How I tried to get into Mies van der Rohe’s bathroom and failed

The Barcelona Pavilion, as it is known to most architects, is really referred to as the German Pavilion in this country. After all, they did build it! It just happened to be built here in Barcelona for the 1929 International Exposition.

I found it ironic that while the theme for the Expo that year was electricity, the pavilion has no interior lights. Right now they’ve inserted some ugly free standing stadium lights for when it gets dark, but Mies would seriously disapprove.

But enough about history!

I remembered doing sketches of the Barcelona Pavilion for Kia’s summer sketch assignment two years back, and I was positive there was a bathroom in the little caretaker’s wing, which has not been turned into a gift shop. So I asked the man working there, if there was a bathroom here. He replied, “No.” So I grabbed a book off the shelf and started flipping to some plans, and sure enough, a little toilet and sink were showing up in the drawings. So I start talking to him again. “Was there a bathroom here once? There’s a drawing of a bathroom on these plans.”
And he admits that, Yes, there is a bathroom here, but it’s not public.
So I ask politely, Can I just see it, please?
No.

The gift shop/former caretaker's quarters where the bathroom in questions is located.

Plan view. Very innovative for it's time.

Zoomed in version. Notice the bathroom in the upper left hand rectangle. There's a little sink and toilet.

If any of you readers come see this place in the future, I hope you try asking, and may you have better luck than I did!

Barcelona chair!! But they don't let you sit on it :(

The pavilion is famous of it's reflections. Notice how the marble is cut and mirrored. "God is in the details"-Mies

The placement of this status, Morning, by Georg Kolbe is also important. It's stratigically placed in it's location to be seen from multiple views.

I feel obliged to mention for the architecture noobs that this pavilion is a recreation in the exact same spot using Mies' original plans. The first pavilion was temporary and taken down after the Exhibition. Then they realized how great it was and rebuilt it again in an OCD Mies kind of way.

Doug Cooper would be proud of me sketching.

view at night... some catering company setting up a private dinner party inside the pavilion. I was totes jeal.

Greatest. Onion-eating. Lunch. Experience. Ever.

Calçots + Parrón = Yumminess

We hiked for 2 hours up a mountain to reach this invisible-to-the-regular-tourist restaurant, called Can Marti. The trip was well worth it. They served us a Calçotada feast consisting of calçots (mild, less bulbous onions) and wine out of a parrón, plus the traditional pan con tomate, lamb ribs, Spanish sausages, salad, olives, red peppers, and delicious cream puffs for dessert.

There is no way to describe the traditional way of eating calcots and drinking from a parron without pictures. Let’s just say you need a bib for the whole experience…

The calçots are cooked here on fireplace and get all carcoal-y black, in a good way.

How to eat calçots:

Find the middle part of the onion. Pull on the most bottom carcoal-y part.

It should look like this!

Dip in romesco sauce and eat! Delicious!

And afterwards drink some wine out of a parrón, which looks like this up close:

Michelle being an expert parrón drinker. Now you see why bibs are necessary...

Especially in situations like this:

more food, lamb ribs and spanish sausage.

and dessert, creme puffs covered in warm chocolate sauce!

and then we took the Tram home because we were too fat and full to walk back...

Best lunch ever!

4 cool design places off the beaten path in Barcelona

1. Vinçon -- a design store similar to an Ikea but 847530528 Xs better. We got a tour by the current owner (son of the original founder/owner) of the two-story store located on the prestigious Passeig de Gracias (next to a Coco Chanel and Louis Vuitton store). They sell anything from moleskins notebooks...

to cool lamps to vintage toys to sick bathroom fixtures to mod furniture.
And barets of course :)

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2. NaniMarquina – a designer carpet store. (Her father invented the vingerera, a device that dispends olive oil or balsamic vinegar at the perfect rate. No more mishaps of drenching your bread or salad with too much!)

However, not only are her carpets amazing, unique, and full of texture, but she let us draw on her wall!

I had to share my favorite carpet—a polar bear on an iceberg in a sea of blue…

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3. Palo Alto – artist/architect/designer studio factory. A secret garden-esque, old factory where Javier Mariscal’s studio is located, a long with other renowned interior designers, photographers, sculptors, painters, and architects. Mariscal is a famous designer who know does anything from shopping bags for H&M to cutlery to Cobi, the mascot for the Barcelona Olympic games.

We ended up having lunch at a restaurant where Mariscal is a regular. That’s him in the back left with the halo effect! :) I know you can't really see him, but we sat at the same long table!

And I just like this candid courtesy of Sean Wittmeyer

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4. Park next to Herzog and de Mueron’s Forum building – The building kind of sucks. It only looks good in photographs, and some of its materials up close are cool to touch and look at, but the park next to it is baller! Forget the safe-I-don’t-want-my-kids-to-get-hurt parks in the U.S. This place tests your balance, mobility, and dexterity.
That circle things spins in case it's hard to tell in the photo...

