Amsterdam: Dodge on Location

Wow, so I was not joking about not updating. I was half hoping that I would make a blog entry every night regaling my audience (hi mom) with tales of my adventures abroad. Alas, said adventures seem to be cutting ino the time I would have spent writing.

So, here is a brief, very abridged overview of the trip so far, more for my my sake than anything else. The ideal situation would involve me coming back and using this entry as a skeleton for a complete series of entries about my trip...

Hahahhaha, but seriously now.

-Barcelona-

Day 1:
See previous over-ambitious entry for the beginning. That night, I went out on the town with Sergio, a guy I met who worked at the hostel. He showed me around town, noting the less savory areas of town and proceeded to whisk me down alleys and into areas I would have never ventured into on my own.
Local bars with specialty shots for one euro and Estrella on tap pushed my already jet lagged body into a half awake state, shuffling down the cobblestone streets in my ill-advised high heel boots. He dropped me off at the Spanish equivalent of 8:30 at my yawning request; clearly I had some adjusting to do.

Day 2: I managed to wake up at a reasonable hour and enjoyed a cafe con leche at a local cafe, reveling in the beautiful weather I seemed incredibly fortunate to have been blessed with.

Do you see where this is going?

By my last sip, the rain was falling in sheets, unrelenting and ready to thoroughly soak anyone who dared step outdoors. A quick, frantic shuffle to the corner store (still in my inappropriate high heel boots, mind you) secured me a flimsy, yet effective paragua. (That's umbrella for those of you non-Spanish speakers.)

I figured out the metro system in a snap, and simultaneously learned just how terrible MUNI really is in SF, and was on my way to La Sagrada Familia. Rain be damned, I had Gaudi to experience! And experience I did, there was no way I could have prepared for the marvel that is La Sagrada Familia. Terrifying and beautiful, eerie and exhilarating, a maze of undulating, dripping, geometrically organic, ornately simplified madness. It was a series of beautiful contradictions that challenged everything you want to believe about beauty and architecture. Gaudi truly was just as mad as he was brilliant.

The rain blurred my vision as I craned my neck to see the looming facade, covered in stone that seemed to writhe with life, each figure eternally on the verge of escape. The chaos of the organic Nativity facade sharply juxtaposed with the paradoxical geometric and flowing Passion facade stole my breath.

After a long wander through the cathedral and a museum visit, my feet demanded I address my shoe selection. Ah yes, but it was siesta. Silly American. After a rest, I was off for lunch and to remedy my footwear dilemma.

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Alright, I must leave you here. The airplane is boarding. More later!

Dodge