So much to see in Barcelona, and so little time to blog. We decided to spend seven nights in this busy city even though it meant that we had to hostel-hop. On our first night back in Europe, aka my first night back to feeling like a nomal person, we rambled down Las Ramblas. We saw quite a fanfare on that street line with pet stores containing canaries, pigeons, snakes, and chipmunks. We saw tons of people spray painted to look like statues, either sitting still as stone or riding bicycles. We saw Edward Scissorhands, Marilyn Monroe, and a human-tree balancing a crystal ball on her swaying arms. The best entertainment, though, was a man not hoping for any handouts--he was just walking down the street stark naked sporting his impressive tattooes and piercings--a defiant, determined work of art.

The next three days were filled with bizarre Modernist architecture, mostly Gaudi. The highlights were the spectacular Sagrada Familia (every side in a didderent striking style), Hospital San Pau, La Pedrera with its surreal roof, Casa Battlo with its colorfully scaled exterior, and finally Park Guell: Park Guell is one of a kind. Gaudi designed the park with colorfully tiled stairs, columns and benches, and huge, unnaturally morphed viaducts which provide the perfect set for all kinds of artists and musicians. In one afternoon we got to hear a Beatles cover band, a medieval lute, a trip-hop band, and a classical string quartet.

We spent our last three days in the Old City. In the city center we enjoyed the mesmorizing cathedral "La Seu", the City History Museum, and the Caixa art gallery high atop Montjuic. But more than anything, we enjoyed walking around the neighborhood surrounding our hotel where graffittied walls and hippy shops are minutes away from the surprisingly broad waterfront and beach.