Trip with Steffen

Hey guys,

As most of you know, my boyfriend Steffen came to visit me at the end of my program and we have been doing a bit of traveling around Europe for the past week and a half!
We stayed in Barcelona until May 2nd, which was very bittersweet for me...I still can't believe I'm not going back there after this trip is over! We got to do some of the things that I had on my "Barcelona Bucket List" which was really nice, like seeing the Palau Guell and some other less touristy sights.
After leaving Barça, we headed to Amsterdam for three days. That leg of our trip was VERY interesting...we stayed in a hostel in a room with 20 other people in queen-size bunks...let's just say that if it had not been for my eye mask (thanks Uncle Susan!) and heavy-duty ear plugs, I would not have slept a wink. The weather in Amsterdam was terrible--relentless, freezing rain for two of the three days we were there! But, we still managed to do a lot despite the weather. We went to the Van Gogh Museum (after waiting outside in the rain for 2 hours!) and the Anne Frank House, which I had made reservations for online ahead of time. On our third day, we caught a canal cruise, which was SO much fun. We also walked around some of the neighborhoods of Amsterdam...the Jordaan neighborhood was definitely my favorite, with beautiful little gabled houses along wide canals. The Red Light district was interesting to say the least...not sure how I felt about the girls selling themselves to my boyfriend as we walked past, but I guess it's something you have to see at least once! I loved Amsterdam despite the gross weather...I definitely want to return.
After Amsterdam, we headed to Copenhagen to visit my friend Claire, who is studying there. She lives in a 'kollegium' (dorm) in Amager, which is a 15 minute metro ride from the city center. On our first day there, we rented bikes and rode around the city, visiting Christiania (a section of the city that has been taken over by free-thinking hippies who sell weed and make delicious vegetarian food) and the Thorvaldsen Museum (Thorvaldsen is Denmark's most famous sculptor). The next day, Steffen and I headed out on a more comprehensive tour of the city, walking along the Strøget all the way to the park where the Little Mermaid statue is, although she isn't there presently, as she is on display at the World Expo in Beijing. Afterwards, we went to the Danish Resistance Museum, which was really interesting as it showed how the Danes cleverly put up a fight against their Nazi occupiers.
The next day, we went to the Danish National Museum, which had an awesome display on Viking and prehistoric peoples. The weather in Copenhagen was VERY cold, with a freezing wind that cut right to the bone, so we tried to spend a lot of our time in museums! Our next stop was Rosenborg Palace, a favorite palace of King Christian IV of Denmark, and also the place where the Crown Jewels of Denmark are kept. It was a beautiful palace with even more beautiful gardens, which I would have enjoyed spending time in if it hadn't been so damn cold! Finally, we went on a canal tour of the city, which was funny because it was just us, one other guy, and the tour guide on a huge tour boat. Oh well, I guess not everyone is masochistic enough to take a canal tour when it's 30 degrees outside. It was really interesting though, and I'm glad we went, even though I couldn't feel my feet afterward!
Our last day in Denmark was spent at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, a short train ride away from Copenhagen. My friend Katherine told me about it, and I really wanted to go. We walked through a beautiful, green birch forest to get there, and then walked around the museum's amazing grounds, which are dotted with sculptures by Miró and Calder. It is right on the ocean as well, and it was a wonderful and peaceful afternoon.
The next stop on our trip was London, which is where we are right now! We got here on Sunday, and are leaving for Paris tomorrow morning. My friend Natasha came down from Glasgow to hang out with us, so that has been amazing, since I rarely get to see her. Yesterday we went to the British Museum (SO cool for an Egypt freak like myself!) and the British Library, where the Magna Carta and Beowulf are on display. After that, we took a walk along the Thames, and popped into the Tate Modern for more modern art (Steffen is going to kill me after this trip for all the modern art I've put him through!) We also walked by Parliament and 10 Downing Street, which is quite an exciting place to be right now as Gordon Brown is stepping down from his position as PM after a very interesting election. Today, we are heading to the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, then the Victoria & Albert Museum for the Grace Kelly exhibit, Camden Town, and finishing our day on Oxford Street so that I can (window) shop! We're getting Indian food tonight too, and I can't wait...I've heard the best Indian food outside of India is in Britain, so we'll see how it goes!
Our next stop is Paris, and then the good old USA on Sunday! I won't be able to update you guys on Paris while we're there because I won't have WiFi at the apartment we're renting, but I will write a short update when I get home...and put up some photos from the rest of the trip!!!!

