Thrusday - Another Day, Another great one.

Hola!!

Today was a really full day. Not everything went according to plan, but it all worked out beautifully.

We started the day by taking a bus to the monastery Montserrat. The monastery is at the top of a mountain which is unlike any other we have seen in Spain. It has very curious and interesting features. As tall as the mountain is, some of the students found ocean fossils at the top - score one for Earth Science.

Our tour guide was from Poland and talked nonstop for the hour it took us to get there. We learned a lot about the history of Barcelona and the monastery. Spain is a really interesting country in that it is not really one country at all except for purposes of taxation. Barcelona is part of the Catalan region and the residents have their own distinct language, culture and basically have never forgiven King Ferdinand for marrying Isabella of Aragon, which led to the domination of the Castillian culture in the newly unified Spain. The Catalans and the Basques are, more than 500 years later, still pressing for independence.

We all toured the church, then we broke up into groups. Some took a walk looking for great views, some started at the museum which, in addition to a collection of Catholic iconography and Catalan art, has a very nice general collection, including several works by Joan Miro, one very interesting Salvador Dali, and more than a dozen sketchs and lithographs by Picasso. Most of us also took the funicular (cable car) to the top of mountain. The view was spectacular and I have included a brief video.

From Montserrat we travelled to the Gaudi park, which contains some very fanciful works in mosaic by Gaudi. I have included two pictures of buildings as well as some of our students kung fu fighting.

Next on the agenda was a bus drive to the chocolate museum. It was actually pretty tacky in my opinion, but we didn't really care, because we really just wanted to buy really fine chocolate as souvenirs to bring back home.

After returning to the hotel to freshen, we took off on foot for dinner and the Magic Fountain. Apparently two email confirmations is not sufficient because when we arrived at the restaurant, not only did they deny any knowledge of our reservation, the cook had already gone home for the day. Time to improvise.

Today happens to be a major Catalan holiday, St. George's Day, as in the one who slew the dragon. The streets and the Metro were the most crowded we have ever seen and the prospects of finding a restaurant that could accomodate 41 seemed quite slim. We took the Metro to the Magic Fountain (packed like sardines) and spirits lifted considerably because the fountains were a ton of fun. Still not place to eat.

After some fast footwork by Frank and our hotel concierge, we secured reservations for 10pm (still the Early Bird Special by Barcelona standards) to a restaurant, "Danzarama" about 10 minutes from the hotel. It is a pretty modern, hip restaurant and dance club. Unfortunately, the dance club didn't open until 12:30am, so no dancing.

Dinner was great - a tapas experience. A tomato/onion/carrot/tuna starter, followed by a salad, followed by a tuna on toast dish, followed by a variety of croquettes (potato, fish, basil, cheese), and then the entree, either cuttlefish or lamb. Dessert was a cream/custard cake for students, and a somewhat more interesting cake with a fruit glaze and dark chocolate for the chaperones. For those of you who have been following the blog, I had a much lengthier description of the meal a half hour ago, but the internet crashed and I lost the entry and I am too tired to give you the full story again.

That's all for now. It is past 1am and I am ready for bed. I am going to publish the text and then try to add the pictures. We are scheduled to leave for the airport at 10am and will be back home in Hamilton sometime between 2 and 3am on Saturday (really Sunday).