Comunication

Posted by Leo. It's hard being here without my friends and without a daily routine. I miss seeing my friends every day and I miss my class and even the most annoying people that brought laughter and humor to the class. The hardiest thing is the time difference. Whenever I want to text my friend it's always late at night or early in the morning. Every now and then I stay up untill 1:00-1:30 waiting until school is done to text my friends. Those are the best times and they make my day. The weekends are easy because I can text them around 3-4pm here. Also so far once I have Skyped with my class and hope to continue this and Skype in every now and then. I really enjoy seeing you guy :D.

Parc Guell

Posted by Beth. We had a fun day at Parc Guell. It is home to several Gaudi masterpieces. The house he lived in for 20 years is located in the park. It was very magical, ginger bread houses and fairy tales. Gaudi befriended Guell and Guell funded many of Gaudi's projects. They were friends in politics, religion and art. Originally the park was intended as homes for wealthy people. When that didn't work out Gaudi moved in and the rest became a park.

Barcelona waterfront

Beach volleyball in Barcelona

Posted by Elizabeth. Not only is Barcelona a modernist mecca it also has a great waterfront. Miles and miles of sandy (albeit man made) beaches with volleyball games, joggers, children and people enjoying the sun. We love the fun sculptures and the Palm trees waving in the breeze.

Mobile World Congress is happening here this week (anyone in town?) so on Sunday all of the beach front restaurants were full of guys in suits. We escaped the crowd a bit and had lunch in Barceloneta which is an old fishermen's neighborhood down the way. 

We have another week in Barcelona. I finally feel adjusted to the time and another language (just as we head into Italian). Being together as a family 24/7 is a bit trying but we're figuring it out and trying to separate a bit more. 

Probably my favorite thing about Spain is the vibrant night life. Beth and I walked around our neighborhood late and there were so many people in cafes and walking with friends. They live in small apartments and getting out is a great way to feel part of their neighborhood. 

My least favorite thing might be the sound of the European police siren. When we got here I thought it was so cute, now it just hurts my head. :)

 

Barcelona

Posted by Leo. In Barcelona people don’t dress as well as in Seville nor do they have fancy hair and tuxedos on 24/7. It's  mellower here people are nicer and don’t care about fashion as much. Even though they house FCB (Barcelona’s football club) not many people I have seen wear their jerseys or accessories. They also have smaller cars here. There are not as many bikes and most of the people walk and take public transportation. The subway and underground transportation is the best. It stretches all over town.

What I’m looking forward to most here in Barcelona. I ook forward to going to a FCB game and seeing them play for real instead of watching them play on TV.

Gaudi

Leo at Sagrada Familia Barcelona

Posted by Leo. The Sagrada Familia was designed by Antonio Gaudi. First let me tell you about Gaudi known as a mad man or a genius. Anyone called by those names turns into a legend. Gaudi was inspired by nature and he followed the rules of nature even if it meant recreating his architecture. To this day many of his buildings still stand and our famous.

The Sagrada Familia towers 200 feet above street level and has 18 pillars including one pillar. Each pillar represents a different person. For example, the tallest one in the center represents Jesus Christ and the smaller one behind him (smaller than the others) represents Mary, his mother.

The inside is massive. The pillars instead of being like normal pillars spread out like branches of trees. He got this idea from the Sequoias. I thought the inside was cool and spectacular. With a ceiling towering 200 feet you can see forever. There are also stained glass windows which reflect different light inside. For example, in one part it was half blue and green.

There are some other Gaudi buildings that looked like icicles dripping from a roof. He hated squares and angles. He wanted all organic shapes. On one building, the roof is scaled like dragon scales and the chimney looks like sword stabbing the dragon representing St. George and the Dragon. We saw a lot of St. George on other buildings. 

Modernism is alive and well in Barcelona

On our Modernism tour of Barcelona

Today we took a tour of modernism in Barcelona. But first a shout out for the sharing economy. Our tour was through a Spain-based company called trip4real that's like airbnb for experiences. They're mostly in Spain but are expanding to other European countries. Our guides were great! Two local guys Marc and Albert who love Barcelona and knew a ton about the architecture and art.

