Jasmine's 2011 Trip: Barcelona II

We arrived early in the morning and headed out to the hostel I had stayed at before, Garden House hostel. After resting up a bit, we to the metro to Parc Guell, which is a park that was designed by Guadi. Built in the early 1900's, Parc Guell was originally meant to be a community of 60 homes with it's own market place. It is located on the top of a high hill called el Carmel, to take advantage of the fresh air away from the city. In the end, only two houses were built. Neither designed by Guadi, but many of the fantastic architectural structures incorporated into the gardens were. It is also a World Heritage Site. That night was low key (any night after an overnight on the train seems to do this to me :) ) so we stayed in the hostel and played scrabble (fun) and trivial pursuit genus, 1990's, UK version (painful).
The next day, Jenny and I took bike tour through the city. We started out very close to La Ramblas, went out to Barceloneta Beach, then to La Familia Sagrada and back to Las Ramblas again. It was a little tough at times with all the pedestrians, but we managed to get by without incident. Elizabeth, our guide, was very informative and explained the history of the national monuments we visited, including the transformation the city underwent to host the Olympics. There were about seven of us on the tour, including a family from New Jersey visiting their oldest daughter in school. Their youngest daughter was with us and she was excited because she was going to see... Justin Bieber!!! Apparently he will be performing in Barcelona soon. Haha
After lunch, we spent a little time looking around the shops off of the main street of La Ramblas.
On the third day Jenny and I weren't together (she had arranged to stay at a villa out of the city to relax) so after I bought my ticket to Montpelier (no direct trains to Nice), I took the metro to find el Museo de Picasso. I got a little lost and walked into the plaza in front of La Catedral de Barcelona. It is an impressive gothic cathedral built in the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries dedicated to Saint Eulalia. According to legend, she was a young virgin who was killed by the Romans after they tore her clothes off and snow miraculously fell to cover her nudity. I went in and took some pictures. It was beautiful, and you can climb up to the roof for a stunning panoramic view of the city.
El Museo de Picasso, is a great way to become familiar with the artist's early years.
The museum has some of his work as a child and a student, and explains his the early influences and progression of his style. A couple of my favorite bits: the funny and sometimes outright scandalous portraits he made of his best friend and assistant had people laughing. The exhibit also demonstrated Picasso's exhaustive take on Diego Velasquez's Las Meninas and by superimposing Picasso's many unique takes on the subjects, one by one, over the original painting.
Parting ways: Jenny and I got together for dinner and said good- bye. She goes back home and I head out to Nice, France via Montpelier.

Barcelona, with its intriguing architecture in every corner of the city

Looking down, reaching the top of el Carmel, you can either climb the stairs or use the escalators.

Parc Guell

Barceloneta Beach, once filled with low income homes, which were torn down for the Olympics. This sculpture was erected to commemorate the history of the beach...