Ole! It's Barcelona!

Barcelona is a kooky city that Alice and all her friends from Wonderland would feel right at home in.

I site, for your consideration, exhibit A - the photo to your left of Xin in front of La Sagrada Familia. This crazy building would probably look normal under the influence of strong, hallucinogenic mushrooms. It was begun by Gaudi in 1882 and is still under constant construction today. One facade (the only part completed by Gaudi in his lifetime) looks like a normal gothic cathedral overgrown with wax shrubbery and then maliciously melted. The other side is suprisingly sleek adorned with countless scenes from the Passion of Christ in ultra-modern sculpture. I'm not even going to start to describe the inside (partially because a lot of it is obscured by scaffolding erected to facilitate the constant building works). To conclude I would like to point out that the soaring spires are topped by giant vibrantly coloured fruits in glass. Nuff said...

Even this though does not compare to the heady smelting pot of activity that is La Rambla (one of the busiest strips in Barcelona). The wide street seems tiny as a multitude of tourists jostle for space whilst gawking at vendors selling everything from tiny hamsters to dragonfruit and coconut smoothies, street performers (human statues stand side by side with contact jugglers and people sitting on papier mache toilets) and street artists creating either photo-realistic portraits or grotesque carictures.

And you can't really escape the craziness by ducking into a church or garden like you can with other cities since the most famous of these are created by Gaudi and are as likely as not to make your head spin harder.

But even so I think you can't help but love Barcelona. The city and all its citizen (and even the tourists!) have so much energy! It's kind of like being caught up in a giant whirlwind, you can't control it, it makes no sense but since the ride is so much fun you sort of just have to go along with a big grin on your face!