Tuesday, November 16, 2010

UPDATES

How is it already mid-November?? I feel like I was just in Madrid for Halloween complaining about how November was about to begin. I have so much to update on my recent travels so I'll try to keep it short.

We went to Galicia, a region in the Northwest of Spain. We stayed in the province of A Coruña and visited the capital Santiago de Compostela. Architecture majors might remember studying the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela. It's a Roman Catholic Cathedral, which is rumored to be the burial place of Saint James. I also learned it's the third holiest place in the world after Jerusalem and the Vatican. It was basically amazing and I couldn't believe I was there!

These pictures make the situation look quite pleasant but in reality, it was STORMING..so terribly and none of us were prepared. That whole day was pretty bad but we got over it and just accepted that we would be soaking wet and freezing. There really wasn't another option. We were there on a Sunday and lined up to go to mass. The ceremony was very cool, unlike anything I've experienced. Pictures were prohibited but I'm sneaky and caught a few.
While in Santiago, we also toured the construction site of Peter Eisenman's City of Culture of Galicia. Eisenman wanted to make the complex invisible and part of the natural hills of the rolling landscape. It was a nice concept but most of us agreed that the execution and materials used weren't suitable. I'm excited to see the finished building though.
We spent more time in A Coruña touring the old city, museums, and lighthouse but the highlight of this trip was definitely the cathedral. The following weekend, a few of us went to Valencia to visit Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences. The buildings, to me, resembled different spaceships. I was surprised to see the scale of the project..I had no idea it was so huge. Other than the attractive appearance of the exteriors, the interiors were pretty much a fail. The museums were terrible and the aquarium was the worst thing ever. Nothing like Monterey Bay or Seaworld <3
Our lovely hostel..which reminded us of a whorehouse (notice the purple room)
Terrible aquarium..poor animals :(
Trying agua de Valencia with unhappy Namon
Paella! Valencia's specialty
That following weekend Virginia came to visit! She's studying abroad in Berlin this semester and came to Barcelona with a few of her friends. It was so nice to see a familiar face and FINALLY another Asian person. I never thought I would miss hanging with Asian people so much. Here we are at Razzmatazz..not exactly the best place to go to catch up but it was fun nonetheless.

For Halloween weekend, we went to Madrid for a few days. Madrid wasn't as great as I expected. It felt like any other city and their nightlife wasn't exciting. We visited all the main tourist attractions including the Caixaforum, Reina Sofia, Puerta del Sol, the Royal Palace, and El Prado. El Prado, Reina Sofia, and the palace were probably the more interesting things we saw. Seeing Las Meninas and Guernica live was like seeing a celebrity.
Caixaforum
Reina Sofia
El Prado and go bears!
Royal Palace
The following weekend, we went to Bilbao and neighboring town of San Sebastian. We of course went to see the Goog, which made us appreciate Frank Ghery more. I expected another Valencia experience, where the exterior looks cool but interior sucks. I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed the museum. The Richard Serra exhibit was my favorite. We took the train that same day to San Sebastian where we spent the night. The town was so adorable! It was a cute little city right next to the beach. That night was very fun..our hostel recommended a long list of things to do (bars, tapas etc.) and we hit up allll of them haha.
Chuck and his new lover

Jeff Koons Tulips and bilbooing around in Serra's exhibit
Goooooog and my future landscape centerpiece on the left
I know I know..these resemble something else but it was delicious!
10 euros/10shots! and tapas afterwards right before something embarrassing happened heh..
My most recent trip was a program trip to Granada in the South of Spain to see La Alhambra. It was nice to finally see a different style of architecture. The Moorish palace was very interesting and the whole area including the garden was huge; it was like its own little city. We had a 6 hour tour and through it, we learned a bit more about Islamic architecture. One of my favorites was the Arabesque patterns of the canopies and everywhere else in the palaces haha. We also saw a flamenco show with dinner, which felt so Spanish. I could really tell that we were no longer in Catalunya. It was fun to see such dramatic and talented dancers.
Granada during the day and night
Flamenco show and Spaniards playing with fire once again..

Inside the Alhambra!
beautiful details in the corridors
Taj Mahal? and group picture!
Finally I'm back to Barcelona for a longer period of time. Next week is already Thanksgiving o_o.. I decided not to travel mainly to save money for my final trip and believe it or not, I have papers and projects to finish asap. I leave for London and Dublin next Thursday for a week and when I return, everything is due along with finals. Yippeee, need to keep reminding myself that none of these classes count! I know this post was massive but hopefully it was entertaining.

1 comment:

Alfonso said...

No es Barthelona. Es Barcelona