I didn't get a chance this weekend to post about Spain. Aside from the mugging incident it was really good. We were staying right in Barri Gotic which is part of the old town. There was loads of alleyways full with cool little Tapas bars. Thorough recommend Bubo, Cellar de Tapas (which is at the water side of Barri Gotic along Placa Universitat. We had paella there and it was just brilliant. We saw the Temple de la Sagrada Familia (which is one of the Gaudi's) which is umm well gawdy. They were putting mosaics of fruit on the spires which just looked so casino gone wrong. Skip the lift there and take the stairs. Its an amazing sight from the top.
We took in a load of museums too, including Picasso (in Barri Gotic) which has lots of his early pieces. It gave a good overview of his career but doesn't have many of his really famous pieces (try MoMa in NY for that). We also took the furnicular up to the Joan Miro (which is free on some Sundays I believe). I preferred that because it had a brilliant exhibition on collage, a lot of which was familiar to me. The views up there are great too. Went past the Olympic stadium but didn't really have much of a look there. We also went to another Gaudi - La Pedrera which is the apartment building along Passieg de Gracias (one of the main drags). Thats free from Sundays after 4pm so save yourself €7 and go there then. Be warned though, the queue gets pretty big so get there around 3pm and check out the free exhibition they have on. They had an exhibition on Rembrandt - mostly etchings.
We have a few drinkies on the Friday night, starting at a square near La Rambla at a bar called the Glacier, then moving onto a bar called Schilling. Both recommendable. Glacier is a bit more chilled, Schilling was a bit achingly hip (be warned the toilets are gross, take napkins from your table.) It was 3am and the night was still young so we hopped in a taxi to go to a club called Razzamattazz. Rolling up to the biggest club in Barcelona at 3am isnt a brilliant idea, neither is trying to blag your way in the VIP line when you cant speak the language and/or are a bit tipsy.. both of which we tried. We decided to head up the road and found another club, just as pumping with no line. It was great and not just because of the crazy Spanish tunes they were playing. Since I wasnt there to pick up, I had absolutely no concern for how my dancing was looking to everyone else so I went for gold. It didn't help that I was a little "under the weather" by that stage. We tried to leave a bit earlish to beat the crowds for a cab but still found ourselves waiting forever. There is a fantastic chippie near the metro up the road which was too good to miss at that stage. It was unfortunate that the night finished with Sharon's sister Donna getting mugged but such is life or Barcelona at least.
Im still naming my photos but they are all there on Flickr, so I will post one here too. I checked out Sharon's other sisters play at Chelsea Theatre. Called "Touched" it was the last show in a short run. It was for their last year of drama school.
My legs are sooooo sore. I went to the Columbia Road Flower Market with Retna and picked up some flowers (3 bunches for a fiver *adopts Cockney accent) and some stones for the big plant that is in our apartment. It was windy and rainy and I had to ride home with 10kgs of stones (at least) and managed to strain all my muscles. I went to the leisure centre for a spa/steam room but they still ache.. ouch!