We started at the Block of Discord where there are three of the most beautiful buildings in Barcelona. It's called such because the original home owners were trying to outdo each other with their home designs. One is Gaudi's Casa Batllo with the scales of a dragon being slayed by St. George on the roof. The other two were homes designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner and Josep Puig i Cadafalch.

We then learned about Gaudi's La Pedrera or Casa Mila which looks like a giant petrified wave. After a few more stops we ended at the mothership of modernism, the Sagrada Familia. My greatest impression is of a feeling of mortals ascending to heaven -- the soaring vaults, colors and light work seamlessly to evoke a quite religious experience. 

I mentioned earlier that we look out at the Sagrada Familia from our apartment so we can enjoy the fantastical exterior every morning and night. 

View of Gaudi's masterpiece

Just got into Barcelona. This is the view of the Sagrada Familia from our front deck. Stunning.

Smoking in Spain

So many people smoke in Spain. When we got off the plane from London to Seville these teenagers took out a box of cigarettes and right then and there started smoking. They were hardly older then my 15 year old brother Griffin.

After we settled in we saw hundreds of people smoking from the youngest of 12 to the oldest of 70. We went to many plazas and saw many people smoking. The memory that I can remember most is when we where outside sitting at a table and someone behind us pulled out a cigarette. The breeze was coming at us and the smoke made me want to puke. I got light headed and begged to move to another place but there were no empty tables. Finally when the food came I started eating but half way through I noticed there was blood on my plate. I had had it with this smoking and now blood on my plate from the meat. So that's what I can say about smoking.

Alhambra and sangria

Inside the Alhambra

We're in stunning Granada and loving this laid back town. Lots of hippy kids on the streets and families in the cafes. Granada would be Eugene if Eugene had a World Heritage site and a few dozen Renaissance churches. 

This town has really got afternoon tapas and cerveza down to an art. Tapa in Spanish means lid. Originally restaurants put a small plate on drinks to keep the flies out. They then put something salty on the plate as a treat and tapas were born.

We were at the Alhambra yesterday. It was cold so we didn't spend as long as we would have liked and didn't see much of the gardens but we loved what we did see. Today was sunny and warm. The photo of the Alhambra on the hill was from our table at lunch today. The most beautiful restaurant view in the world. It helped that there was plenty of sangria to go around. The mountains behind it are covered in deep crystal white snow. Must be some great skiing up there in the Sierra Nevadas. 

Off to Barcelona early tomorrow morning. 



View from lunch

 



Leo at the Alhambra overlooking the old part of Granada

My palace

Casa de Pilatos

I found my palace. Casa de Pilatos. It's a stunning palace in Seville with peaceful gardens, meandering fountains, mosaic tiles covering most of the walls and an ancient decaying aesthetic. I love it because it's small (too much palace is not a good thing) and I could really feel how life was lived there in the 16th century. Evidentially the family lived in the palace until the 1970s and now it's run by their foundation.

We also went to the Cathedral today which is truly an arresting gothic masterpiece but slightly overwhelming. Christopher Columbus is buried there in a crypt fitting the legend that surrounds him.

We're off to Granada via train.

Griffin, me and mom with the mosaics

View of Cathedral

Giralda tower at Cathedral

Weather

Weather in Seville

The weather here is the biggest difference between Seattle and Seville. Unlike Seattle where the weather can change in an instant, it changes slowly here. The temperatures here are always 60 degrees and above and that’s cold for here. It’s even warm when the clouds are out with no gaps to let the sun shine through. I can tell the people think its cold because I see them walking in big puffy coats. I have seen no one wearing shorts so that also helped me decide it was cold for the locals here.  

In Seattle the weather is 50 degrees and usually rainy. Even when it’s sunny out its usually still freezing in winter. Lately, in the summer the weather has brightened up and gotten sunnier and warmer. The other seasons are all the same. Winter is freezing but there is no snow.

Well that’s the weather >_<

Fashion

The style in Seville, Spain is different. The Europeans all have fancy curved waved hair and nice suites and ties. All the kids look the same with the schools uniforms and the wavy style hair and with the perfect amount of makeup. It’s like seeing thousands of twins. You can really tell the difference between tourists and the locals. When I walk down the street I can see people’s eyes staring at me because I dress differently. While people have big puffy winter coats on when its 60 degrees here I am just wearing shorts and no jacket but I don’t care.