Sunday, May 13, 2012

Fabulous Weekend

Here are a couple photos from my run along the beach on Saturday morning. This is the W hotel, which is right on the water. Apparently the restaurant inside has great food and has become a popular hang-out spot. 


This is the Port building at the end of las Ramblas, right near the water. 



Saturday, I spent the afternoon hanging out at the beach with a bunch of other Dartmouth kids and most of the population of Barcelona. The beach was super crowded because it was the first day that really felt like summer. The water was pretty cold, but we swam a bit anyway. It certainly isn't as bad as the ocean in Maine ;)

We had a long lunch at an outdoor restaurant across the boardwalk from the beach. In Spain, they call a hot ham and cheese sandwich a "bikini." After lunch, we wandered along the beach, had some ice cream and then we all went home for dinner. After dinner, we all went out to celebrate my friend John's birthday. 

Today, I slept in, had breakfast at home, and then went to a cafe near my home to study. Just like at Dartmouth, I have trouble studying in my room because there are lots of distractions. So instead, I've been exploring lots of little cafes to study. The one I went to today was sports-themed and the Spanish version of SportsCenter was on TV. 

When I got home, Amparo had an ear-to-ear smile on her face because she was in the midst of making chocolate truffles. Here's a photo of some of the ingredients. She explained the process to me and told me to copy the recipe. Except it was in Catalan. So we sat on the couch for a while as she translated to Castellano (the kind of Spanish I (sort of) speak). It was pretty funny.

Today we each ate a truffle before lunch and then a few more afterwards. I've pieced together that today is Amparo's daughter's Saint Day, which is celebrated like a birthday. That's why we had truffles. 

After lunch, I met my friend Eve at the Arc de Triomf where we went for a run in Parc de la Ciutadella. Check out some photos of the park here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parc_de_la_Ciutadella  It was a beautiful Sunday in Barcelona, so there were a zillion people having picnics on the grass, napping in the sun, and wandering the park. We also ran by La Sagrada Familia, Passieg de Gracia, and the building that looks like a bullet (still not sure what that is). We talked about how cool it is that we have this unique and expansive city at our fingertips. We love that we can go exploring and discover something new every day. Barcelona is amazing.

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