Halloween & Graffiti Fun

For Halloween, the boys and their teacher, Christian, put together a Halloween rap in Spanish.  

The boys created/wrote their own raps and spoke it quickly in Spanish.  It was impressive!

Sadly, our teacher, Fani, took another job, and this was her last day with us.  

It was hard to see her go!!  But since we have become good friends, we will stay in touch.

Nicholas with his girlfriend, Fanta.

Around Halloween time, there are booths like this one on the street that sell roasted sweet potatoes and roasted chestnuts.  It smells good!

Since there is no trick-or-treating here, we took the boys to a candy store called Happy Pills, to fill up a container full of candy.  It was so packed with candies that the boys wondered if it would last a year if they ate one each day (many were very tiny).  Well, the candy was gone in about 3 days.

This is a meringue "cupcake" that they serve with a spoon because it is so soft and gooey inside with your chosen flavor.  This one was chocolate. 

Apple advertises BIG here, too!

Our new Spanish teacher, Carmen, told us about an event where kids created a huge graffiti mural together.  We signed up just before it filled up...it apparently was pretty popular.  The boys participated and enjoyed the artistic outlet.  Here they are "warming up" with markers and paper.

Their graffiti mural was on this plastic sheet wound around a tree at each end.  The graffiti artist is the one in black, and he painted this design for the kids to fill in.  Here are a series of photos to show the progression of the mural.

Jacob was interviewed by a couple "official looking" people with a video camera and microphone.

Once the mural was done, all the kids used the extra paint to create their own design(s) on the back.  Jacob and Nicholas were there until after all the other kids left...

This is the other graffiti mural that was done by the small kids. 

(They used paint brushes, not spray cans, and had parental help.)

Here are a few photos of the final graffiti mural of the boys' project.  It says "KIDS BCN".  

(BCN is an abbreviation for Barcelona.)

The location where the graffiti art was done was called Poble Espanyol (this is in the Catalan language/spelling).  It is a "village" of buildings designed to represent the different architecture found around the country of Spain.  They have museums, art stores, food stores and restaurants, craft stores, as well as contemporary art buildings...all to represent what you can find in Spain.  

Here is a contemporary art building that we walked through to get to our graffiti event.  

These are photos of the village of Spanish architecture there (and the boys posing in some!).

On our walk back to the Metro station after doing graffiti, 

Nicholas saw this clock in the middle of the building and took a couple photos.

That clock is right near this round building, which used to be the bull fighting arena.  The region of Catalonia (which Barcelona is part of) banned bull fighting in 2010.  So they turned the arena into an expansive mall.  From the 360-outdoor terrace at the top, the city can be viewed from all sides.

We went out with friends to a famous chocolate and churros restaurant, where everything is from scratch and yummy!  The hot chocolate here in Spain is THICK, and you dip your churros into it.  Interestingly, nothing was really sweetened that we could tell...the chocolate was not sweet (but not bitter, so they must have added some sugar), the churros were not coated in sugar (like in the U.S.), and the whipped cream on the hot chocolate was also unsweetened.  So, along with your order, they give you a packet of sugar to sweeten everything to your taste.  I wish I had taken a picture of this place that was completely packed with lines out the door.  Very popular!  

Afterwards, our friends came over to our place, and our newest and littlest friend, Safira, played with clay.  Here she is telling us all about the snail family she made (in Spanish).  

Here again are these cool letters that spell "Barcino", 

which we found out is the ancient name for Barcelona.

About a block from our place, we enjoy this cool little archway with the structure on top that looks like it was literally built above ground between two existing buildings.

More soon!

Friends Visit

Our dear friends, Maggi and Genelle, took a tour in Israel, then detoured over to Barcelona to spend time with our family.  It was wonderful to see them!  We meandered around Barcelona, ate good food (of course!), and even spent time at home figuring out how to make a great chocolate chip cookie!  (My previous attempt a month ago had failed...something must have gone awry amongst all the conversions... although we ate them anyway!)

