Spain cultural reflection:
The Spanish Liga (soccer league) has many good teams: FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletico Madrid, and Valencia. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the best teams in the world! FC Barcelona has Ronaldinho, Etoâo, Deco, and Messi and Real Madrid has Ronaldo, Raul, David Beckham, Cincino, Zidane, Van Nilstrooy, Roberto Carlos, and Robinho. FC Barcelona won the Champions League and the Liga (Spanish league) this year in 2006. When we were in Barcelona, we went to the stadium, Camp Nou, and the FC Barcelona Museum. The museum is a very nice museum. It has all FC Barcelonaâs trophies on display as well as other mementos like a model Camp Nou, news paper articles, statues of football players, and other stuff. The stadium has red and blue chairs to match the teamâs colors, and very nice chairs for the players. When we were there, all the players had left for their home countries for the World Cup. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the top teams most of the time, so when they play each other itâs a very hard game.
May 26, 2006: Madrid to Salamanca We got to Madrid at 6:00 a.m. and caught a bus to Salamanca. When we got to Salamanca we got a hotel and then started walking around. We walked through plazas and past churches and then circled around and went back to our hotel. We could see storks from our room so we got dinner at a store and then ate it on our deck.
May 25, 2006: Barcelona to Madrid When we got up we went and got our tickets to Madrid for later that night and then started walking around Barcelona again. We first went to the post office and Peter got some stamps. Then we had lunch and went to the beach. Dad stayed at the beach and G went back to the hotel and Peter, Mom, and I went to Gaudiâs Parc Guell. We took the metro out to the Parc. When we got there we had to walk up and up a hill to get to the park on top of the hill. When we got to the top we had a great view of the city. We started walking down the hill and saw two funny looking houses made by Gaudi. When we walked down the hill, we saw the famous dragon. It was in all different colored tiles. Then we went to the houses. They looked like gingerbread houses with colored roofs. When we were done exploring we went back to the hotel and caught the bus to Madrid.
May 24, 2006: Barca's Camp Nou! Today we got up at 9:00 and took the metro to Camp Nou (picture above) the FC Barcelona stadium. We got our tickets for the tour and went in. First, we went to the museum. The museum went from older to more recent times. The first display was about the club being established in 1899. Going through the history of FC Barcelona was fun and then comparing it to how it is now. At the end was the Paris final trophy and a movie about the season. After we were done looking at the museum we went in to the stadium. The seats were red and blue. The stadium was huge! I took video footage and walked around the seats and then went back in to the store. I bought a Ronaldinho poster and Puyol, Deco, Etoâo, and the 2005-06 team postcards. Next we went to field level and saw the chairs the players sit on (itâs like a 1st class airplane ride!). The field wasnât in the best condition because the season is over. We went back in and went up to the media room that has a great view, so we ate lunch there. When we were done with lunch we went to the field for the last time and said Good Bye to Camp Nou. But, we will have to come back to see a game. We got the metro back to our hotel. We walked down Las Ramblas and I got a patch and a scarf.
May 23, 2006: Barcelona: Gaudi! We woke up, had breakfast and started heading towards Gaudiâs Casa Batllo. When we got there, their was a line of people and so we saw it from the outside. There was 1 chimney with a cross on top, the roof was wobbly looking, the window ledges were funky looking, and the whole house was in stone inlay in all different colors. When we were done looking, we went on to Gaudiâs La Perdara (chimneys). When we got there we looked at it from across the road because we got a better view. We went in and there was a free museum exhibit going on, on Malevich, another artist. We got a free audio guide and on the second painting, it was really funny because it said, "And now we have a great work by Malevich... the man in the top hat urinating." When we finished seeing the exhibit, we went on to the Sagrada Familia. When we got there we had lunch and then went in. When we got in, we went inside but there was a lot of construction going on so we couldnât see much so we went to the museum. In the museum we found out that the Sagrada Familia is just over half way done! We saw models and pictures and how Gaudi took plants and then made the architecture look like the plants. When we were done looking at the museum, we started up the steep stairs to the top of the building. Half way up, Dad called to us outside the building to come and get his camera so we went back down and then back up. When we walked back down, we met dad and took the metro back to our hotel and walked around Las Ramblas.
May 22, 2006: Barcelona When we woke up on the train, we found out that we were in the wrong place. We had breakfast in Bordeaux, France and then caught a train to Barcelona. We got into Barcelona at 10:00 P.M. and looked for hotels until 1:00 A.M. and then went to bed.