Lots of love, can't wait to see everyone soon!

Kelsey

VERY Delayed Photos from Spring Break

Hey everyone!
So I basically have turned into the worst blog updater ever in the past month...I apologize! After spring break and my mom leaving, I had nothing but work until school ended, with an extended (thanks to the volcano) trip to Paris thrown in! Anyways, I wanted to put up some of my photos from Venice because they are edited and ready to go. Here they are!
View from the Accademia Bridge, right next to our bed and breakfast

Mom and I on top of San Marcos

Cool, hidden Venetian building--the Scala Contarini del Bovolo

View down the Grand Canal from our canal cruise

A gondolier and his passengers on the Grand Canal

Valencia & Spring Break

Hey everyone!

Wow, time has really flown by! I meant to update the blog sooner about Valencia and Las Fallas, but I didn't end up taking too many photos so I didn't have much to put in one blog entry. It was a really fun weekend, though, with a lot of...shall we say....interesting...aspects to it. The 'camping on the beach' aspect actually turned out to be camping in a muddy parking lot, and while I did manage to see the Fallas being lit on fire, I wasn't able to see much of Valencia, which I am sad about. :(

However, as many of you know, my mom came to visit two weeks ago for my spring break!!! I was SO excited to have her here in Europe since she hasn't been back in 30 years, and I couldn't wait to show her around Barcelona. We had two days in Barcelona before we left on our trip that involved lots of sightseeing and a couple awkward encounters with my host mom where I attempted to translate for both parties at a very rapid speed!

On Saturday, it was off to Granada for two days to see the Alhambra, one of the world's most beautiful palaces. Granada was absolutely amazing with lovely architecture and great weather--finally, after experiencing Barcelona's freak cold spell for the past three months, I was able to wear dresses and tank tops! We explored the city and its rich Moroccan quarter...needless to say, my mom did a LOT of shopping for everyone so look forward to that!

On Sunday, we toured the Alhambra and had a blast. We had our trusty Rick Steves guide out and I read every description to my mom so that we could really get the full effect! The buildings were indescribably beautiful--I felt like I was in Morocco, where many of my friends went for spring break, even though I hadn't left Spain.

We left Monday for Venice and endured some time in the airports, a long water-bus ride , and a bit of confusion with the street names before we arrived at our bed and breakfast near the Accademia Bridge. It was a really cute room with an ensuite bathroom and two large windows that looked out over the street, as well as extremely nice Italian women who made us delicious hot chocolate in the morning!

Our first real tourist day in Venice was Tuesday, and we accomplished all the major sites--St. Mark's Basilica & Square, the Doge's Palace, the Correr Museum, and the Campanile. Oh, and I accomplished eating a huge plate of amazing gnocchi with brown butter and sage--yum! There weren't many crowds when we were walking around, which was nice, but since Venice is basically a historic, decaying European Disneyland for adult tourists, we were bound to encounter a good amount of people. Oh well!

On our second day, we walked all over the island, from St. Mark's to the Frari Church, which was absolutely beautiful, and then over to the Rialto Bridge, where we checked out the fresh fruit, vegetable, and fish markets. We also passed by San Moisé Church, La Fenice Opera House, Scala Contarini del Bovolo, and the Church of San Polo on our walk to the Frari. After touring the church, we headed to the Scuola San Rocco, which houses HUGE paintings by Tintoretto. I was definitely boring my mom with my art obsession on the trip to Venice, but I mean--the island is chock full of amazing art! I was in heaven, but my mom definitely said: "Not another Jesus on a crucifix again!!!!" about twelve times a day.

After going to the Scuola, we went to Ca' Rezzonico, which my mom actually enjoyed, because it is an 18th century palazzo that has been converted into a museum highlighting the lifestyles of the wealthy Venetian bourgeoisie. It was filled with period architecture, beautiful ceiling frescoes, and of course--lots of art!!! Our next stop was the Santa Maria della Salute Church, which stands at the beginning of the Grand Canal and was built after the bubonic plague struck Europe in order to ensure the health of the Venetian population. Didn't really work out for them though, because 94,000 Venetians still died from it. Oh well, at least they got an absolutely breathtaking church out of it! Right down the street (canal? It's hard to know how to describe direction when you're talking about Venice) is the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a collection of modern art in the palazzo that Peggy lived in during the 1950s and 60s. I loved the collection here and enjoyed the amazing spot she had on the Grand Canal--she was one lucky woman. Finally, we topped our day off with a Vivaldi concert at the San Vidal Church, which was wonderful. The violinists and cello players played in perfect harmony, and it was so cool to get to see them perform in an old church as well.

