Tuesday, June 28, 2011

23-26

An update for the Jae Lake Rules For Life:

Rule for life #24: never eat anything which ends in the word 'surprise'.
Rule for life #25: never piss off the people who touch your food.
Rule for life #26: 'Dry humping' and 'Buggery' are not universal terms and are definitely not taught
to non-native speakers when they are learning Englisch.

For anyone that missed Rules 1-23, you can see them here

Baaarceloooona, Baaarceloooona!

Warning: This is a long one, so get your tea/ coffee ready :)

Flying in over Barcelona at night was just about one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. Twinkling lights along the water... could damn near have been Durbs.
And then, as we stepped off the plane and felt that thick, heavy, salty air rush into our lungs... oh man, it was just too much!

Barcelona is grungy. So is Rome. But Rome is grungy in an oily, slicked back hair and leather jackets way. Barcelona just feels like a place that has been lived in, loved in, partied in, laughed in. Ok, so has Rome, but it's just different. Probably just the salt build up on the buildings... and on my sunglasses. Or it could have been the ridiculous heat that made me shmelt and become delirious.

We saw some things. A bull fight (one of the last EVER in Barcelona) at the Monumental Ring, the FC Barcelona Stadium, actual sandy beaches, lots and lots of shameless boobies, the amazing Palau de la Generalitat Cathedral, currently on about the 160th year of construction. A trailer park INSIDE a building (the one time my camera was not attached to my arm!).
We spend a lazy few hours in the sun at the top of the stairs leading up to the Palau Nacional MNAC, listening to a street musician, sipping on nice, cold local beer and practicing our lisps for our "Gracias" 's. We visited the Old Town and went to El Poble Espanyol, which is a small 'ideal village' "originally built for the 1929 International Exhibition" up on the mountain of Montjuic to watch El Tablao de Carmen, a flamenco show, performed while we munched on a delicious dinner. The biggest, and most interesting food market I have ever seen. And, of course, we spent a lot of time on the beach trying to get rid of The Winter Paleness.

Barcelona is so beautiful. I loved its mix of old buildings with the very new, and very modern. Particularly in the area where we stayed. It's got a sort of Gateway feel, with a shopping mall and the efforts to renew the area (there is an arts university and the Ogilvy Barcelona offices in the area...) as well as the worn down streets (this is where we saw the trailer park inside a building). I hope they manage to keep a balance between the two.

I learnt a few things too:
1. The people of Barcelona, both young and old alike, have a lot of tattoos. Made more visable by the warm weather and subsequent need for short sleeves and even shorter hem lines.
2. The people of Barcelona are proud of their tattoos. They are not trying to cover them up (this could also be due to the heat, but I will ignore that fact). It is good to see that they are so comfortable and confident in themselves, and with their past decisions.
3. For anyone who has ever said "South Africa is great, just be careful and look out for your belongings so they don't get stolen" PLEASE. If your things are going to get stolen, it will happen regardless of where you are in the world. In fact, after a recent survey of friends, it seems that the thieves in Barcelona are some of the smoothest in the world.
4. Barcelona is definitely somewhere I could live.
5. This makes The Great Trek to JHB a little daunting, as slip slops, shorts and days around the swimming pool are slightly less common.
6. There will never be a better way to cool off in summer than a dip in a slightly cool sea. The deep breath you take as you go from hips-under-the-water to shoulders-under-the-water is like no other.
7. My feet are ridiculously sensitive. Pebbles in the shore break make for a very funny exiting the water dance.
8. Tapa's are my kind of a meal. So many tastes! Plus you can eat slowly whilst sipping on Sangria... nom nom nom.
9. Barcelona made me miss home. A lot.
10. Missing home makes me mentally pack my suitcase in preparations for the 29th of July.
11. My body is still capable of gaining a tan. Phew
12. Frank and I are excellent map readers.
13. We are also VERY good at using trains.
14. Barcelona is hot hot hot. Well, 30 degrees was the hottest it got, but for those of us that are used to Munich weather, that was verrrry warm! Therefore, packing more that one pair of jeans is very silly. Let's not even talk about the jersey I packed.
15. There is an irish pub where ever you go.
And last, but not least (And this one is a shocker, prepare yourself!)

16. I can survive for a week with out tea.










































Next stop: Dublin
xx