The walking tour was pretty intense. We went to La Seu Vella, which was a cathedral that was turned into a military barracks for 200 years. The cathedral has a belltower with 268 stairs to the top. I know this well because we all decided to go for a great view of the city.
That belltower is what my nightmares are made of, no joke. It was a 600 year old stone tower with narrow steps that went up into a circle. It was sucky at first, but maybe about a third of the way up the tower got smaller... and there were less windows... and the angle of the spiral got tighter. I actually started to get dizzy from climbing the stairs! AND THEN THEY GOT EVEN SMALLER. I'm talking my shoulder width plus 10 inches (5 on either side). I haven't been claustrophobic since I was a little kid, but I started to have a panic attack inside the tower. The worst part was that I was so close to the top that I had to force myself to keep going because it was too far to the bottom.
I will say that the view was spectacular and i got some great pictures. Unfortunately, the only way down is by the same method. I actually think going down may have been worse because it was then that I noticed that the height of the steps were uneven, so I couldn't put one foot down and then the other without being extra careful--with the narrow ledge on each step and the uneven drops, i could have easily slipped and tumbled down the rest of the way. I don't think I was ever so happy to be back on stable ground as when I finally exited the tower.
Finally! Made it to the top!
Did you think I was joking when I said it was narrow? Keep in mind that his arms are touching BOTH WALLS AT THE SAME TIME.
We looked around the cathedral, which had been stripped bare due to its military repurposing. I actually liked this cathedral more than the others we've visited (with the obvious exception being La Sagrada Familia) because with all of the fluttering angels and gilded pillars taken away, I could appreciate the beauty of the architecture more fully. I really noticed the stone arches, the size of the area and the dimensions--just how huge it is.
After La Seu Vella we also went to see part of the Universitat de Lleida. It was a brief 5 min walk around one of the buildings, and then we went to our real destination: lunch. We had reservations at a nice restaurant, and the order of the day were SNAILS. Well, cargols in spanish (just like escargot in french). We had a brief appetizer of meats and finger foods, and then the cargols. They were piled on a huge plate with a side of aioli (a mayonnaise-based garlic and butter sauce). The owner of the restaurant and our professor Julie gave us a demonstration. In order to eat the cargols, you take a wooden pick (which looks like a fat toothpick) and sort of poke the meat inside the shell. Once you get a good grip on it, you have to pull and twist the meat out. It takes a bit of practice, but what freaked me out is that once the meat gives, it just sort of... plops out of the shell. It was too much for me to handle! I ate two and found them to be very tasty, but I can't pull them out. I'd rather eat them in a soup or de-shelled in another type of dish. The texture was sort of squishy, sort of chewy, but you didn't want to chew them for long because then they got slimy in your mouth. The flavor wasn't anything serious--really it tasted like the aioli sauce with a little bit more seasoning behind it. I can't believe I ate snails--and liked them!
mmm... big ole plate of cargols! (these were sea snails.)
hank's offering you one... would you try it?
The rest of lunch was amazing, with a steak and fries and then crema catalana (sort of like a custard meets creme brulee) for dessert. Pleasantly stuffed, we waddled to the bus (where we had already packed our stuff that morning before leaving) and went to the Monastery of Poblet. Poblet was out in the Spanish countryside. It's been around for centuries, of course and the monks there make their own wine, which is very popular. We had a tour of the place (sort of creepy, to be honest) and then we went to the gift shop to look at the various types of wines for sale. We never saw the monks, and we had to leave before they said evening prayers.
We overnighted in a city called Sabadell, which is pretty much on the outskirts of Barcelona and therefore just like Barcelona. Some of the class and I ventured out to McDonalds (although I made it very clear that I was going to make cross-cultural comparisons, and not as a fatass American).
MickeyD's is not very much different here, but at the same time it's different enough. There's a combo menu, but some of the items are different (such as the CBO, chicken bacon onion sandwich, that we don't have). There are no sizes--everything is medium. You can order regular fries or "deluxe" fries, which are mini potato wedges. There are no free drink refills, and the drink selection is limited: Coke, Coke light (we call it Coke Zero in the states), Sprite, orange Fanta, water and maybe one other choice. There's a EuroMenu, like our dollar menu, but I actually think the food on it is more expensive than our dollar menu in the states. For dessert, you can buy a McFlurry or a donut. The McFlurry is one size as well, and you can get a choice of caramel or chocolate topping and oreo, kitkat or M&Ms for sprinkles. The McFlurry doesn't have a mixing machine--they pour the toppings on and you mix it yourself. Some of the guys in the group swore by the caramel/kitkat combo.
Keeping in mind that the euro was about $1.40 that day, the combo meals are much more expensive in Europe.
Not that you can see it very well, but the "Unx Un" menu is only 1 euro per item.. The selections are a couple burgers/sandwiches, the McFlurry, a fry or a donut. Next to it is the CBO, which appears to be all the rage right now.
Mocking the stereotypically happy Americans leaving McD's in the ad. For this group date, my boyfriend was an imaginary container of fries.
Some of the classmates were scandalized by the sight of a woman breastfeeding in McDonald's. She didn't even have a blanket thrown over herself or the baby. I pointed out that just like us, the baby had to eat too and taking your newborn to a public bathroom to feed was exposing the baby to unimaginable levels of germs, and most people agreed and left it at that. One of my peers, however, was visibly disgusted: "She should only do that at home."
After the McDo venture, we all headed back to the hotel, but I took a detour into El Corte Ingles (a department store) and bought a new pair of headphones. This was the first time I had trouble buying anything, because I didn't know the word for headphones in spanish! I went to the cashier and asked where I could find "the things that play music in your ears" and she gave me the craziest look, until i pulled out my broken pair and she said, "Cascos! In electronics on so and so aisle." I have no idea what the root of cascos is, because I've never heard of that word or anything similar to it, but now I have something to add to my vocabulary.
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