My first experience in a sleeper train was, at the least, an interesting one. Sleeping on a carpet covered slab of wood isn't my best idea for fun, but suspend 6 such slabs from the wall, three on either side, with about 2 feet clearance between them and you have a world of entertainment. It really wasn't too bad, though. We arrived yesterday morning in Barcelona, parked our luggage in the train lockers, and went to find where we would be meeting our next professors for the Spain leg of the trip.

The tail end of a festival was going on in Barcelona, and we managed to catch part of the Parade of the Giants and the beginning of the Castellers, but the plaza was too full for us to get to see the actual casteller action.

After meeting up with Lynn and Damien, we headed to the apartments that we would be staying in for the next few days, and then went to pick our luggage up and settle into the rooms. We visited the Sagrada Familia that evening, but made it too late to go inside, since the lifts were closed due to waiting lines over 90 minutes long. We sat outside and sketched for a while before heading back to the apartment.

Today we went to see some apartments designed by famous Spanish architect, Antonio Gaudi - Casa Batllo and Casa Mila. Not having seen much of Gaudi's work before, other than the Sagrada Familia, it was nice to experience some of his earlier works. We toured the Casa Batllo via listening devices. Very much organic and in the Art Nouveau style, designed and detailed down to the smallest detail. The lightwell in the center of the building is tiled in blue tiles, graded from dark to light, so that the brighter light at the top makes the tiles appear to be the same color as the nearly white tiles at the bottom.

After going to take a look at the Casa Mila, we walked down to the other end of Las Ramblas, meeting to do a quick design project at the Christopher Columbus monument. (which, interestingly enough is pointing away from the New World). We then walked through the city to visit the Santa Catarina Market, and then to the Picasso Museum, which has most of Picasso's paintings from his youth, as well as a thorough selection throughout his life, and shows his progression of art styles throughout his life.