oddly enough, i wasn’t absolutely in love with barcelona when i was there. everyone who has been usually raves on and on and ON about how wonderful barcelona is and how it is their favorite city, blah blah blah. i was not impressed. perhaps my lack of interest was because it was new europe and i was already madly in love with old europe. but now, nearly two years after my visit, i find myself missing it.
in hindsight, barcelona and the rest of catalonia was downright beautiful and i wish i would have appreciated it more (i kinda complained a lot – about the metro system, the food, the everything). after all, i had just come from paris where the metro was fast, the food reigned supreme, and the city visually stunned me at every turn. i looked at barcelona in comparison and it didn’t measure up. my bad. barcelona should not have been viewed from the critical perspective that paris imbued upon me.
one thing i wasn’t blind to was the architecture. it’s kind of impossible to ignore giant spirals jutting into the sky or buildings that look like monsters. i love-love-loved the architecture. gaudí’s presence was everywhere. the food could have been better, but now that i think about it, i was there in august when most of the best restaurants were closed (those euros love to go on holiday in august). and i did enjoy the gallons of sangria i consumed.
maybe i’ll go back someday and look at it with fresh eyes. for now, i will leave you with some pictures from the trip:
one of the towers of la sagrada familia
wonderful goodies at the world famous farmer's market in barcelona
the beautiful pastel homes in girona
i'm hatching! taken at the amazing and odd home of salvador dali in portlligat
d with a beer at mcdonald's
nick and me at parc guell
castle along costa brava
mae west's face - created by dali with living room furniture, located in his museum in cadaques
i sure did take a lot of pictures of a place i claimed not to have liked. it is also quite possible that i just miss traveling.
lamb on the lam 
You didn’t think they food was world class? How could you forget the lovely, delicate, gourmet sensation known as the Bocadillo? Did you really even go to the BCN?
I miss traveling too…with you 🙂