There was also a spider web like contraption/slide! Best thing ever!

To do or not to do... when going out in Barcelona. That is the question.

Crazy story about Tapas, jumping over construction fences, loittering in parks, and partying until dawn in Barcelona.


Monday night CIEE took us out to a traditional tapas dinner in the Old Town. Marc, one of our "Guardian Angels" aka a student studying at ELISAVA who's job it is to show us a good time, took us to this kitsch restaurant. I say that with great admiration for the place because the food was fantastic! We had a budget of 180euros, and Marc asked the owner to cut us off at 160. Unfortunately, somewhere in the process of ordering tapas and pitchers of Sangria (which tasted so deliciously good!) the bill came out to be 242euros. Marc got annoyed and told the owner it was his fault and started arguing with him, in Spanish of course. Marc then tells us it was our role to play the (dumb) American card and that we just arrived today and have no money. Well, it took some time, but we left the restaurant and only paid the 180euros CIEE gave us for dinner. We can never go back there now unfortunately.
Do: go out to dinner with your friends
Do: pretend to be ignorant when necessary

Since it was midnight, half the people decided to break from the group and head home before the Metro closed. The rest of us ended up heading on a journey to a secluded place to drink in the city. Marc suggested this park on top on Montjuic, a mountain bordering the Old Town. Unfortunately, the pathways were underconstruction, yet we thought it was still be a good idea to jump over the fence and go up there anyway. Instead, we found ourselves walking in mud because it was drizzling all night. Not the brightest idea...
Do: drink responsibly without being seen by los mossos de esqueda
Don't: climb over construction barriers; they are there for a reason... :/

After meeting up with Marc's friends, who were all pretty cool, we headed to Apolo for some Nasty Monday clubbin.' (Side note/funny annecdote: While waiting in line to get in, Rachael and I had to use the bathroom, but the cafe across the street said the bathroom was for clients only, so we bought a shot in order to pee.) Going out to clubs is not the same as in the States. No one grinds, no one's creepy. People just enjoy themselves and dance and drink and smoke their cigarrettes. However, it gets hot and sweaty really fast as if you're doing a 4 hour work out. It was really fun to stay up all night dancing and wishing life was like this everyday... And then we took the Metro home at 5:30.
Do: have fun and dance the night away
Do: check your coat and large bags/purses at the door
Don't: forget your cellphone at the bar (lol Rachael)
Don't: forget that you have still have class tomorrow

BARCELONA, I want your loving and your BAD romance!

Let's just say Long Island Ice Teas are not prepared the same way here as they are in the USofA. But it's a good thing!

The ratio of ice is 2 ice cubes compared to a whole glass full :) And Europeans are not sparce with the alchy. So 1 drink really = 3

Hey, it's always 5 o'clock somewhere ;)

"Study" abroad? The truth about my classes

So everyone keeps asking me, "how are your classes?" "Do you like your classes?" "Are they easy?" "Do you have a lot of work?"

Well.......... Good. Yes. So far no. and No. are all the answers, respectively.

Right now we have a two week Spanish language immersion where we have 5 days of Spanish for an hour and a half each day. Spanish class is too easy for me, but I'm already in the highest level possible so... Oh, well! :)  However, the whole point of it is not to learn any new grammar but to review it and understand the rules from a more formal point of view.

In addition there is another two week class that focuses on the city of Barcelona and it's visual culture. This class is amazing! It consists of a short lecture with a site visit to important Barcelonian landmarks, buildings, musuems, public art sculptures, you name it! Doesn't feel like a class at all. After these two weeks, we will have 2 more Friday meetings and then at the end of the semester present our final papers to the class. sweet!

Did you know that Barcelona was founded by the Romans? Here's my profesora showing us the outlines of the Roman colony walls that made up the beginings of Barcelona.

As for homework, barely any. A short composition in Spanish, a quick reading for Visual Culture and I'm done! 1, maybe 2 hours max. awesome!  But I will start more "serious" classes January 25 and my UIC class in February. Let you know how those go then.

Pics from one of our site visits to the Gothic Quarter/El Barrio Gotic:

The big "columns" or blocks of stone are the remants of the Roman walls. I love how the city incorporates them into new architecture. The light red panels inbetween them are contemporary construction. Behind it you'll be the Cathedral under renovation. It's the only Cathedral in Spain. That being said, yes, there are other churches (just not cathedrals).

Barcelona is famous for its Gothic architecture. Here is a view of the Cathedral/monastry from the back.
However, today I actually felt as if I am studying abroad for real. I visited the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya with the other CIEE architecture students taking classes there as well. There are four of us out of the 15 in our program because not everyone's Spanish is at an advanced level. While I'm only taking one class there, it already feels like my home! The university is small, but the buildings are fairly new (only 12 years old) and in a great location! The campus is up on the lower slopes of the mountion range above Barcelona, so the view of the city is beautiful.

