Spain - Going into Catylonia

Well today was a travel day. Heading to Barcelona. We got up and packed and headed to a little market for some lunch, before heading to the train station. A smooth transition on the train... Unlike this upcoming train next week but we are trying not to think about that now.

While on the train we listened to Rick Steves tell us about Spain as a whole, and a little about Barcelona individually.  

For starters there are 5 overall regions in Spain, and they are quite different. We on are trip have seen and experienced 3 of the 5. Which is pretty cool in and of itself. Because of these different regions and their history, there is 4 different Spanish dialects that are quite different, almost enough to say that they are their own languages in some cases. Here in Barcelona, it is the up and coming thing to send your kid to a Catalonian only speaking school so that you can keep the native language of this region alive.

One thing I am not sure that I mentioned or not when we were in London, but they said they have been on orange alert since the early 1900's. We also learned that Madrid, had an incident 6 months before 9-11, the 3-11. We didn't know about this prior to going, but it is something that they have learned to deal with sadly enough.

Another thing that is slightly random, is the high speed trains, really go at high speeds. We were on one that went as fast at 300km/h it's insane! 

A few things that I am sure we will be learning more about over our stay in Barcelona, is about Antonio Gaudi. His architecture is seen all over Barcelona and it is very unique. Also learned that when we say something is so 'gaudy' looking, that phrase originally formed because of his architecture. Many buildings are aligned shoulder to shoulder just melting in a way. We will actually go see them and I can post a picture so you know what I am talking about. 

Park Guell is another place that Gaudi designed, and we will go to. He originally had designed it to be a gated housing community. But now it is a park and market place. Las Ramblas is a popular street here as it is the Time Square of Barcelona. We be interesting to see that as well. 

All of this like I mentioned we learned from Rick Steves on our way to Barcelona. He also mentioned that Barcelona, being in the Catylonian (I'm not sure how to spell it) region is quite different then the rest of Spain for different reasons. They also banned bull fights in 2011, and will probably be the only place in Spain that will do this as that is a huge part of Spanish culture. It has also been said that they feel they are a nation without a state, as they feel their unique region should be its own country; since they are all apart of the EU they aren't choosing to do anything about it because they would still be apart of the EU anyways.

Another interesting tidbit we learned is that many Spanish writers and composers were said to have come out of Madrid. Where as the imaginary artists are said to have come out of Barcelona.

Picasso is also big here as well as he grew up here, or never the less lived here for some of his childhood. Quote for today comes from the man himself saying, "As a child I was forced to paint as an adult, and now as an adult I am free to paint as a child or how I want." Apparently his childhood paintings were absolutely incredible and something that even the most trained artists can't accomplish. I believe they said there is a museum of his childhood art, we will see if this exists and see what they look like. 

So we continued the train drive occasionally getting some great ocean views, and ended up in Barcelona. We went to a Vegan restaurant around the corner from our hostel which was pretty good. Our hostel is in a super old historical building. It is pretty neat as the lady referred to it as house. It has a communal kitchen, and dinning area as well as a little sitting area. Unfortunately though she has a cat. A guard cat. I am not a cat person so I am super less then thrilled about this but it only has access to a certain front area. 

I don't I mentioned but in our last hostel the insteresting learning curve was the bed and pillows were both memory foam. First experience with either of these so that was kind of neat. For this hostel we have one bed but 2 separate blankets. At least we won't have to fight over blankets, but on the downside that means Luke's heat won't reach me so Amy intern end up being chillier who knows!

Well we aren't sure how it all of the sudden ended up being the weekend again, but it has. Yesterday marked the 21st day away from home. Weird that it has already been that long. Definitely not wishing the days away but looking forward to so many places that we have coming up ahead of us. As well as what Barcelona holds.

And so the adventure continues...