A Tour Featuring Gaudí and Picasso

 On Friday, I took the train to Barcelona! It is located in the Northwest of Spain, so it took 30 minutes to get from Toledo to Madrid and then 3 hours to get from Madrid to Barcelona! 

 I think the Toledo train station is so cool! It had to have been something else before it became a train station. I don't know what though. This is the entrance to the train station. The walls, ceiling, and floors are so pretty inside. The architecture of the building on the outside is neat too! 

 

 This is the Madrid-Atocha train station. 

 Once I got to Barcelona, I waited for about an hour at the train station for my director and some students from the program in Granada. We went to the hostel we would be staying at to put our luggage away. 

 Then, we went to the Arcadia center, the program's headquarters, for a lecture about history and politics. It was actually pretty interesting. They informed us about what is happening with Catalonia and the situation about the United Kingdom. Then, we had lunch, which was more like tapas because we had some students from Ireland with us and they wanted to introduce typical Spanish food to them. 

 Then, we went on a guided tour around the city. We saw an old water tower, La Casa Batlló, La Casa Milá, and La Sagrada Familia.

 I saw so many cute dogs this weekend in Barcelona, including these two! 

 We did not go inside the Sagrada Familia, but that's okay with me. The exterior is so incredibly detailed and adorned. It tells the birth of Jesus Christ on one side and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ on the other. There are four towers for the gospels and there is one tower still being built for Jesus. It is supposed to be completed in 2026.

 Our guided tour stopped here, so my new friends, Wes and Emily, and I took the metro to the Picasso museum. 

 It was way cooler than I expected! Picasso did so much more than I thought he did! I thought he only painted, but he also drew and sculpted. He also did a collection of versions of Velasquez's "Las Meninas". 

 In addition to the artwork, many of the ceilings were really pretty too! 

 This was just a neat and random spiral staircase! 

 This was part of a blue series Picasso did. 

 You rarely see a picture frame with nothing inside on display. This was cool and ironic. 

 Picasso's abstract version of Las Meninas! Super cool! 

Another pretty ceiling.

 These are some poems that Picasso treasured and wrote with art throughout the verses. 

 The third pretty ceiling I found.

 We got pushed out of the museum because they were closing and the staff wanted to go home. We walked in the rain to find somewhere to get dinner. 

 Wes found an awesome restaurant online, and it wasn't too far. 

 Emily and I both got the patatas bravas with slow-roasted pork and garlic aioli. It was basically hash browns with barbecue. It was so amazing. 

 I also had this croquette with fish in it! 

 On our way back, I got some hot chocolate at a place called Cappukchino. 

 Then, we got back to the hostel and I took a shower and went to bed. It was great. 

 Kthnxbai!