I come to Spain!

Nate (the big bro) left this morning at 4:15am, and I was so sad to see him go! He had a wonderful visit, I hope, and we both had a great time experiencing Barcelona together. He arrived Wednesday afternoon; I met him at Plaza Catalunya from the Aerobus. Right away we headed for Las Ramblas where Nate was in for a few surprises. He gawked at the birds for sale and the statues with their full-on body paint. We headed back to my flat to drop off his bags and then took a nice stroll on the boardwalk, and down to Port Olimpico. Later, we strolled around the Born neighborhood, and then Gothic Quarter, where I showed him all the historical sights and had a dinner of Spanish tapas at Bilboa.
Thursday I had class in the morning. Nate met me at my break at 12:15 and we walked down Las Ramblas to La Boqueria. Then Nate came to my Contemporary Spain class with me! Later, we stopped by Sagrada Familia. Then it was time to get ready for Cirque du Soleil. What an amazing show, the performers where unbelievably talented, and their bodies moved in ways that should be impossible. After the show, we stopped at Ovella Negra to drink a pitcher of Sangria and play a few games of billiards.
Friday we woke up and went on a bike tour with Gnarley Charley. There were about 15 total people on the tour, mostly from England and Australia. They took us all over the city, including: Port Olimpico, Parc Ciutatdella, Sagrada Familia, Monumental, and the Gothic Quarter. It lasted from 1:30pm until about 5pm and afterwards we all sat at Flaherty’s for a beer. We stopped home for a quick shower and then headed to Chabad House for Shabbat services. The rabbi saw that we were new and invited us to his house for Shabbat dinner. Fantastic meal with a crazy mix of people! The rabbi is originally from Mexico, but has been in Barcelona for 9 years where he has raised his 4 kids. There were also two travelers that are doing a year at seminary in Israel. A couple from France who are in Spain for business, and finally a New York native who translates for a living. Needless to say, he was a translator for the night. We didn’t leave the rabbis house until 11:30pm. Later that night, I agreed to go with Nate to the casino, and he won at BlackJack! Saturday we took a train to Monserrat, it is this extremely old monastery dating back to the 9th century. We took some amazing pictures of the view from atop the mountain. When we arrived back in the city, we attempted to see the FCBarca game, and arrived just at the end and realized that our sources were incorrect, it was actually a basketball game and not futbol as we had thought! We came back to the apartment to get ready to go out and hung out with Kendra and her friends visiting from Colorado. Nate, Kelsey, and I went to Chupitos for a few flaming shots and then decided to head for the Irish bars since it was St. Patrick’s Day! We had a beer at My Bar and then tried unsuccessfully to enter a few clubs but there were huge lines and 20 euro cover charges.
Sunday, Nate and I had a good brunch on my street overlooking the harbor at Maristany. Then we took a stroll through Born and the Gothic Quarter. Nate did some souvenir shopping. Then we tried to take the furnicular up to Montjuic but the wind was too strong so it wasn’t running L. Instead we took a metro ride and tried to go to the Espanol futbol game at the Olympic Stadium, but we were too late for that one too BOO! We had a fancy shmancy dinner at Les Quinze Nitz and called it a night. Monday we took a walk around Las Ramblas and then hopped on a bus for Parc Guell, another one of Antonio Gaudi’s masterpieces in Barcelona. On the way I was able to show Nate Casa Batllo and Casa Mila. We had a fun photo session at the park and also the little museum and then it started to rain so we headed back for my place and then the casino so Nate could feed his gambling addition again… Later that night we took a cab to Plaza Reial and had a quick bite at TravelBar before going to a live Jazz/HopHop show at Jamboree and then a live Flamenco dance show next door at Taranto! So much fun!! At that point, Nate and I were both exhausted from our busy week, we came back and slept a few hours before he had to catch a cab for the airport at 4:15am. Overall, I would say it has been a hectic couple of days, but well worth it for all the wonderful memories and fun times!

Barcelona, Spain