Barcelona

I have survived my latest trip, this time to Barcelona. The toughest thing about Barcelona was dealing with the language difference. Barcelona is the capital of the Catalonia Region of Spain where the primary language is Catalan, not Castillian Spanish. I had gotten so accustomed to being able to speak with locals while traveling through Italy, that I forgot what it is like not being able to communicate with the people around you. Some people understood Italian but the majority of times we resorted to a mix of English, Spanish,and Italian. I'm sure you can see how this led to some confusing conversations. Around the tourist areas we could usually find English speakers which helped a lot.

I did not know a lot about Barcelona, but several of my friends said that it was a great city so I was very interested to get there. Our hotel was in the middle of the Gothic Quarter where we were surrounded by some old, beautiful Gothic Cathedrals. We eventually made our way over to the Ramblas which, to my mind, was a cross between the Champs Elysees in Paris and Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It was crowded with stores, museums, street vendors, street performers, and a fare share of pick pockets. We eventually found a local market, and had an aamzing lunch of local meats, cheeses, and fruits. After that, we started wandering around to see some of Gaudi's famous buildings. Gaudi was a famous Modern (Art Nouveau) Architect who lived from 1852 to 1926. He was also a highly devoted Catholic whose faith was intertwined with his fantastic buildings. You may or may not like Modern Architecture, but you will probably like Gaudi's works. It is not Modern in the sense that we use today. He uses bright colors and fantastic shapes to develop buildings unrivaled by any others in the world. It is hard to see his buildings close up and not appreciate their beauty. He was also a genius when it came to engineering, which is what allowed him to make buildings with such odd columns and other structural elements. He began a Cathedral called the Sagrada Familia which is still being built today. Look at the attached Photo Album to see more pictures of the Facade and Interior Roof. The columns of the Cathedral are designed to look like flower stems and the roof is made of flower petals. He has houses that make you feel like you are in the Fairy Tale of Hansel and Gretl while others evoke scenes of a sleeping dragon. I was very impressed by his work. Barcelona ended up being a beautiful city. It is very clean and manages to integrate the old and newer buildings in a way that feels very natural. It somehow has the feel of an old cultured city while still being very modern.

The next day, we traveled to see Monserrat and Manresa for a small pilgrimage. Monserrat is a monastery high in one of the most unique mountains that I have ever seen. The most unique feature of the mountain is its rock formations. All of the other mountains surrounding this one are much lower while this one juts above all of the rest with beautiful rock spires coming off of it everywhere. It is famous because of a statue known as the Black Madonna. Legend says it was found in a cave by some monks who came to this mountain to found a monastery. My opinion is that some other monks must have beat them to the punch. Later on, Saint Ignatius of Loyola came to this place to lay down his sword and armor when he dedicated his life to Christ. After leaving this place, he went to a nearby cave in Manresa where he fasted and prayed for many months. Out of this experience came the Spiritual Exercises. Both of these sites were absolutely beautiful. On the way there, we befriended one of the men checking tickets on the train. This ended up being beneficial because we had the wrong ticket for the way home, but he let us on the train without having to pay the difference. He sat with us most of the way back chattting about different things. It was a funny conversation because we would speak in Italian, and he would respond in Catalan. It seemed to work though. We never got much deeper than politics and family. That night we spent time at a famous fountain in Barcelona that puts on a lights show every half hour. The fountain constantly changes the way that the water comes out of the fountain while also changing the colors that illuminate the water.

We spent a little time in Barcelona the next day before returning back to Rome. I've attached links to my pictures below.

Barcelona:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=zuf920z.ckvchjjv&x=0&y=q5w4oo&localeid=en_US

Monserrat and Manresa:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=zuf920z.a7jvleez&x=0&y=hz8to4&localeid=en_US

Greccio

This past week I had a silent retreat at Greccio (pronounced Grechio), which is a beautiful place high in the mountains. The monastery pictured above is one of the places that Francis of Assisi lived. It is important because it is the site of the first Christmas Nativity Scene as well as the first mass held at midnight, both of which are devotions started by Francis. The monastery was very beautiful on the inside with different creche scenes from around the world. It also showed Francis' utter devotion to Christ. His room was part of the cliff wall where he slept propped up against the rocks.

My retreat center was part of this monastery, but was located a short walk away. It was a beautiful place to be with God. We were surrounded by mountains, and right outside the retreat center were many trails that led up to the peaks around us. I will never forget wandering up the mountain , and finding an old shepherd out on the side of the mountain guarding his flock. It put a new perspective on the Gospel passages to see this with my own eyes. God blessed me in many ways on the retreat. Before I left, all of the changes that I have gone through after coming to Rome started to overwhelm me. The retreat helped to calm me down and put my focus back on God. Now I am excited again about the coming months.

As an aside, I never put any of the pictures from my tour of the Swiss Guard Barracks. I thought everyone would enjoy these two photos.