Hola! I'm Back from Catalonia

My passport stamp says Spain, but If you ask me, I just went to Catalonia. I got back Thursday night and after a few days of fighting jet lag, I'm ready to go. I'll post about some experiences and general thoughts and feelings about the fantastic trip my parents took my sister and me on. I've uploaded my pictures here. I'll be re-organizing them over the next few days.

Our Apartment - Our entire trip centered around Barcelona. We had an apartment in the Gracia district of the city. The neighborhood was very central and had lots of history. Just two blocks away was the start of La Rambla. We could walk to absolutely every location from our apartment, which we did. The neighborhood was a little big eccentric, but also had a lot of high end eateries and shopping.

Gracia is the neighborhood in Barcelona where Catalan revolutionaries would seriously talk about their fight and separation from the rest of Spain. There were a lot of historical markers in the area as well as a few plazas and monuments celebrating this fact. On our street was a locally famous Tapas bar called El Roble, (or affectionately known as El Roure for some reason). There was a cartoon highlighting the bar's importance in the organization of the Catalan leaders and ideals. The place was always full of locals. The only tourists I ever saw in there was my family. The famous Parc Guell designed by Gaudi is in the neighborhood as well.

The neighborhood was a crux of bohemian people, the upper class, and Catalonian purists. This was exemplified one night when my sister and I went out to a plaza full of kids dressed like punks, next to an upper class bar (you know, where a shot costs $12.00), and a naked man just chilling out in the fountain chatting with friends. I don't have a picture of that, but my sister does.