On our last day, we relaxed a bit after our hectic two days. In the morning, my mom went shopping (she claimed I had been denying her precious shopping time due to my need to see every sight on the island--sorry for trying to culturally enrich your life, MOM) while I went to the Accademia Gallery, which houses Venice's largest art collection. Seeing some of the Tiepolo and Titian that I've studied in real life was a great experience and I thoroughly enjoyed wandering down the halls without the commentary from the Peanut Gallery about crucifixes and what not! I also managed to squeeze in a visit to Palazzo Grassi before I met up with my mom. For anyone who is planning a trip to Venice in the near future (and loves modern art like I do), I definitely recommend a visit here. It's the collection of Francois Pinault, a wealthy French businessman, housed in a palazzo on the Grand Canal. It was a very interesting collection and I wish I had had more time there. Our last touristy event of the day was a Grand Canal cruise--we hopped on a vaporetto (water bus) and sailed all the way up the Grand Canal as I played tour guide and read descriptions of everything we were seeing to my mom, of course.

When we were leaving Venice, I felt unbelievably sad. I could have spent a much longer time there, just wandering the canals or sitting and enjoying the absolutely breathtaking beauty of the city. I remember reading a quote in one of our tour books (The Companion Guide to Venice by Hugh Honour--I highly recommend it!) from an author who said that leaving Venice was harder and harder for them every time they revisited the city, and that they felt the same irrevocable sadness that I was feeling when I left. If anything, it just made me more determined to go back to Venice, so I will definitely be making that happen!

I will post some of my photos from the trip in a new post since they won't all fit in this one when I take another break from the two papers, two projects, presentation, and final that I am preparing for!

Lots of love,
Kelsey

Costa Brava

Hey everyone!

I just had some extra time so I thought I would update my blog! It's been a very busy week...lots of stuff due for my classes, a midterm, and a tapas contest, which my team got 2nd place in! Last weekend, I went to Costa Brava on another IES-organized trip, and it was a lot of fun. Both of my roommates came with me too, so that was awesome. I have to say though that the Basque country reigns supreme as my favorite region of Spain, despite how absolutely beautiful Costa Brava was.
For those of you who don't know, the Costa Brava ("the Wild Coast") is actually a region of Spain along the Mediterranean that goes from a little north of Barcelona all the way up into France. It's an extremely popular tourist destination during the summer, which is why it was cool to go during this time when it was nice weather but not crowded, so we were able to see everything we wanted to see! Snow on our way to France!
The weekend started out with a trip to the Museu Memorial de l'Exili in a town about two hours north of Barcelona called La Jonquera. The museum is a memorial to Spaniards who were forced into exile during Franco's regime, and to the memory of the thousands that subsequently died in the concentration camps installed by the dictator in northern Spain and France. The reason the museum is so important is because up until recently, Spain has been very hush-hush about their history, and museums like this one are not common. It was interesting to learn about the region that we were visiting and what people went through during the dictatorship of Franco.

After La Jonquera, we crossed the border into France to a small town named Perpignon for lunch. My roommate Margaux, who is half-French and speaks the language fluently, was an invaluable tool for ordering lunch and getting around! It was so cool to just be in a different country in a matter of hours and explore, since I haven't left Spain yet since I got here in January.
View of Girona
We stayed in Girona, which is a city about an hour away from Barcelona that is famous for its well-preserved medieval Jewish quarter and its distinctive Roman walls. It isn't the most 'happening' city, but it was beautiful and our hotel beds were like heaven compared to the squeaky, hard mattresses we have at our homestay!

