MACBA museum

For a field trip for another class I visited the MACBA museum which stands for the Museum of Contemporary Art of Catalunya.  I really think the outside of the museum is the best part. I am not a big fan of contemporary art and I had a really difficult time understanding a lot of the pieces. My teacher gave us a tour of the museum which was somewhat interesting but I think that the museum building itself is more interesting than the actual art.  The surrounding Plaza del Angles is really cool with all the skateboarders and young people.  I think the culture really lies in the plaza as opposed to in the museum.  The museum seemed stark and dry to me but the plaza was lively and exciting.  I loved all the little kids running around and spending time with their families.  The plaza really overshadowed the boring museum for me.   


I was curious if Barcelona has embraced the skateboarding in the plaza or if they forbid it, because it the united states many public places dont allow skateboarders? I think that although it is an art museum it really doesnt do a good enough job of representing Catalan culture.   
I didnt bring my camera along on this field trip but I found this really cool photo online that shows the skateboarders in the plaza.  

Paella

These past few days I have been craving Paella.  All I have wanted to eat was that burned crunchy rice stuck to the bottom of the pan, mixed with fresh seafood and a big glass of ice cold Sangria. So i went in search of yummy but inexpensive Paella.  As I was walking down the road in Barceloneta I saw a couple eating the most magnificent yellow, hot Paella i have ever seen. Unfortunately I have forgotten the name of the place now but I am going to hunt it down so next time i crave Paella I can go there.  The Paella was amazing, with tons of seafood, lots of rice and just the right amount of crispy pieces stuck on the bottom.  The Sangria was good but not the best  I have ever had.  I asked for the recipe and how they cook it but they said it was  a secret so instead i looked up my own recipe online.  I have attached it here:

• Broth:
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 2 (8-ounce) bottles clam juice
• Herb Blend:
• 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• Paella:
• 1 pound monkfish or other firm white fish fillets
• 16 unpeeled jumbo shrimp (about 1 pound)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups finely chopped onion
• 1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups uncooked Arborio rice or other short-grain rice
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 16 littleneck clams
• 1 (7-ounce) jar sliced pimento, drained
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Here are some pics i took of the yummy Paella

YUMMY!

This is me sucking on the head of the shrimp...the Spanish way apparently...Kinda gross!

Almost gone

Too much food!

 

Casa Batalo

Pretty Stained glass window

The back of the Casa

such pretty tiles

Amazing Mosaics

Inside the House

Chimneys on the roof

The Dragons back

Chimneys

This past week I visited Casa Batalo on Passeig de Gracia.  It is probably one of the coolest houses I have ever been in and i cannot imagine living there.  It is truly a Gaudi masterpiece and one of a kind.  The architecture is amazing and I really think all the attention to detail was incredible.  The rooftop and back deck were probably my favorite part of the house.  I think that Gaudi was a amazing artist and this is one of his best works! The house has so many cools tiles and i thought that it was amazing how the house has almost no straight lines.  Gaudi is an emblem of Catalan culture and the modernsime movement.  Casa Batalo is an excellent example of the Catalan modernisme style.  This really was a catalan cultural experience.

CAVA!

This weekend I had friends from out of town come to visit and I used them as an opportunity to try some new restaurants and eat some Catalan food.  Since the weather was nice we decided to go to Barceloneta.  I have always wanted to go to the Champagneria near Barceloneta so we all went there.  Mistake number one was going there on a saturday afternoon in the middle of the lunch rush, mistake number two was bringing a claustrophobic girl and mistake number three was wearing sandals.  I absolutely loved this place and felt like I was at a totally Barcelona establishment.  The food was amazing, the people were so friendly and the rose Cava is amazing.  I forgot what the exact name of the sandwich i had but it was some type of  Catalan sausage with cheese.  It was amazing tasting and i really like it with the two sauces.  I think the best part about this place is the ambiance.  Everyone is speaking catalan, the food although not typically catalan incorporates typical catalan food like fuet.  My friends really enjoyed going there and my recommendations would be get there early, dont wear sandals (the floor is dirty and people break champagne glasses on the floor) and be prepared to be pushed around.  I would recommend this to someone looking for a good, cheap and relatively fast fun place to eat.  Nothing fancy but just really good food!

Really crowded!