I wish I had taken pictures inside the studios and model shop, but I didn't want to be all touristy on our guided tour. There are only two buildings on this campus and they pretty much mirror each other. While they seem small from the outside, think again. There are at least 3 stories below ground.

I'm having a love affair with Barcelona and its architecture

Today I visited La Pedrera, a beautiful building by Antoni Gaudi, a Catalan architect who started the Modernista or Art Nouveau movement in Barcelona, for all you non-archies. He is the reason why I'm studying architecture, and what better way to study his works than to live in the city where he left behind a legacy.

I loved the feeling of the stone columns and walls. The texture is rough to the touch, and people must have thought I was crazy to be admiring the columns instead of Maillol's exhibit of paintings on the walls.

The interior atrium is amazing, too. The light that enters reflects on the walls, which are painted in tints of purple and blues in certain points. The whole thing looks magical. I love the organic forms of the balcony's, especially the iron-work. Unfortunately, it's ashame that the museum has added a drop ceiling and covered most of the walls with flat drywall to display the art. Also, heavy curtains are drawn over the windows looking out into the atrium to limit any sort of glare. It's just unfortunate that this building gets covered up so much from the inside.

10 things you need to know about Spanish food.

1. They put olive oil and salt on everything! on bread, in rice, on fish, on salads, on vegetables... They're not concerned that olive oil is fatty; to them, it's healthy. Other spices, pepper, basil, etc. don't exist.
2. This means the food is kind of bland. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but not full of so many flavors as one would find in the States. For example, two nights ago we had hamburgesas, and my senora just cooked them in olive oil and salt right out of the plastic wrap it came in.
3. Bread at each meal is consumed in large amounts. Low-carb diet? Out the window.
4. Tortillas do not equal Mexican corn or flour wraps. It's actually a traditional Spanish dish very similar to an omelet but instead of cheese there are lots of vegetables in it such as onions and potatoes, for instance. This dish has become my favorite :) Did I mention it's soaked in olive oil??
5. Cafe con leche is the equivalent of a small latte. It makes me really happy that I can have one each morning since my senora has an espresso maker.
6. El menu del dia for la comida, or lunch, is the best thing ever. Restaurants have a nice price fixed menu for under 10euros that comes with an appetizer, entre, dessert, and glass of wine or water. And you can't have both water and wine without paying extra because...
7. Tap water does not exist in Spain. Yes, you can drink out of the faucet, and the water isn't horrible. However, people just drink bottled water here.
8. La cena, or dinner, is at 8:30 p.m. That's because lunch is usually around 2.
9. Jamon (accent on the o) is a delicacy. HUGE legs of pork hang in store windows. It's very good, but a little salty for my taste. However, I've only had one type so far, and there are many types of jamon to choose from.

This one used to be whole when I came the first day. Now it's almost half gone.

10. Fruit is considered a dessert. While they do have cake, chocolate, and icecream on the menu, Spainards opt for the more healthy option, while those sugary sweets are mainly consumed during holidays and special occasions.

gracias a los reyes! that i didn't get mugged on my way back home today

Today los espanoles celebrate El Dia de Los Reyes. My spanish mom's extended family all came to her house today early in the morning to set up the living room with a ton of presents. It's pretty weird to open presents with people who aren't related to you in any way what so ever. However, they tired to make me feel at home and everyone gave me a little something ranging from a Barcelona guide book to a picture frame to authentic Spanish castanets (their kinda like little clappers that make noise when you dance...) Anyway, it was nice to see everyone really happy and excited. And once you open a present you yell, "Gracias a los Reyes."

Afterwards, more family and meeting even more people at my senora's sister's house. They're all a mix between crazy and nice. Let's just say they're all very out there and expressive. And I'm sitting there quietly smiling... eating my food... smiling. Talk about being intimidated. And afterwards we saw a documentary on dolphins and whales at the IMAX in 3D. Gracias a los Reyes!

Later that night, I met up with some friends for drinks and dessert. Barcelona is very pretty at night. Muy tranquila. However, who knew that the Metro closes early tonight because of holiday! O well, I ended up walking home, which was only a 20 minute walk, but probably not the smartest thing at one in the morning. Gracias a los Reyes for getting home safe!

what not to wear on a rainy day in barcelona

It was drizzling a little bit in the morning, yet I still decided on wearing my cute new flats.

Unfortunately, they were not water proof. In fact, they enjoyed soaking up water slowly throughout the day. By night time, my feet were frozen, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the Cabalgata!

It's a special parade where the children and their parents gather on the streets of Barcelona to welcome the Three Wise Men who bring gifts and presents. Instead of Santa Claus and Christmas morning, Barcelonians celebrate the Festival of the Three Wise Men.

The start of the parade with a big explosion of sparkles and candy :)

Pretty... one of my favorite floats!

Here you can see one of the Kings. He's the one on the throne to the right with the bigger hat.

And another one, he's kinda hard to see in the back...

My favorite where these crazy horses!...

and this crazy bird. I want to make one now! lol