Day 13: Another awesome day in Barcelona

9:00 am: Tapas dinner last night was delicious yet again and we had plenty and plenty of wine with it. After dinner we said goodbye to Britt's parents. They were heading to Granada and will meet up with us in Madrid later on wednesday. Brian, Nat, Britt and I went to Montjuic (the mountain where they have the big fountain). It has a music and lights show and it was absolutely stunning to look at in front of the huge majestic building. We had a good time there taking pics and then we met up with Graham and went to a bar to meet with some people in their program. The bar was a bit sketch (an old wine cellar run by guys with tatoos and skullets) but it was a lot of fun. We had sangria for the first time. It tastes like juice and we quickly went through 4 jugs of it. We were definitely feeling it near the end. We left around two because we were exhausted and because Brian had to work super early in the morning. We ended up getting 5 hours of sleep so that's an improvement from the last couple of nights. Nat, Biskal and I are on our way to get some delicious treats and then we are doing some exploring.

7:00 pm: we picked up our treats and decided we would go up to Tibidabo mountain. The whole experience was ridiculous and hilarious. First off we walked all the way to the funicular and thought we were awesome because we got there at 9:30 only to find out it didnt open till 10:45. So we sat in a park and ate our treats surrounding by the barks and howling of what sounded like 100 dogs in the nearby mountain. When it finally opened, we paid 4 euros each to take a 1.5 minute ride (we probably could have walked it). When we got to the amusement park, we immediatly saw a massive church. We went inside and there was an English mass going on and everyone was singing Amazing Grace. I guess this is where teh tourists go to church. The amusement park itself was even more bizarre. We were the only ones there, none of the rides were running, half the park was blocked off and there were dead ends everywhere and they were playing the creepiest music the whole time. It was something straight out of Goosebumps or Are You Afraid of the Dark. Britt took a pic of the deserted carousel and was mocked by some carneys. It was one big weird experience. The views from the top were great but it was pretty foggy out. So Tibidabo was a bust but it definitely provided some funny memories. After that we realized that mine and Britt's cameras were dying so we went back to the apartment to get Nat's cam and then went to the Ramblas for lunch. We had some good eats including our favourit Barcelona staple: patatas bravas mmmmm. For dessert we had churros dipped in Spanish hot chocolate (which was as thick as nutella). We ended up eating until 3 (like true Europeans) so needless to say, the first half of the day was not that productive.

After lunch, we began our afternoon of Gaudi. Gaudi architecture is incredible. His buildings are a mixture of Alice and Wonderland and Dr. Seuss. So much geometry and colours. We walked by an apartment he designed that looked like a fish. It looked so out of place with the buildings beside it. Next we went to the Predrera (a huge house he desinged for a wealthy family). The best part was the roof which was full of giant sea shell sculptures and statues that look like the clone troopers in star wars. It was really really neat. Then we went to his most famous work, one of the symbols of Barcelona, the Sagrada Familia. By far the most amazing church I have ever seen in my life. Soooo much detail everywhere. It's huge with massive twisted spires. The front is adorned with carvings of the stations of the cross mixed with (in typical Gaudi fashion) giant frogs, geese, and bundles of colored fruit and vegetables. The back wall depicted more religious imagery including dead babies dangling from the church. In the front is a giant statue of Jesus tied to a pole with whip markings all over him. Definitely a crazy church. You could stare at it for an hour and still not see everything. Gaudi dies before it was finished and it has been under construction for over 100 years with no end in sight. All the construction machinery and vehicles have become part of the site itself. They keep saying it will be open as an actual church soon but who knows. We walked inside and climbed the tower for better views of the outside of the church. When we were finally able to peel are eyes away from this masterpiece we met up with Brian at the metro, It's been raining off and on all day. Still can't believe I got stuck with rain in Barcelona. Tonight we're goint to Park Guell (also designed by Gaudi) to watch the sunset.