Europe Day 3: Saturday, May 12
7:50 am Woke up to leave at 9:00 am
Our first stop today was Palau dela Musica Catalana—perhaps, my favorite place so far! It wasn't the grandest but I loved the pastel mosaics, tiles, and live performers practicing. I got my first souvenir on this trip: a postcard and a magnet of the beautiful columns. I've been looking for something to collect from all these cities I'm traveling to, and I think postcards will work perfectly☺️!
Our school group split up and some of us headed for the mall. Upon entering, Macey and I were immediately captivated by a stand of cronuts and pastries😍. I wasn't going to get anything since it was time for lunch, but Macey really wanted the strawberry one. . . so as a supportive friend, i just had to order the nutella cronut😉! While distracted by all the pastry options, we got separated from the other girls we went to the mall with. Apparently, a bird pooped on Yani and they went to find a restroom to clean up😅. Since both Macey and I had no cell service, contacting the other girls was impossible. We managed to exchange broken Spanish and English with a guard to find where the food court was—the 9th floor. After many escalators (and getting distracted by shop displays), we finally found the food court and the girls. For lunch, Macey and I split a turkey sub with caramelized onions in front of an amazing view of the city.
Afterwards, we all met at Casa Mila or La Pedrera, Antoni Gaudi's house. Gaudi used a lot of nature in his projects—animals like snakes and snails, and plants, including pine cones. He designed furniture to have rounded edges to follow the humans' natural form and touch. Casa Mila was a wonky building that reminded me of Dr. Seuss. Up on the rooftop, there were these giant "soldiers" that were supposed to keep the building safe, but creepy voices kept coming from them😧.
We took a restroom break at McDonald's, which had macaroons😉, and then we strolled to a nearby contemporary art museum. Honestly, it was probably the worst art museum I've ever gone to. Within a big building, there were only five exhibits (not counting the meh modern art work)—a live man flipping through a newspaper on top of a huge concrete hippo, a random piano with a hole in the middle, a small stone suspended by a string, two rooms with one which had a video of a man playing with some blinds to the beat of a creepy tune and another with a man growling. The only cool thing in the museum was a live butterfly that happened to find its way into the giftshop. Ahh, I totally sound like such a complainer! Let's just say it was an interesting experience that made me appreciate real, complex art😂.
For our last dinner on land, we split a pizza from a pizzeria beside the ANT hostel. Tomorrow, we are checking out and hopping on the cruise!!!
TTYL
Made with Joy,
Abby Joy