The courtyard at the Teatro-Museo Dalí
On Saturday, we went to the Teatro-Museo Dalí in Figueres. This was definitely the highlight of the trip! Basically, Dalí bought this theatre in his hometown of Figueres and converted it into a museum for his work. He designed the entire layout of the museum and placed all of the paintings and sculptures exactly where he wanted them, which was so interesting. The museum was like a trip inside Dalí's mind, which as I am sure all of you know, is very strange! My favorite was the Mae West room, which was a portrait of the famous actress, Dalí style. Here's what it looked like:
After the museum, we drove over to Cadaqués, a town on the Mediterranean not far from Figueres. It is where Dalí spent his summers as a child, and it was a huge inspiration for him as an artist. My friends and I had lunch at an amazing little restaurant near the beach overlooking the ocean and the whole town. The sun was shining, the wine was flowing, the food was delicious, and the ocean was beautiful--all around, a great afternoon.
The beach in Cadaqués
After lunch, we walked over to Port Lligat, which is an even smaller town on the beach where Dalí had his own beach house as an adult. It looked like a normal beach house--except for the huge sculptures of eggs and two faces he put on his roof! Oh, Dalí. We didn't go inside, but we spent some time just photographing the beach and exploring.
The top of Dalí's beach house in Port Lligat
On our last day, we stayed in Girona and walked around the city. We went to the Cathedral, which is famous for having the widest nave of any cathedral in the world, behind St. Peter's in Rome. It was beautiful and since it was Sunday, we got to see some of the church service that was going on. Our next stop was the Arab Baths, which were built in Roman times as a place for the people of Girona to come and relax. It didn't look too spa-like since there was still snow on the ground from the freak snowstorm we had here two weeks ago, but they were interesting nevertheless. Finally, we visited the Jewish quarter of the city (known as the call) and went to the Jewish History Museum. I thought it was so interesting that this city had such a diverse mix of religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Muslim--all existing in the same place during the Middle Ages. A street in the Jewish call of Girona
Our last stop on our trip was to the town of Besalú, which is well-known for its stellar preservation of its medieval characteristics (bridge, towers, church, etc.). We weren't there for too long, but I managed to buy my mom a present and try some yummy local cassis liqueur!
The medieval bridge and tower in Besalú
Tomorrow I am leaving to go down to Valencia for the weekend for the festival Las Fallas, which basically involves a bunch of drunk, rowdy Spaniards making huge, flammable dolls, parading them around the city, and then lighting them on fire. We're camping on the beach too so it should be quite the interesting experience! I will make sure to blog about it as soon as I come back!

Lots of love,

Kelsey

The Basque Country

Hey everyone!

Sorry again for the late update...it's midterms week and I haven't had a spare minute to update the ol' blog! Last weekend I went to the Basque Country with IES on one of their optional field trips. I had an AMAZING time! The Basque region of Spain is by far my most favorite yet. The people were incredibly friendly (much more so than in Barcelona), the scenery was breathtaking, and, most importantly, the food was incredible!

San Sebastián

For those of you who don't know, the Basque country is located in the north of Spain and also in the south of France. Its main cities are Bilbao, San Sebastián, and Vitoria. The Basques are a very interesting and ancient people who have lived in these lands for centuries. What's even more interesting is their language...it bears NO resemblance whatsoever to Spanish or any European language, for that matter. Their language is classified as a "language isolate," meaning that it has no linguistic "family tree." It's considered to be the last remaining pre-Indo European language in Europe. The phrase "Hello. How are you?" in English is translated into Basque as "Kaixo. Zer moduz?" Pretty crazy, huh?

Yummy pintxos at the culinary school in San Sebastián

We had another jam-packed itinerary on this trip. On our first day, we visited the Chillida-Leku Museum outside of San Sebastián which houses the works of the sculptor Eduardo Chillida. It was a beautiful museum in the countryside, with Chillida's modern sculptures dotting the hillside. After that, we went to a culinary academy for lunch in San Sebastián. One of the professors there taught us how to make some pintxos, or appetizers, that are common in San Sebastián. One of them was a fish pudding served with cocktail sauce and another was stuffed octopus with spinach sauce. They were absolutely delicious! San Sebastián is gaining quite a reputation for being a culinary capital of the world, and it was a treat to be able to experience the cuisine firsthand. After our delicious lunch, we took a long walk around the beach and saw some of Chillida's sculptures named Peine de los Vientos ("Wind Combs") that he had installed on actual rocks in the ocean. The scenery was incredibly beautiful...it reminded me a lot of some of the beaches in Northern California.

View of the bridge designed by Arata Isozaki in Bilbao

On the second day, we toured around Bilbao, where our hotel was. Bilbao is an amazing city...it was once a capital of industry with a lot of factories, which I think is what prompted my host mom to describe it as "muy sucio" ("very dirty") when I told her I was going there for the weekend, but it has changed a LOT in recent years. As many of you probably know, the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum is a major reason for all of this change. The museum itself is incredible...the exhibits were very interesting as well. I particularly enjoyed a Richard Serra installation that involved walking through labyrinthine corridors of corrugated metal. However, there are a lot of sculptures, buildings, and bridges designed by well-known modern architects throughout the city. Its almost as if the city of Bilbao is their exhibition space or something.

