Barcelona, Spain

We arrived in Barcelona last night after a brief stop in Pamplona. Blair and I walked the entire ¨running of the bulls¨ route. It was much shorter than we expected. However, I´m sure if you´ve got a herd of angry bulls chasing you, it seems much longer. (Spectators hit the bulls with rolled up newspapers to make the bulls see red. I think I´d be carrying my own newspaper to beat back the spectators.) Gary, our guide, said the entire run takes about three minutes, and it´s all uphill. I also didn´t realize it´s not just one run; it´s a week´s worth of runs, all during San Fermin´s Feast Week. A small altar to San Fermin can be seen near where the race begins. I wonder what he thinks of all the hoopla?

Gary pointed out the two most dangerous spots on the route. The first is where the runners make a 90-degree turn from one narrow street onto another narrow street. The second most dangerous point is when everyone is dashing into the bull ring at the end of the race. On the weekends, about 3,000 runners participate, and a bottleneck is created at the entrance. A giant statue of Ernest Hemingway sits just outside of the bullring taking it all in. He´s the one who put Pamplona on the map, so they honored him with a statue.

After walking the route, we went into their plaza mayor, where some sort of street festival was going on. A bicyle-powered centrifugal force amusement ride was a main feature. We watched two young (12ish) boys strapped onto bicycles pedal their way to a complete 360-degree circle. I got dizzy just watching them. Over and over and over they went. It´s what I imagined I could do as a kid swinging, if I just pumped my legs hard enough.

From Pamplona, we continued our journey to Barcelona. Everyone agreed that San Sebastian had been the high point of the trip so far. It is a gorgeous place. The scenery (think stunning ocean view) alone is worth the trip. Throw in the mouth-watering food, the energetic street action and 70 degree temperatures and you´ve got heaven on earth.

Six of us ended our visit in San Sebastian by taking in ¨Cuatro Voces,¨ a flamenco ballet by Eva Yerbabuena, a dancer/choreographer who won the national prize for best flamenco dancer in 2001. (Her footwork was beyond amazing. Sounded like machine guns at times. I didn´t know feet could move so fast with such perfect timing.) She was also featured in a recent film by a British director called ¨The Women of Flamenco¨. I´m not familiar with it, but I want to see it when we return home. The ballet was in the beautifully renovated Victoria Eugenia theatre, which boasts four levels of gilded seating and a cherub-painted ceiling. The voices of the four men who sang while Eva danced gave me goosebumps. Her dance troupe was equally outstanding, especially the male dancers. The two guitarrists, the flautist and the percussionist also played their hearts out.

We arrived at our hotel outside of Barcelona a little after 8 p.m., and we had dinner at 8:30. (We watched ¨Billy Elliott¨ in Spanish with English subtitles on the bus. We also saw most of Austin´s own Richard Linklater´s film, ¨Before Sunrise¨.) The name of our hotel is NH Sant Boi. Lovely. Very modern. Our only complaint is that the hotel is located in an industrial park, far from downtown. We left the hotel at 9 a.m. this morning for a ¨vuelta¨ (circle) around Barcelona. Our first stop was the Parque Guell, Antonio Gaudi´s fanciful park that´s covered in brightly colored mosaics. What a place! It sort of reminds me of San Antonio´s Sunken Gardens...or what the Sunken Gardens could be. We then went to Gaudi´s unfinished cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, whose spires remind me of hand-dripped sandcastles. From there, we went to the top of Monjuic, where we ran into a group of traveling alumni from the University of Texas at Austin. After trading hook ém horns signs, we saw a gorgeous view of the entire city, and then we passed by the Olympic Stadium. I took a picture of the torch for Stacey Johnson, Palo Alto´s Dean of Arts and Humanities, who was an Olympic fencer. The guide reminded us that Barcelona is where Greg Louganis won all of his medals for diving in 1992. I remember what a thrill it was to watch him on TV.

We then were dropped off at Plaza Catalunya, and several of us headed down Las Ramblas to the Boqueria Market. I took a photo of a street performer dressed up like Salvador Dali. He did Dali proud. (I´ll load photos of these different sights when we get back to San Antonio, when I´m not being charged by the minute for an Internet connection.) Blair and I got slices of jamon serrano and Gallego cheese to make a sandwich. Scrumptious. We then sat on the sidewalk, ate our lunch and watched the world pass by.

Our next destination was the Cathedral. Gary told us that street musicians hang out in the area around there. We saw an opera singer, a harpist, and a couple of classical guitarists. The acoustics did justice to the talented performers. We also were able to pat a carved turtle that´s supposed to bring good luck. We then dashed into the Aragon Museum, which had a lovely courtyard and ancient illuminated manuscripts, some dating back to the 1300s...way before Columbus ever made his way to the Americas. Just goes to show you the importance of leaving a record behind.

We then walked up Avenida Porta de l´Angel, toward Plaza de Catalunya. More fantastic street musicians. This group was a clarinetist and a percussionist, who played something I´d never seen before. Sounded like a steel drum, but it was the shape of a walnut. Not exactly round, but rounded. Way cool. A woman was sitting next to the group. She was completely bald and wore sandals with bright orange socks. Quite the fashion statement. I don´t know that I´d be brave enough to pull that look off, but it worked for her.

Nature called, so we dashed into McDonald´s. We paid back their hospitality by purchasing .60 Euro vanilla ice cream cones that we ate on benches outside. While there, we ran into some friends from San Antonio. Small world! Nicolas teaches math and physics at UTSA, but his specialty is architectural theory. He´s in Barcelona to give a talk. His daughter, Sofia, is in Aedan´s dance class. His youngest daughter, Alexia, was with him. After we caught our breath, we headed down Passeig de Gracia to see more of Gaudi´s architecture. His famous Casa Batllo, a home he designed for a wealthy family, is on a block called ¨La Manzana de la Discordia¨ (Block of Discord) because of three different architectural styles that clash. In my humble opinion, Gaudi won the fight hands down. One of our fellow travelers, Kim, paid the 16 Euros to see the inside. I´ll probably regret that I didn´t go in, but you´ve got to save something to see on future visits. We then walked down to Casa Mila (La Pedrera) another of Gaudi´s masterpieces. It´s pretty, but I have to say that I like his more colorful (mosaic) work better.

After typing this blog in a smoke-filled cibercafe with a gang of teenagers whose language would make sailors blush, we´re headed back to the Plaza Catalunya to meet the bus at 6:30 p.m. Dinner at the hotel at 7:30. Collapse at 8;30 p.m. (Mariana says she´s going to head back to town tonight. I said she must be part vampire.) We´re off to Valencia tomorrow!