So the next weekend after the marathon Copeland and I headed to Barcelona to meet my parents for their week in Spain! We were walking to the hotel when I heard a voice that I recognized as my loud New Yorker father before he could finish his sentence (sorry dad, i did love the greeting though!). I look up and there they were on the hotel balcony yelling to me as I walked down the street :) We took Barcelona in 2 1/2 days visiting all the Gaudi, Las Ramblas, and odd Catalan language we could in our time there. My favorite parts were the market where they sold fresh fruit smoothies for 1 euro each and tons of other delish looking treats. Also, the Magic Fountain was awesome; its this fountain that shoots water to the sound of the music playing for the show as well as changes colors throughout. It was beautiful night watching the water/lights/music show and drinking vodka for the girls and Aschbach for my dad. He was extremely excited about finding this particular drink and even more excited about its price because he used to drink it in Germany- ahh Euro trip memories.
Next was our tour of Madrid, which was my favorite of the two cities. The Spanish say you are either a fan of Madrid or Barcelona and my mom and I were Madrid's while my dad and Copeland were Barcelona's. (Aren't you glad I told you that and you now know just incase you ever need that information?!?) I loved the history in sights in Madrid from the Royal Palace to the Parque Buen Retiro to, oh you know, GERARD BUTLER AND JENNIFER ANISTON! Oh the glory of walking up upon a movie premier and waiting almost 3 hours to snap a picture of some famous americans. And we were going to go to the Prado (an art museum- HA). Turns out Gerard Butler is in love with me- came over after I shouted "P.S. I LOVE YOU GERARD" and grabbed my camera right out of my hands, snapped a picture of Copeland, him, and me and proceeded to profess his love!! Ok, ok everything is true except me shouting "p.s. i love you gerard" I mean, WHO would do that??
ALRIGHT already, everything is true except the part where Gerard professed his love but that's ok because he did touch my camera, take a picture with me, and signed my hand (which he also touched in order to sign it). The wedding is next August :)
Our next and last stop was Sevilla. It was Semana Santa- holy week- leading up to Easter, which is a BIG deal here in Spain and the biggest celebration is in- you guessed it, Sevilla! There are millions of people and it is extremely hard to navigate through a usually easy-to-get-around city center. I first realized this when I was going to meet my parents at their hotel after I dropped my things off at my home sweet home and it took me an extra 30-ish minutes. First I couldn't go the direct route because it was blocked off by millions of Catholic Spaniards trying to get a glimpse at the procession passing through. Also, the actual procession had tons of people in it (people wearing hoods that look like they are official members of the KKK) and so I had to wait until it was stopped and run through the parade to cross the street.
The precessions are really cool though because each one has a different huge statue/scene at the end with a Jesus or a Mary with lots and lots of men carrying it through the streets. These men are underneath the gigantic thing and they can only take little baby steps, cannot see, and are under a huge platform filled with lit candles and heavy silver and gold. It is quite an amazing sight.
We had a great week though filled with Spanish food and drink, the arabic baths, sightseeing, and the spanish siesta of course. It was great to see my parents since the longest time I have been without them in, oh, 20.5 years! And Copelands family arrived 2 days before my parents left so we all got to hang out and go to dinner a couple times as well as attend a Sevilla Futbol game. I think my dad was very pleased to have some more testosterone around and we are all excited to spend some more time together over the next year when Copeland and I (and Erin!) live together again.
Anyway it is currently the last week of classes and I have some major school stuff to be doing but I promise I will post about the Sahara Desert/Morocco this week! Then only one more post about Lagos and my last week in Spain before Seth arrives and we are off to tour 3 other countries :) AHHH can't wait!
See you soon (literally SEE because I only have a month left, sad.)
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