After another tuna sandwich for breakfast/lunch I took the subway to Plaza de Espana. Their on axis is the old palace turned into a museum, government buildings, and 2 giant towers and a large fountain. Approaching the old palace I suddenly took a right to see my first scheduled sight for the day, the famous, historic, and vitally important Barcelona Pavilion by the great architect Mies Van Der Rohe. The 2 euro entry was a steal of a price for one of the most important building in modern architecture history. I wondered around and around taking photos of details and capturing reflections in the stone as well as the patterns in the stone themselves. After breaking myself away from the pavilion I finished walking up the hill to the palace, thought it wasn’t my destination, rather I was headed beyond it to the 92’ Olympic Games tower by Santiago Calatrava. Stopping for a detour through a botanical garden with a water fall and water garden, I continued on to the Olympic facilities. It was all amazing and very nicely built and maintained. After marveling at the beauty of the tower and poking my head into the Olympic stadium I took a stroll through mountjuic on via Miramar to a lookout over the sea and city. I made my way down the hill to the statue of Christopher Columbus and turned left up the world famous street, Las Ramblas. There I saw a great sidewalk performance by a Michael Jackson impersonator, then went to casa Guell by Gaudi. It was closed for renovations, I was upset enough to kill. I calmed down and continue my walk down las ramblas to the covered market. Their I sipped on fresh orange and pineapple juice and walked around looking at the displays of fresh fruit, fish, meat, cheese, and candy. After thoroughly being grossed out by the fish and sheep’s heads I finished the walk to my hostel. At this point in the day I had walked nearly 7 miles. So I took a nap. After a refresher I took a subway near the edge of town for an evening stroll through Gaudi’s Parc Guell. A fairy tale land of buildings, benches, rooms, and paths! A really fun place to get lost and explore, it made me wish I had a place like this when I was a kid growing up! After watching the sun set upon Barcelona from the park’s tiled lookout, I went back to the hostel and slept well, resting my feet after a 10+ mile day!
|  | 
|