Our first dinner out was at Cuines de Santa Caterina, adjoined to a great farmer's market.  

They have great pork ribs for those who like to eat pork.

 Here we are near the Arc de Triomf, which I have posted in previous blogs. 

I realized that I have not given any history or information on the Arc de Triomf (this is in the Catalan language, BYW), which is an spectacular landmark.  Barcelona hosted the World's Fair of 1888, and the arch was built as the gateway to the fair held in the massive Ciutadella Park.  The architect, Josep Vilaseca, designed the arch to show respect to the nations participating in the World's Fair (or Universal Exhibition) by showing Barcelona welcoming nations to the fair as they walk in, and on the other side Barcelona awarding medals to participants of the fair.  He also wanted represented the modern Barcelona at that time with images of agriculture, industry, commerce, and art on the sides of the arch.  This photo, taken at a different time, shows the welcoming of nations across the top band.

We made our way down to the beach and watched several games of soccer/volleyball.  It is a volleyball game where they only use their feet, chest, and head to hit the ball.  

It was captivating to watch and truly impressive...such ball control!!  

In my opinion, it should be an Olympic sport!

We went to Las Ramblas and saw the street costume artists again...

Together on Las Ramblas

Maggi and Genelle visited La Sagrada Familia (designed by Antoní Gaudí) and took great photos...thought I would share a few.  They went in the late afternoon/early evening with some good lighting inside.

We also went to Park Güell, which was designed by Antoní Gaudí.  This area was built from 1900-1914 and was originally planned to be a residential area with high quality homes and modern advancements for comfort, and that would incorporate English style gardens and open space throughout the neighborhood.  The concept never took off, as they could not sell the residential plots, being too far from the main area of town at the time.  

Here is a view from the park (before walking into the the real "artsy" part).  To the left is La Sagrada Familia.  Our first month in Barcelona we lived 4 blocks from those two towers near the ocean.

La Sagrada Familia on the right; you may notice that it is still under construction...

will be complete in 2030, they say.

 Now we are in the "artsy" part of Park Güell (or Parc Güell for the Catalan spelling)

This building is called the "porter's lodge" with a "Catalan vault style of construction...one of the few examples of modest dwellings created by Gaudí."  A bit nondescript as to its purpose, but still 

Standing next to the famous mosaic lizard.

You can't really get a photo of the lizard without the guard who is there to ensure that no one sits on or near that valuable colorful reptile...  :)

From this bench, you can get a decent view of the sights in the park below, as well as a bit of the city.    

View from the bench...

This space was originally conceived as an open and covered space 

to be used as a market, among other things.  

 

Some of the tile work at the top of the columns.

This is the grand terrace above the columns where you can look out over the city.

Views over the city from the terrace.  Yes, that is part of a Gaudí structure from below.

This bench, in the form of a winding serpent, winds around the perimeter of the terrace.  

It was not actually designed by Gaudí.

 This is the at the bottom of the park looking up the steps to the columns and top terrace.

So, that is MY version of Park Güell.  This is Nicholas's perspective:

What most people say about Parc Güell: it was very beautiful and my favorite part was the lizard by the front.  

This is what really goes down once you enter those fatal gates:  you swagger through the black metal on hinges that are open for poor hapless visitors, then you stagger up a deathly set of stairs to a glop of cement carrying a bunch of haphazard, colored shards of otherwise useless bits of unidentified objects on it (the famous lizard of many colors).  Then you must ooze your lump of flesh up more stairs and onto a dirt plaza which burns the very hairs on the back of your neck if you don't stay in the shade.  Then you hurtle out of the park and into an awaiting air conditioned tourist shop and pay rip-off prices for water.  Then you go home.  

Don't I love Parc Güell!

There is always funky artwork around the city to discover...these were a bunch of letters spelling what seemed like some wierd form of "Barcelona".

Nicholas on the "N"

Jacob on the "O"

A family photo