Aventura 5: Pasear

Pasear.  This is a very important verb here in España.  In english, the closest verb we have is to walk.  But really here, it means much more than that.  It means to walk as an activity, passing time with friends, relaxing, enjoying the views, walking slowly and not being in a rush, exploring the side streets.  Paseando is what I have been doing A LOT here in, walking many places, constantly finding new routes and new things around the corner.  But I definitely have a little to work on - especially the walking slow part.  I feel like I'm walking slow, and yet I'm still passing everyone paseando beside me!  But here's some of the cool things I've come across while my pasear excursions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Camp_Nou_FC_Barcelona.JPG

El Parque de Joan Miro: A wonderful park, as mentioned before, and I saw two old men relaxing by the water garden, with remotes in their hands that controlled these great sailboats in the water!

Camp Nou: Running to Camp Nou, where Barcelona plays, and also walking by one day.  And walking by the second time, we walked in and got to go right up to the stadium and see through the cracks the beautiful green field! Can't wait to get there for a game.

La Placa de Sants: I found the library.  6 stories up in this building, but all these amazing books in spanish! Especially this children's book about a guisante (pea) who wanted to be different, so he jumped out of the pea tree and went to find an elephant, tiger, and peacock, and he took parts of them, so he looked ridiculous when he went back to his home.  But he stayed true to his differences, he planted himself, and when he bloomed - it was a beautiful pea plant where no pea was alike!

http://www.flickr.com/

El Parque de Cervantes: While walking to the centro de Deportes de la UB (Universitat de Barcelona) we passed a park.  After, we went to explore this park by this famous author - the author of Don Quijote.    But it didn't at first seem to be Cervantes' park.  The bushes were trimmed to form squares, everything was in perfect order, the trees were unnatural shapes.   Yes, it wasn't reality because it wasn't natural, but it also didn't seem to reflect Don Quijote's fantastical world apart from "reality."  Not until the sun went down and the stars came out did we discover Cervantes' park.  The weirdly cut trees turned into giants.  The strange bushes turned into fantastical mazes.  And the terrace turned into a castle.  It truly felt like a world from Don Quijote.

L: Sculpture at Parc de Joan Miro;
R: Balconies at Placa del Mar

Placa del Mar: While wandering around on my own, nearing La Comida time, I was trying to find a resto (restaurant) or something where I could eat nicely and quietly.  I happened upon a restaurant that was one street away from the busy, touristy street next to the sea, but instead it was wonderfully peaceful and quiet in this secluded plaza.  I spent two hours eating these amazing robos de toro, patatas fritas, and drawing.

Estadio de Barceloneta: Eating sandwiches in an amateur fútbol stadium in the stands and looking at the beautiful fútbol field in front of us - nothing can really beat that for a picnic.

http://www.carto.net/
Yes, this is the slide.  This monster-like thing.

Placa España Industrial: A really interesting park.  As it sounds, it's industrial.  Very little grass, lots of cement, but it has a huge pool of water (albeit polluted) with a fountain, lots of chairs, balconies, seats, cool stairs, and the best? The coolest slide I've ever seen!!!!!!!

La Playa: The beach is incredible.  But it's especially incredible when, at sunset, you climb to the top of a huge red spider net made out of rope, and you are sitting at the top over the ocean, watching the sky change form light blue to pink to purple to dark blue with stars.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asli_aydin/4664696678/