Sagrada Familia....and the arc

we visited the sagrada familia (aka. real cool church thing that Gaudi built) and the Arc de Triumphe.  pretty good times.  check the pics

drawings of the sculptures built into the building

                 concept drawing to final product.

Apparently, this blog acts as a reflection of both Jelani and I. So, I thought I'd drop a note. Hello. Oh, and here is a picture of our man in action. 

ok....this is awesome

Cheers mate

I love tourist cities... it seems that you can find any kind of food you want to if you look in the right place.  I'm at an irish pub, incidently right next to where I work every day (at Lavenda's school).  nothing like a nice chicken burger and a pint of heineken.  cheers

post card

a cool poster we ran across.  I figured it was cheaper to take a picture...ha ha

night

shot from our flat at night

biggest vending machine ever!

had to post this.  the thing is huge.  it has a huge robotic arm that gets the stuff for you.  you could potentially feed a small country with this thing without breaking a sweat.

Parc Guell

we live right next to this pretty rad park...which I run through (well, have run through once).  here are some pics from a day trotting around it.

dredmullet

                                     photo not mine
when you think a style can't get any worse... it gets worse.  the dreadlock mullet, of which i'll deem the dreadmullet is hot in Barcelona.  I wish they would drop it like its hot.  

The Perfect Husband

Jelani took me shopping last weekend, after a week long binge of lounging. I'd been feeling pretty down, missing home, missing good, Portland food, when my stunning husband decided to lavish me with a beautiful day in the city. Lunch, shopping, pictures. This is one of the last shots I took that day, as the sun was setting. Isn't he gorgeous?

Hammer time!

ok, apparently M.C. Hammer is back, well... at least his pants are.  girls love the hammer pants out here.  its crazy, its like everyone is so stylish, and then you see a crowd full of hammer pants.  its really sureal.  

5 Men Down

It's been a long time since i have seen toy guns holstered by tiny tots or otherwise. Our first week here, however, we spotted a ten year old waving a machine gun in the metro station. Last weekend, while scoping the city for English theaters, we ran into this little guy, proudly pointing his semi-automatic at the foreign crowds. 

Weather

it seems that Barcelona is like Portlands twin brother to the east.  it went from lightning to Sunshine and then back to lightning and then back to sunshine before dinner.  It was nice to see some rain today, reminds me of home.

Things you didn't know about Barcelona #2

The Mullet is still in style.  yes, you heard me.  they rock it here like it was still the early 90's and saved by the bell was the hottest TV series.  the varieties are immense and it doesn't matter if you are a guy or girl, they both wear them equally as shameless.  

                photo not mine.

our view

as I mentioned earlier, our flat over looks the whole city.  here are some shots from the window right by my desk.

Gaudi Vs. the little mermaid

ok.  so there is (or was) this architecht named Gaudi.  he's like Barcelona's main man.  they have all these buildings that he designed and Barcelona is world renowned for them.  now, i've seen a few of them, and there is a striking resemblance to the buildings in a certain favorite childhood cartoon movie.  hmmmm....you decide.  

                                                   photos not mine.

things you didn't know about Barcelona #1

technically this is #2...but its ok.  they stare a lot.  i know i already mentioned that.  but it deserves its own post.  it was the first thing i noticed getting here.  i was super self concious at first, and was like, "why is everyone staring at me?"  then i realized, thats just what they do.  they stare at each other, me, anyone!  so if you plan to come to Barcelona, plan to get stared at...A LOT.  

    so now I find my self doing the same, staring at everyone.  I might just stare at you when we get back.

converse?

ok, so europe is supposed to be money (awesome that is) when it comes to fashion and they are pretty trendy here, but i swear its like the chuck taylor was just invented and its like the coolest thing since sliced bread or the iphone.  everyone and their mom has a pair here, you can't go ten steps without seeing another tapered pant teen walking around in the oldest sport shoe known to man.  go figure...and who would have thought thats where nike would make its money in Spain (Nike owns Converse).

Hola, kickin it in Barcelona

Hey friends and family, if you know us, then you know that we (Lavenda and Jelani) are living in Barcelona for 3 mes (i'll be dropping spanish on you from time to time like it ain't not thang).  Lavenda will be studying spanish and I will be doing photography.  below is a little mapa of the city and the green arrow is where we live.

and here is a close up of where our flat is.  we are located right next to a really awesome park (parc guell) and our flat over looks the whole city!