Jazz Si

Chessie having fun with photoshop : Parc Guell
A pathway in Parc Guell
Shane, David, Matt at the top of the Parc

1/25/09

            I have done a few blogable things since my last post so I will blog them all into one. (blog is a word that can replace many words for me, even though the sound of it makes me want to blog.)

            We went to Park Guell last Friday after our class. (I’m going to assume you know by now that “we” = Chessie, David, Matt, Shane and I). The Park was designed by Gaudi, as is almost every other famous building in Spain. We took our lunch there and ate on the benches, then walked around the park for a long time. We went up to the highest part where we climbed this stone structure that has stone crosses on the top, we had a great view but it was really windy that day (the day before the hurricane-strong winds). There were no railings so Chessie and I clung to the benches in the center, but the boys stood on the edge (as seen in the photo).

            After Parc Guell we went to walk around the Gothic Quarter, which is where the original Roman site of Barcelona was. When we were walking out we saw two guys stretching out and they had a speaker with them, so we thought they might be putting on a show in a little while, we decided to wait… So we waited an awkwardly long amount of time and I’m very sure they knew we were waiting for them to start cause we were the only ones standing there. Eventually 2 other guys showed up and they break danced, which was awesome and drew a big crowd. It was cool because when they introduced themselves, one was from South Africa, one from Latin America, one from Spain and one from Britain (who I proceeded to fall in love with).

            We went to a bar on Friday night called Dow Jones where the prices of the drinks go up and down depending on who is buying them and sometimes there is a ‘crash’ and all the prices go way down. It was a cool idea, but filled with Americans and we only stayed for a little while. Then Chessie, Kelly and I went to a Discoteca called “Opium” that is right on the Mediterranean. The place was really cool, very lavish and large with a patio right on the beach. We ended up dancing the night away and getting home around 7am.

            Saturday we bummed around all day, but we went out to watch the Futbol game with a bunch of people at an English pub called George and Dragon. The place was cool and it had a big screen for the game, Barca won. We have all been really getting into the games so we love watching them.

            Today Chessie, Matt, Shane, Brett, Meg and I tried to go a “Labyrinth” park that is supposed to be free on Sundays, but we got all the way there only to discover that it had been closed because of the strong winds the day before. Womp womp. So we decided to go to the Beach. We took the metro down and walked along the shore, it was a gorgeous day and we finally got to touch the Mediterranean. Definitely will be going back when it warms up. We were all pretty hungry so we grabbed some comida (not quite lunch but not quite dinner) before we met up with Kelly and Sante to go to a jazz club they had been to.

            This is my favorite spot in Barcelona so far, it’s called “Jazz si” and we heard about it because Sante’s house brother plays the piano there. It’s a very small place and it costs 5.50 euro to get in but you also get a free drink with your ticket. We got there at around 7, which is when the music starts, and it was pretty full already. It’s a small room and it’s got a small stage, but there are also stairs up to an indoor balcony that wraps around the room, about the size of a hallway. People sit on and dangle their legs over and other people stand behind, we managed to find a great spot sitting on the edge upstairs on the side of the stage, even though it was pretty packed. (By the 8:30 it was completely full). The musicians were great, it’s a thing where a bunch of musicians come and bring instruments and sign up to play. Then there are also a few different singers who come sing and the girl had an amazing, powerful voice. It’s not actually Jazz really, a lot of different kinds of music from U2 to country was played, all American songs. It’s the kind of place that has a lot of regulars and all the musicians know each other. It was just a great environment with awesome music and we plan to go back every Sunday that we can.

            In other exciting news, Chessie and I booked a flight to Rome for 4 days from Feb 19^th to the 22^nd. I. am. Psyched.