Bon jour! Ciao! Hallo!

A quick hello from Europe! So far Lisa and I have ventured through Paris, Lauterbrunnen, Florence, Pisa, Rome, Venice, and now Salzburg braving the snow, the cold, and life on a bus through Europe. We've seen some absolutely beautiful places, heard the Pope speak, went to the top of Europe at 11,500 feet, attended midnight mass in the Santa Croce in Florence and devoured delicious delicacies in each country. We are still looking forward to New Years in Prague and a quick jaunt through Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, and London before we return to the US. Hope you all have had a very Merry Christmas and enjoy the New Year in a couple days!

To be continued....

Bunker Goodbyes

Over the summer my acrylic painting teacher told me that she had never seen the psyche so close to the surface as she did in Barcelona. Given that I was in a class where just about all other six students and teacher analyzed dreams, read tarot cards, or described the energy they felt that day I didn't think that the psyche was something that I in particular, would ever notice.

Nevertheless as I am about to leave this beautiful city I realize how true it is. (The other day my architecture and painting teacher mentioned what a surrealist city Barcelona was, which really got me thinking about it.) What an artistic city. The people, the art, the fashion, the culture, the city. After observing for about four months now I realize that yes, the psyche, people's subconscious emotions, ideas, and thoughts are expressed in so many different ways here and so visible through, again, the people, the art, the fashion, the culture, the city. I have definitely noticed that I also have had an artistic growth spurt just being here.

I was able to observe this the other day when I visited my favorite spot in Barce, the bunker, which I visited only once and for the first time last week. We went with our usual group of about 10 to an old military bunker on top of the city, covered in graffiti murals, mosaic, and frecuented by very surreal, I guess you could say artistic, people. The bunker permits views of the entire city and a clear day you can see for miles. While looking over the city, we were all silent though aware that all of us were thinking the same thing, taking in the city and our amazing time spent here that would soon be coming to a close. What a way to say goodbye to beautiful Barcelona all together and knowing we share something indescribable.

Orugas everywhere!

BCN <3

Missing: Photos of Turkey Gobbled up by Cyberspace

Two days ago I returned from Istanbul, Turkey. This was the most photogenic city I have yet to visit and took over 1,000 photos in Istanbul alone. However yesterday as I was about to post a new blog I had a slight mishap and all 1,000 photos were deleted from my computer and camera...(one of my worst nightmares!). I am working to recover them with the help of photo-recovery software and technically savvy friends...if all succeeds I will hopefully be posting a lovely little blog accompanied by lots of Turkey photos in the near future! If not I will just post a lonely little blog with no fun photos, but I guess I can't complain since the amazing adventure in Turkey makes it worth it. Can't wait to elaborate on the city with the friendliest people, most picturesque sites, and possibly the best food I have tasted while abroad so far (Italy being its competition).

Visitación!

When I got off the high speed train from Sevilla I had a couple visitors waiting for me in Barcelona! We had a wonderful week in the city, always on the go, that included exploring all of the major sites, a fútbol game (we just beat Real Madrid by the way, go Barca!), eating at wonderful restaurants, and taking a day trip to beautiful Montserrat. It was extremely nice to be in their company for a week and I am looking forward to returning home in a little over a month!

Park Güell!

Sitting on the benches in Antoni Gaudi's Park Güell. At the top of the post is a photo with his famous trencadis lizard. Trencadis is a technique used by Gaudi in which he broke bottles, plates, and other ceramics and put them back together in different patterns and designs, similar to mosaic. This technique is seen all over his works.

Great views from the top of the park! If only the day were a bit clearer.

FC Barcelona match at Camp Nou!

Montserrat

Located an hour outside of Barcelona, Montserrat is home to a 15 century monastery and hermitage located a top beautiful mountains and surrounded by gorgeous scenery. We enjoyed visiting the basilica, which houses the black virgin (a statue believed to have been carved by St. Peter found in the caves below the monestary), exploring the monastery, and hiking on top of the mountains with phenomenal views. One of the world's most famous and renowned boy's choir, the Escolania, sings two songs, including Salve Regina, in the basilica every day at one o'clock p.m. Unfortunately we decided to visit on one of their few off days but we decided that this is just another reason to come back and visit!

In the Basilica

About to hike!

One of many very narrow cliff-side paths

Raquel came with us too!

Beautiful views hiking over Montserrat: