On Friday we had the day off from classes so Val and I went on an adventure to el Parc del Labering...(it's a big park with some monuments and a labyrinth in the middle) It was a kind of crappy day weather wise, but we still had a fun time...










Hurricane Damage:
A lot of the park was closed off because of wind damage from two weekends ago. It turned out that it was classified as a hurricane here. There were a lot of huge trees down like this one.






So we didn't have to pay to get in, but we also didn't get to see everything.


Maze Entrance:

We explored what we could of the park, which was very pretty and then decided to try our luck in the maze. We started it at 1:30 and found the first dead end right away and then ended up back at the beginning.









Try number two was a lot more successful. We made it to the middle of the maze, which was an open area with a statue of Eros, the Greek god of love. Then we had to choose from 7 identical pathways to find our way out. It took a while to decide, but we made it on our second try. It took us until just about 2:00...not bad... It was easy to see how people could go insane in those mazes though! It wasn't as easy as it looked.





The whole park was dedicated to Greek gods and goddesses, there were a lot of statues and stuff all around. Val, who is a history major, filled me in on a lot of the stories behind the different sculptures.





This is me in the middle of the labyrinth, with Eros, son of Aphrodite and Aries. I think in Roman mythology he is the same thing as cupid.



After the park we found a cute cafe to have lunch, then did some shopping and headed home.


On Saturday it was really rainy so we decided to spend the day at the Picasso Museum. It was very very cool. There was a special exhibit and then a very extensive permanent collection. It was cool to see his early work, which is a lot different than what you think of when you hear "Picasso." Each gallery was dedicated to a different movement or time period and they all began with a description of where Picasso was at that point in his life and his motivations and such. I thought it was very interesting. Most of the work was contributed by Picasso himself right before he died.



During the day on Sunday I walked around one of the neighborhoods of the old city, called el Borne. It's my favorite part of the city. There are very narrow, cobblestone streets, beautiful cathedrals, and a bunch of cute little shops and restaurants.



We stopped at cafe called Sagardi for some really good tapas, which are like small individual appetizers that are common to eat in the late afternoon, since dinner is typically very late. They were the best I've had so far. They are all set out on a bar area and you pick as many as you want and put them on your own plate. Then, to pay, the waiter counts the toothpicks (that are holding the food together) to see how many you've eaten. It was a neat atmosphere.


And I also had some amazing gelato. It's definitely going to become an addiction once the weather warms up a little bit!



I was able to go to an Irish Pub on Sunday night to watch the Superbowl. The bar had game-time specials, projected the game on a big screen and decorated with the colors of both teams. It was packed!
The Cardinals fans definitely out-numbered Steelers fans which surprised me. A large group of my friends reserved a great table so we were able to sit down and had a great time. Because of the time difference, it didn't even start here until 12:30am. I was too tired to watch the whole thing, so we stayed until Bruce performed and then headed home.



The weather is FINALLY looking better. I was so happy to see the sun this week. On a nice day the city is brilliant, I cannot even explain it. I walk around with a huge smile on my face all day. Tomorrow we'll be getting up early to go on a day trip to Tarragona, a city with supposedly some of the best Roman ruins is Spain. I believe it was the capital of the Roman Empire at one point. Everyone from around here says it is absolutely beautiful, so I just hope that the weather holds out! I'll post pictures and updates after the weekend!


I hope all is well with everyone and you're all warming up!! As always, I love to hear from you, so keep the emails coming! :)