My friends Amy and Ellie and I in front of the Guggenheim Museum

We had free time at lunch so we did as the Basques do and went on a pintxo tour of many different restaurants throughout the old town of the city. Pintxos are the Basque version of tapas, and tapas are the Spanish version of hors d'oeuvres, basically. In short--they were delicious! Somehow they managed to pile a bunch of different flavors on top of a teeny tiny piece of baguette and do it in a beautiful way. And of course, at night, we went out Basque-style and got cups of wine and hard cider that we drank in the street while we were socializing with Bilbao's lovely citizens.

A boat in Bermeo

The final day of our trip we spent touring around other well-known cities in the area. Our first stop was Gernika (Guernica), which most of you know as the town that inspired Picasso's famous painting. The town is also famous for an oak tree that the Basque leaders met under for hundreds of years to discuss politics and the state in general. After Gernika, we went to Mundaka, a beautiful, small fishing village along the coast and had lunch. Finally, we stopped in Bermeo, another small fishing village, where we took a long walk around the city and looked at all of the boats docked at their harbor. It was a beautiful day with clear, sunny weather and somewhat warm temperatures, too!

This weekend, my old roommates Brianna and Ariana are in town so I'll be showing them around Barcelona and just having a girls' weekend of shopping and eating! Next week I am off to the Costa Brava region of Spain for a weekend trip and I can't wait!

Lots of love,

Kelsey

Madrid!

Hey everyone!

I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long--it's been a hectic couple of weeks! I went to Madrid last weekend with Margaux and stayed with some relatives of hers there and we had an amazing time, although our trip had a bumpy start with us almost missing our plane and Sarah, our other roommate who was supposed to come with us, missing her plane completely because she accidentally booked her tickets for 9 AM instead of 9 PM (or 21:00 as it is here in Spain).
So, needless to say, we were excited when Margaux's relative, Diana, picked us up at the airport in Madrid after an evening at the airport that was comparable to a finale episode of The Amazing Race. Diana and her husband live about half an hour outside of Madrid in a suburb that kind of reminded me of a Spanish version of the Palisades. They have six kids--six!--two of whom live at home. One of their children, Madalena, is close to Margaux's and I's age so she told us she would take us out that weekend.
The following day, we explored the city a bit, getting completely lost trying to make our way to the Atocha, which is Madrid's railway station. Why were we so eager to get to a train station after our hectic day of travel? you might ask. The reason is this:
Those crazy Spaniards have put an entire tropical garden inside the train station! We weren't able to walk through it when we were there, but it was still really cool to look at.
After the Atocha, we made our way to the infamous Prado Museum to get our fill of the classics for our trip. For those of you who don't know, the Prado is pretty much like the Louvre or the Met of Spain. It contains thousands of artworks, such as Hieronymous Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas, and tons of Goya, including The Third of May, 1808, his famous anti-war painting. I took a class about Spanish and Portuguese art at GW two semesters ago, and it was amazing to get to see all the works I studied up close and personal!
That night, Madalena and her friends took us to a Mexican restaurant, a bar, and an underground club...needless to say, after a night out "Madrid style," it was difficult for us to get up in the morning!
However, we managed to drag ourselves to the Reina Sofía, the modern art equivalent of the Prado, and the museum that houses Picasso's Guernica. We had a great time just meandering around the exhibits and taking everything in. We weren't allowed to photograph Guernica, but I managed to get a shot of one of the paintings he did in preparation, which was my favorite:
After the museum, we gave Madrid nightlife round two a shot, but it was tragically cut short when we were in line at a club, only to be informed that the entry fee was 20 euros! I'm sorry, but no club, no matter how amazing it might be, is worth almost 40 dollars--just to get in the door!
The next day was our last day, so we packed it full of activities. We started out at the Thyssen-Bornemisza art museum, which is the private collection of a wealthy elevator magnate who is married to a Spanish ex-beauty queen. I highly recommend this museum for anyone who goes to Madrid. It is not as overwhelming as the Prado and the Reina Sofía, and it has a wonderful mix of all kinds of art, from Renaissance to Impressionist to contemporary. We both loved it, and it was conveniently raining during the time we were in the museum, and then stopped as soon as we came out.We then made our way to the Palacio Real, or the Royal Palace of Spain (see above). It was absolutely beautiful. We were going to take a tour of it, but it was not open :( We walked up a ways to the Templo de Debod, which is an Egyptian temple, discovered in the Valley of the Kings, that the Egyptian government had moved to Madrid, brick by brick, as a gift of appreciation to the Spanish government. Pretty cool! The Communications Palace along Paseo de Castellana
Our next stop was the Basilica de San Francisco El Grande. Although we couldn't go inside, we stood on the steps and marveled at the huge dome of the church, which is bigger than St. Paul's in London! After that, we wandered around the medieval part of Madrid for a while, stopping in a little plaza called Plaza de la Paja for a quick cup of tea.
Due to our 7:30 AM flight, we didn't get the chance to go out again that night, but instead stayed in and talked with the family we were staying with. They were so sweet to us and a kind of reminder of home since we were able to speak English with them all weekend.



