We decided to visit Parc Guell today, which was bought in 1900 by Eusebi Guell. He hired Antoni Gaudi to create a place of houses for the wealthy, however, the project flopped and was abandoned in 1914 after Gaudi created roads, walkways, two gate houses that are called/look like Hansal & Gretel houses (Nina calls them gingerbread houses - see one of the pictures), bridges, and the famous tiled curving bench.
To get to the park, we walked up a steep hill and certain sections of it had escalators. The hill reminded us of the steep roads/hills in San Francisco. Once we made it to the park, we took our time walking through it and enjoyed the warm sun on our faces and arms. We sat on the Banc de Trencadis (the tiled curving bench) for some time and watched people come and go. Strangers asked Nina to take their picture for them, this had to be the 4th time since we've arrived in Spain. Nina finds it funny they come to her because she doesn't like taking photos and according to her, she takes bad pictures.
After visiting the park we took at metro to Catalunya near La Rambla and searched for Cafe Viena. Nina read in a French article and according to the New York Times Cafe Viena's Iberian ham baguette sandwich is the best. The author of the NY Times article said it was the best sandwich he ever had. Sadly, the author is missing out on great sandwiches or hasn't had many in his lifetime. Nina says, "It was good, but not the best I ever had." she liked the baguette. I didn't think much of the sandwich, it tasted like other regular iberian sandwiches from other restaurants. It was overpriced (6.45 Euros for one sandwich) compared to other places, probably because of it's fame. I still prefer my 1.00 Euro sandwich at the Museo de Jamon in Madrid and the mini baguette sandwiches from the bakery across the street from the B&B.
After our sandwiches we walked along La Rambla and saw more performing artists including one on the toilet, which had special meaning to Nina and I. We were in search of two other food places from Nina's article, one of them was called Papabubble www.papabubble.com and they make assorted hard candy. We watched them roll out a big mound of sugar that is white/pale yellow on the outside and white, red and green in the middle. The one man would stretch out the mound and cut off a piece and passed it to his co-worker, who rolled it out in long sticks. I looked at the end of the long stick and the red and green colours turned into a red apple with a green leaf in the centre. It was so neat!
We wondered around after Papabubble and went into some shops and walked down lane-ways/side streets near the waterfront. I tried a different ice cream flavour today, but I can't remember the name of it. It was a mixture of flavours and I didn't know what flavour I was getting next - coconut, cinnamon, chocolate. I really wished I knew what was in it. The ice cream isn't anything extraordinary here in Barcelona (so far, I haven't had an amazing flavour), however, it is everywhere. My family could easily put a dent in the ice cream here.
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