Holiday in Spain

On Saturday I finally embraced the reality of a decision I had made several weeks earlier to spend the weekend in Spain. It seemed like a really good idea when we bought the tickets, but obviously we didn't realize that a 6:30 flight would mean waking up at 3:00 in the morning, catching a cab to the train station; bus to the airport; plane to Girona, Spain; bus to Barcelona. When we finally arrived, I was thankful for the choice we made and everything seemed to fall into place as it always does.

We walked in a delirium to Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece, that could easily be confused for a cathedral designed by Dr. Seuss himself. Gaudi was the leader of the Spanish Art Nouveau movement, but his style is completely unique. Although some would characterize his work as absurd, I love his undulating facades and approach in general as it is thoroughly referential to nature. We walked through the city exploring Christmas fairs, listening to performers, touring Las Rambles and taking in everything we could until our bodies demanded a siesta and we checked into our eerier than ever hostel.Since FCB had an away game, football was out but luckily we came to Barcelona on the right weekend for music. We hit the mainstage of Primavera Rock '06 and caught Laura Veirs, Cat Power and Jeff Tweedy of Wilco in all of their live splendor. Jeff Tweedy was especially good - a captivating and entertaining performer - and oh, so talented. It helps that he played How To Fight Loneliness and made my night just that much better. Jackie and I considered it a great achievement to get back to our hostel past 10:00 pm, and were anything but anxious to get back to the place where we would only spend a few hours sleeping.Day two was all about Park Guell, which inspired me in a major way to add mosaic creation to my plans for 2007. Barcelona, beach, Arc de Triomf (yes, with an -f), palm trees, Mediterranean, Colombus, sunshine, blue sky, tired, tired, tired, Barcelona. Back to Brussels.

-Counting Crows-