I'm off to film class right now, and I am leaving for the Basque Country (San Sebastián and Bilbao) tomorrow morning for a weekend trip! I promise a quicker blog post next week.

Lots of love,
Kelsey

Montserrat & Montjuïc

Hey everyone!

Another busy week in Barcelona has gone by! It is finally starting to get nice here--today I wore a dress! The city is absolutely beautiful and full of life when it is sunny outside...something about that breeze blowing in off the Mediterranean, I guess! Yesterday, I went to Montserrat with some kids from my program and my Spanish class. It was free for my class because we won a scavenger hunt around Barcelona during the first week of school, so that was awesome.
Montserrat ("Serrated Mountain" in Catalán) is a mountain range about an hour outside of Barcelona that is home to a Benedictine monastery that houses the world-famous sculpture of La Moreneta ("Black Madonna"), the patron saint of Catalonia since the 1800s. When we arrived at the mountain, we embarked on a MASSIVE hike that was almost all uphill. Of course, you all know that I'm used to hiking in Yosemite, but Yosemite had nothing on this hike. We basically scaled a mountain in a little under 2 hours. Despite the difficulty of the hike, the scenery around us was beautiful, and it was such a perfectly clear day that we had a great view of the Pyrenees Mountains in the distance, as well as Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea.
When we finally reached the top of the summit we were climbing, we were greeted with views of some of the shrines the monks of Montserrat had created in the side of the mountains, as well as the hermitage of Sant Joan where monks would live alone for years at a time. The hike was amazing, despite the physical toll it took on me, and needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the plate of pasta I had when we descended!
After lunch, we went to the Museum of Montserrat which, for being located on the side of a mountain, actually had quite the collection. In addition to having an Egyptian mummy, the museum also has beautiful paintings by Caravaggio, Monet, Degas, Picasso, and Dalí, who were just some of the artists inspired by the natural beauty of Montserrat. One of Picasso's paintings of an old sailor that he painted when he was fourteen was absolutely incredible. I fully support Spain's obsession with Picasso as he is possibly one of the most talented artists in the world.
Just before we left, we had the opportunity to go to the 16th century basilica of Montserrat which is located next to the museum. After standing in line for some time, I was able to see La Moreneta, and touch the globe that she holds in her hand. The sculpture of La Moreneta dates to the 12th century, and was created to commemorate a vision of the Virgin at Montserrat. It is considered a very important statue because it is the world's first "black" Madonna. However, in 2002, it was discovered that the statue isn't really black, but got its dark color from centuries of candle smoke slowly "tanning" it.The visit to Montserrat was a great experience--despite my sore muscles today, I had a wonderful time exploring the mountain, and it was really nice to be out in nature for once, and not in the crowded city.
Expounding on those feelings, my roommates and I decided to go to Montjuïc today because the weather was so nice. Montjuïc is a hill overlooking Barcelona that is filled with art museums and parks, and is a beautiful place to escape the busy city for a few hours. We started out by going to the Botanical Gardens, which were small but still very nice to just sit in and soak up the sun. Afterwords, we walked around and looked at the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, which houses mainly Catalan art from the 12th century up until the early 20th century. We didn't go inside, because the museum is free, and we decided to enjoy the day rather than being inside.
All in all, I had a wonderful, nature-filled, and peaceful weekend. I am off to an Irish pub to watch the Super Bowl tonight (on at midnight my time and ending somewhere around 6 AM), and next weekend, I will be heading down to the beach town of Sitges for Carnivale, which is spearheaded by the gay and lesbian community there and should be a blast!

Lots of love,
Kelsey