Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

So it's been a while since my last blog post, but I credit my lack of entries to the insane amount of things I've done and seen here in Spain the past few weeks. Excuses aside, I've been here in Barcelona for about 6 weeks now and it seems like the time just keeps rolling on by without remorse. The highlight of it all (if I had to pick one and only one) would have to be our class trip to southern Spain just this past week. We had the opportunity to tour the countryside of southern Spain stopping at key cities along the way including Madrid, Cordoba, Granada, Sevilla, and Merida. It was my first time visiting each, and I was not disappointed. For sake of ease, I'll give a little sum-up of my adventures and explorations in each individually.

For starters Madrid was very, very nice and may take the cake for my favorite city of the entire trip. In some ways it vaguely reminded me of DC- the city atmosphere, the friendly people. It had some of the best tapas I've tried here in Spain so far, and based on the crowds of inebriated people just outside of my hostel room at 4:30 in the morning, the nightlife seemed to be pretty good as well. During our two-day stay in Madrid we had the opportunity to see the Prado Art Museum, which was an adventure in itself. I was finally able to see the famous Velasquez painting "Las Meninas" (which I had heard so much about prior to my time in Spain) in person, which was pretty exciting. While in Madrid we also meandered through the Reina Sofia Museum and I was able to admire Picasso's "Guernica" up close and personal, another painting I had heard so much about before coming to Spain. The list of sites visited in Madrid also included Herzog and de Mueron's Caixa Forum and the city sculpture garden. All in all, Madrid was a huge success.




The next city on our tour of southern Spain was Cordoba. In comparison to Madrid it was a lot smaller and a lot more quaint- very rural European. We were welcomed to Cordoba by the remains of a still-functioning Roman bridge, a pretty interesting thing to see in person. The highlight of Cordoba, however, was our visit to the mezquita- currently known as the Cathedral of Cordoba. For one of the most famous pieces of Muslim-influenced architecture in Spain, the mezquita was a really cool thing to experience.

Next on the list of cities was Granada. In many ways it was somewhat reminiscent of Madrid, only on a much smaller scale. For what Granada lacked in scale, however, it made up for in history. Our two day stay in Granada was almost entirely dedicated to examing and experiencing the Alhambra palace. Our first night after arrival we had the opportunity of admiring the Alhambra from afar, sketching it at sunset from a neighboring hilltop. We were even provided with some Flamenco-like music from some locals while we sketched, which was interesting to say the least. Our next day in Granada we toured the grounds of the Alhambra from top to bottom, power sketching along the way. We were also able to watercolor in the grounds of the Generalife gardens- some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Concluding our second day in Granada we had the special opportunity of meeting the archbishop of Granada for a private tour of the city's cathedral. Not too shabby for one city.




Following Granada we made our way down to Sevilla. The weather was beautiful- sunny and warm, with some of the freshest air around. Shortly after arrival in Sevilla we explored the grounds of the city's beautiful Muslim/Christian influenced cathedral and saw the tomb of famous explorer Christopher Columbus. Later in the evening we were lucky enough to attend our very own private Flamenco show, my first ever. Our second day in Sevilla was spent wandering the grounds and surrounding gardens of the Alcazar, which were matched only by those of the Alhambra. Our time in Sevilla was concluded by a visit to the Calatrava bridge that night, a spectacular sight to see in person.



Last on our expedition to southern Spain was the city of Merida. It was similar in many respects to the city of Cordoba- somewhat quaint but rich with ancient Roman history. Although we were only there for one night, we were able to explore the ruins of an ancient Roman theater as well as a portion of one of Merida's aqueducts. We also spent some time in Rafael Moneo's Museum of Roman History, which definitely took the cake for one of my favorite museums ever visited.



Sadly enough our time spent in southern Spain came and went way too quickly- I was almost disappointed coming back to Barcelona, but not quite. Nothing is ever as sweet as home, or so they say.

When in Barcelona

Week number 3 here in Barcelona has come and gone, and aside from the rainy weather a few of the days, there are no complaints to be found. Unfortunately I have not declared a theme for my blog yet, but it has been a work in progress; I'm waiting for inspiration to hit, my "eureka" moment. Early in the week we had the opportunity of getting a more in depth and more detailed "guided" tour of the exterior of Herzog and de Mueron's Forum on the waterfront, a unique structure to say the least. We also had the opportunity to head to Plaza de la Virreina to work on some sketching exercises looking at proportioning and scaling systems both in plan and section- my new blog theme? We'll see. However, as I was leaving the plaza with Mike Hoak and Mike Iskandar I was lucky enough to run into an intoxicated Barcelonan man walking his dog down the street following siesta. We stopped for about 10 minutes to talk- I figured it would be a good cultural experience. In broken English he praised the United States over and over again as being a great country, but insisted that as a language English was incredibly hard to learn. Naturally we responded by telling him that his English was in fact quite good, and insisted that Spanish was just as hard if not more difficult than English to learn. It occurred to me then that, regardless of which language any one person may hold as their own- whether it be English, Spanish, Catalan, or any of the other numerous languages spoken in such a diverse city as Barcelona, there is sometimes a fine line between the "language barriers" of different cultures. It was never more apparent to me than at that one moment, standing on an idyllic Barcelonan street trying to communicate with a man from an entirely different culture than my own using all the hand gestures and broken Spanish phrases I could come up with. In any case, it was one of the most noteworthy experiences of my trip thusfar.

Later in the week I finally had the chance to see Frank Gehry's fish sculpture/pavillion up close and personal, and I was not disappointed. We also had the chance to explore the waterfront and analyze the relationship of the Meteorology Center to the urban context of Barcelona. As I was sitting on a bench sketching, a bus of tourists unloaded and made their way right in front of me. Although it may seem somewhat trivial, about 3 or 4 of them passed by and kindly said "hola" to me. I guess after 3 weeks of living in Barcelona, I'm gradually starting to blend into the culture. Que quay.