Back From Spring Break!

I'm back from spring break! Unfortunately, my only souvenirs are a cold, sore throat, pink eye, and an inability to hear out of my right ear. Luckily, I picked these up only in the last days of our trip. Jon and I spent the first couple days in awe at how magnificent the city was. Even the most ordinary buildings there were so ornately decorated that they could easily be the most attractive in other cities. We visited two parks while we were in Barcelona, one was the Park Guell, designed by the architect Gaudi, and the other was the Cuitadella Park, which has the Barcelona Zoo inside it. I didn't so much enjoy the Gaudi park (or his style in general), but it was interesting to walk through anyway. I didn't have my camera that day, so I can't show anything, but the park looked as if it was taken out of a Dr. Seuss book. To give an idea of the style of Gaudi, though, here is a picture of the Sagrada Familia Church, which is currently under construction:


This is supposed to be Gaudi's masterpiece. Anyway, the Ciutadella Park was probably to most amazing park I have ever seen. Walking through it was the most surreal experience I can remember. I can hardly describe how it felt, and the pictures probably won't do it justice, but here are a couple pictures of the park.
Bed's of tulips were everywhere, and all the bushes and trees were meticulously trimmed and shaped. Every little detail about this park was intented by the designers, and the end result was amazing.
Jon and I with some crazy trees.
There is a lake in the middle of the park, where people get in row boats and just paddle around.
This castle looking building is a museum in the park.
And this is the Arc De Triumph guarding the entrance to the park. As you can see from these pictures, the weather was treating us very well (at least for the first part of the trip).

The beaches were also really nice, although the got very crowded during the late afternoon. It was still a little too cold to swim, so we mostly just sat at the beach and played frisbee.

We also visited a big castle overlooking the port.


The castle is open for everyone. This guy is just practicing archery in the courtyard, and there were a group of old men playing hand ball against the castle walls. The military museum is located in the castle, so they had old artillery and cannons as decorations.


This is a mall on La Rambla, probably the coolest looking mall I've ever seen. La Rambla is a long street with a lot of shops, and entertainers trying to get tips. It was a lot of fun just to walk down it and check out the stores. Even though this probably isn't the most important building in Barcelona, I just really like the design.

I have to get back to studying for midterms, so I'll update more later with pictures of Madrid.