I woke up this morning to the sound of rain outside our balcony window. Ooo…Bummer. It took some coaxing to get up this morning, but once I was able to crawl out of bed, we realized that it wasn’t that bad outside and decided to get going.
Since Matthew’s last day in Barcelona is the 15th (Tuesday), we decided to go out for our big (ha…like the other’s haven’t been big) meal night that night and stay in and cook tonight. So, it was off to the market again!
Terri, Jeanene, and I headed out in the light rain to go pick up goods. The market was MUCH less crowded on a Monday with fewer stalls open. It also seemed cheaper than Saturday as well, which was nice, since we had to pick up more food. A LOT more food. An hour later, we left the market with tons of vegetables, pasta, shrimp, and olives. It was going to be a feast!
On the way back, we stopped by the grocery store, and while the girls stayed outside with our bags from the market, I went in to buy red wine vinegar, water and coke-a-cola light. Well, it took me about 15 minutes to find the vinegar (yeah, I don’t speak Spanish) and get to checkout. Once in line, I noticed that a new cashier had opened up and immediately went over there when she called people over. I bought my purchases (1.5 euro!) and as I was bagging it up, she called over to the still long line of people in the front. They either didn’t understand her or were ignoring her and she looked at me and said…something…to me as an aside. I like to think it was something like “silly tourists don’t know what’s going on. Their loss.” I kind of smiled and giggled and left the store. I have NO idea what she said to me the entire time, but I liked that she thought that I did. Yay! I’m not a complete idiot tourist! Things like that make me happy. J
Once we made it back to the apartment, we decided to go check out the Sagrida Familia and a local flea market. By the time we had finished our shopping, the rain had stopped and the sky was bright and blue again, so more outdoor plans for today! It took a bit to get everyone ready, but we eventually made it out around 2:30 (insane! We got back from the market around 11).
After a quick trip on the Metro, we walked up out of the station right at the foot of this amazing church. It was started back in the early 1900 and after a few years, Gaudi took over and just revamped the whole thing. He worked on it for 16 years before his death and they’re STILL working on it, with the projected completion date around 2030. They were even working on it while we were there…construction saws, men shaving plaster, cranes everywhere.
There are two facades on the building, one by a cubist artist (whose name I forget right now) that is the “nativity façade” and on the other side of the church is the section that Gaudi had completed the most—the “passion façade”. The detail in this church, and especially the passion façade, is just incredible. The pictures don’t do it justice. After paying our fee to get in, we were able to walk through the interior that was designed to evoke a forest. The pillars were curved and gaudi-like and they really did look like they were meant to be trees. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see the crypt where Gaudi’s remains are or go up in one of the elevators into a spire, but we were happy even without that.
After the Sagrida Familia, we decided to go out to lunch before heading to the flea market. We stopped at another tapas place and gorged on food, yet again. I haven’t had ONE thing that I didn’t like here. Octopus, potato tortilla (tortilla de patata!), potato salad, tuna salad, pork, yum yum yum.
And off to the flea market. Except that it was closed. The guide book said it was open until 8pm, but it looked like we just missed it. It was just around 5:30, so we’re not sure why it was closed, but…no big deal. Back to the apartment.
Rose and Matthew went to go walk by the pier but the rest of us headed back, stopping on the way home to get gelato (eh. Nothing spectacular). After a quick siesta (at 8 pm! Ha!) I woke up to fabulous smells coming from the kitchen. Terri had started dinner. She’s an amazing cook. The full spread consisted of pasta with sautéed mushrooms and olives, roasted leeks, roasted asparagus and red peppers, along with a fresh tomato and basil sauce. Jeanene made chickpeas and shrimp which was amazing as well. And a salad! The food just tastes better here, I think. Oh, and I shelled the fresh shrimp and quizzed Terri on some of the food so I can make both shrimp and roasted leeks when I get home!
We ate late—around 11, how European!—and stayed in for the rest of the night chatting and drinking wine. Another fabulous evening.
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