Initial Thoughts on Barcelona

After three jam packed days traveling in Barcelona with my thesis gals, my head is swimming with all of the things we have done and seen here. It's been a FABULOUS trip, one worth taking even though it meant some major stress up front wrapping up our thesis doc (which I still have to double, triple check in Ktown on Saturday before officially submitting to Archive X).

Anyway..I digress....We made the wise investment of buying a two day "hop on, hop off" bus pass for all of the major tourist destinations of the city, broken into three routes. It was surely the easiest and most pleasurable way to get around! We have in brief, visited the Segrada Familia, several cathedrals/churches, Poble Espanyol highlighting a "mock" town built using all of the different architecture styles of Spain, rode on the Teleferic (where I had to do some heavy breathing due to the hights), visited the castle fort that overlooks the city and the port, visited the Picasso museum, and walked a LOT and window shopped a lot.

Initial Loves:
- city is ALIVE and teeming with life and people
- steeped in history, the kind you read in books (Royality, explorers, artists etc)
- endless things to see and do
- AMAZING food and drink! Love the portion size, tapas, reasonable wine/cava
- markets, markets and markets everywhere!
- beautiful architecture, attention to detail, vegetation on balconies, colored tiles

Initial frustrations:
- clothing sizes..(who the bloody hell are they patterning the sizes after? Twiggy?)
- rain
- too much good sangria
- after work hours, side-stepping the many yellow puddles of dogs peeing on the sidewalk

will post more details/photos later. Off to Sweden again tomorrow con mi madre!