones Bar -
where the drink market goes up & down and
then CRASHES every half hour

With Lindsay, a friend from USD, at Down Jones
She is also studying in Barcelona.

I was also fortunate enough to visit the Picasso Museum 
which had a special exhibit on Edgar Degas, one of my 
favorite artists. Seeing everything from his early training 
works to the Blue Period to his more abstract pieces, 
Picasso's paintings were incredible and definitely 
strengthened my appreciation for his work.
 

Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen
The center-piece of the exhibit

Reflecting on my enjoyable time in Spain, I couldn't believe it was already time to pack up and head to CROATIA!!!