I thought this was a funny sign...you must "taste" the sandwiches to drink the cava

El Born District Field Trip

I thought that this crest on the building and the saint in the window were interesting. 

This is a tile that shows what guild the family was in.

This a traditional workshop house.  It was hard to get a good picture standing so close to the building.

For our second field trip we visited the Born area and observed the guild areas, the workshop houses, the church of Santa Maria del Mar and the Llotja.  I think the most interesting part of our field trip was learning about the workshop houses and their layout.  I thought it was unique how the workshop was in the ground floor of the house.  As we walked around the Born Xavi also pointed out how some houses had extra floors which were later added if a family member got married.  I think something that is interesting is that similar to houses in Paris and other parts of Europe the higher up the house you get the smaller the windows are.  Which is obviously because the family didnt want to spend the money for the help to have such big windows.  I think it is nice that the workshop was on the bottom floor of the house so that everything could be centrally located for the family.   As seen in the picture the workshop houses have balconies on the windows which were obviously added later.

Another thing we saw on the field trip was the Church of Santa Maria del Mar.  The Church unlike the Barcelona Cathedral was built for the working class people of the neighborhood.  It is built in the catalan gothic style with towers instead of spires. In my opinion the most beautiful part of the church is the huge stained glass windows. The large eye window above the door is really beautiful and its amazing how big it is.  Its amazing that the church doesnt look that big from the outside but once you go inside you realize how big it is.   I think the coolest part about the church was the grave stones in the floor.  There was one with a skull and cross bones on it which i thought was interesting.  I thought it was funny that people in our class didnt like that they were walking on top of dead people.

Although the weather wasnt ideal this field trip was still really interesting.  I enjoyed it because i like knowing more about Barcelona so that when people come to visit I can explain things to them

Catalan Politics.

For class Xavi asked us to research different Catalan political parties.  I was assigned CIU which stands for Convergencia i Unio or in english Convergence and Union.  During my research i found that Artur Mas is the head of the party and he is also the current president of the Catalan government.  Its a moderate Catalan nationalist party.  In Parliament they hold more than twice as many seats than any other political party.  As I was doing my research for class I was keeping an eye out for political posters and signs around town.  A few days later I came across this poster in the Metro.
I looked up what Pensem en Positiu meant and in english it translate to Think Positive.  I think that is really interesting that this is a political slogan because in no way does it express a parties political viewpoint.  I think that yes it sends a positive message obvioulsy but i dont really understand what kind of message they are trying to put out.  I am really confused as to what this really has to do with elections or voting.

Field trip through the Raval

Cool sculpture on the side of a building

What the Raval means

People playing guitar

Model of the 1st submarine.  

Barcelona Shipyards

Inside with the Arches.

For this field trip we visited the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona.  We visited the old hospital, the Maritime museum which was the old shipyards and also the square around the MACBA museum.  This field trip was really interesting and I enjoyed seeing a part of Barcelona I had not really explored before.  Although we were not able to go into the Maritime museum it was still really cool to see part of the old structure and to learn more about Barcelona as a port city.  I wish that the museum had not been under renovations and we could have visited the whole thing.  Guess its just motivation to go back.  I really thought it was interesting that a lot of the historical buildings in Barcelona have been converted into cultural centers or libraries.  Such an excellent way to preserve the space but also make sure it is being used.  Barcelona does an excellent job of turning the old into the new.

I think that the Raval is a really unique neighborhood of Barcelona because it does have the old historical buildings but it also has a modernity about it.  I also think its interesting that a lot of immigrants live in this neighborhood.  I dont remember if we were told this on the field trip but was there a reason for this? My favorite part of this field trip would be the Barcelona Library that we visited which near it had a really pretty courtyard.  There were two guys playing the guitar in the courtyard and this really interesting spire sculpture in the middle of it.  I think it was interesting to compare this field trip to the first one in the gothic neighborhood.  I think its interesting to compare the styles of architecture in the two different time period and how Barcelona has adapted to using the original buildings.  In both areas the buildings have been incorporated into the city but the gothic area has really embraced the more historical aspect of this and turned it into a more touristy area.  The raval is also very up and coming for Barcelona which may play a role in the fact that it is less touristy (which I like more).  This field trip was interesting however I had already been on a similar one for another class so it was somewhat repetitive, although i enjoyed learning about the area more.