but, of course, i'm typing on a french keyboard. they're kind of jacked up. remind me to take a picture of one sometime to post here.
a few weeks ago, we had a week-long vacation from the fac. travel time! so, three days before leaving aix, jennifer and i sat down and booked bus tickets and plane tickets and youth hostels in barcelona and granada. and a splendid time was had by all!
we arrived in barcelona at 6:00 a.m. on friday. we took the overnight bus from aix (and we will never do it again).
doesn't jennifer just look thrilled to be in the metro at this early hour?
so we crashed on the lounge couches at our hostel (a great place up in horta, north of downtown) for a few hours before getting up and walking around to see some of the sights.
plaça de catalunya.
apple truck!
the police in barcelona do about as much as the french police. probably less, actually.
here we find ourselves on the rambla, a big main-drag tourist-trap complete with souvenir stands, living statues, and...
...pet shops?
i'll now let you see some of barcelona's sights without my commentary, because if i don't stop typing captions, i'll be here all damn night.
mr. t? what are you doing in the barri gotic?
parc de la ciutadella. a very beautiful place.
i dared these oranges to hit me on the head, but they were too nice.
i believe the girl in the background had dropped something in the fountain and had just fished it out.
why there was a woolly mammoth in the park, i have no idea.
beware of hedge attacks!
how the hell are you supposed to dunk coffee?
jennifer, showing off our room (which accomodated eight people) before heading out to the bar crawl!
we actually managed to get out of bed the next day at a somewhat reasonable hour. we hit the town with alasdair, a scotsman who was staying in our room.
sagrada familia.
gaudi!
i saw many a stray cat in spain. this one was in a lovely garden at the university. [where's our lovely university garden, dammit?] alasdair almost got it to come over, but it got distracted by a bird in the foliage.
the port.
and the beach!
when in barcelona, you must eat paella. [the whole time i could hear mrs. costanza saying, "what am i going to do with all this paella?"]
then it was back to the hostel. alasdair had an early night -- he had to get on the metro at 5:00 the next morning to fly back to work in brussels. so we hung out with five polish guys from the room next door. the night pretty much consisted of cheap spanish beer, wandering around horta, skateboarding, photography, and freestyle rap.
christopher robin (jerry)!
curly (szymon) and jennifer!
emo (lucas) and the younger brother (martin)!
a night out is never complete without palm fronds.
the next day, our last in barcelona for a while, was rainy and gray. we stopped off at carrefour to get some pre-made sandwiches and ate in a park.
then jennifer was very nice and accompanied me to the museum of contemporary art. she hates contemporary art.
catalan verb table on an outdoor wall: very useful.
time for some lion-riding?
another night of polish craziness ensued, this time downtown. we got lost on the way home (damn night buses!) and ended up waiting outside a metro station for it to open at 5:00 so we could finally get back. the next day, we flew ryanair to granada -- and lived to tell the tale. we promptly crashed at the hostel. i would like to thank jennifer for erasing her video of me snoring out of the goodness of her heart.
again with the university garden thing.
best graffiti ever. someone should paint that at iu.
we walked up the the alhambra, but tickets were sold out for the day. and after checking out the next morning, we would have to haul our bags with us if we wanted to go. no thanks.
a colony of cats!
later in the day, we walked uphill as much as we could stand (even after the hike to the alhambra!) and made it all the way to the top.
new name for a radio show?
jennifer's disgusted because sharing a bed was not part of the plan. oh, and our spanish in-room tv didn't work, either.
we rested in the sun in the park garcia lorca before heading to the airport.
this cat was in the parking lot at the granada airport. that "take me home! please?" look just kills me.
we had another night out in barcelona -- this time without our burly polish man-guards, but we were okay -- and spent a good part of the next day on the beach, before catching another night bus back to aix.
last cat shot of the trip, i swear!
i leave you with some pictures from jennifer's camera:
alasdair! he's eurotrash and proud of it.
vogueing and batman-ing post-paella.
the market. home of delicious ice cream...
...and pitahaya, a fruit that's pretty pink on the outside (but boring on the inside).
martin drinking boxed sangria in the street.
jerry freestyling atop a ping-pong table. earlier that night, he did the same on top of a van... and fell off. but he was okay, thankfully.
szymon and jerry sneaking onto tv and stealing champagne during the return of the barcelona world race! they're crazy, i tell you.
king of the mound-tain on the way up to the alhambra!
