S: Po left early this morning, so it was down to three of us. I am going to miss travelling with Po, who has incredibly blunt conversation and is hilarious to look at art with, as her commentary is often colourful and imaginative. On the bright side I will be seeing her in January. The number in our group has slowly been whittled down over the week and now it was up to Meags and Adam and I to do the final bits of exploring we had left in Barcelona. We walked around for a good amount of time in the morning, taking in the city and getting to see a few more Gaudi features we hadn’t yet seen. One Gaudi house we passed by had balconies that all resembled skulls, while brightly coloured ammonite shaped patterns adorned the outside walls. The roof looked like a purple-ish dragons back, wavy and covered in shining scales. Again, try to imagine this back in the year 1900 and what people must have thought. Crazy! But so incredibly beautiful. I can’t believe they aren’t temporary art exhibits and are rather permanent structures.

We went into a famous chocolate shop next door and bought a couple of coffees, sampled the chocolate and peeked into the Gaudi house over the barriers. Even inside the walls had details like I’ve never seen on a building. I knew Gaudi was a unique architect, but I had no idea just how quirky. I love how he uses elements of the natural world everywhere and I would love to see more cities built with this kind of aesthetic in mind.

M: Before she left, Po recommended the World Press photo of the year exhibit that’s in town. It was amazing. There was a bunch of different categories, like long term-project, current events and sports, and the top five photos in each category were on display. The photos were all accompanied by a short description. They all elicited strong emotions – some were gut-wrenching, others were uplifting, and a few were just plain old funny. Two photo sets hit me particularly hard. One was a series of three photos of Syrian children in a hospital, a few alive and one dead, and all of them covered in blood. The look on the one girl’s face was haunting. The other photos that most affected me was a long-term project of the photographer’s parents’ simultaneous battle with cancer. There were photos of them getting chemo together, laughing together and of the family home once they both passed. At the end though, that set left me with a little warm spot in my heart. It was a very emotional afternoon!

The three of us grabbed food before parting ways for a couple of hours. I was unable to convince Sav and Adam to join me with the Picasso museum – their loss! The museum was really interesting and went through Picasso’s life and how it shaped his art. In a few rooms, they had his pre-painting sketches displayed right beside the final product. It was really cool to see the different ideas he went through before doing a big painting like that. From the start of the museum when he was a young boy to his later work, there was a huge difference. I’ve never seen an artist’s lifetime or work all lined up like that before so I really enjoyed it.

Sav and I needed to make reservations for the train tomorrow, so we agreed to meet back up at 7:30 at the hostel. Since I had some time to spare, I got lost in the side streets around the museum and checked out so many cool shops and squares. There were some beautiful galleries and unique clothing stores. I went into one where the shopkeeper explained how her friend designs all the patterns and she assembles all the clothing. Eventually I had to tear myself away from this area to meet Savanna and Adam.

S: It was such a beautiful day out and we’d already spent a few hours inside the art museum this morning, and as much as I would love to check out Picasso, I wasn’t up for another museum today. Instead Adam and I walked around the Gothic Quarter checking out old vintage clothing shops, which are very popular in Barcelona. We strolled down La Rambla, looking here and there at the Christmas stalls. Lights were strung up everywhere and there were trees decorated in every major square. There was even one square with giant snow globes in it! It was wonderful walking the streets and talking for a couple of hours. Before long it was time to head back to the hostel to meet Meags.

Meags and I went to the train station to attempt booking our seats, but alas no such luck. The times are different at every station and this one had closed 10 minutes before we arrived. One useless metro trip down. We came back to the hostel to pack up our bags and say goodbye to Adam, who is leaving at 4AM tomorrow. Adam was a lot of fun to have around this week – he always had something interesting or witty to add to conversation and he carried himself with an infectious happiness we liked so much. Australia has certainly given us a lot of new friends this trip!

S&M