Barcelona day 4: Pigeons, Camp Nou, and Families.

A great day! After eating breakfast in the hotel, we walked around Las Ramblas to plaza Cataluña. At plaza Cataluña we fed the pigeons. It sounds like a simple activity but let me tell you something, it was extreme. Just check the pictures.
We started our walk back to the hotel for our check out and soon we were in route to the Camp Nou (FC Barcelona stadium).
The group toured the stadium for two hours. One of my favorite moments was when the group was inside the press room taking a picture with the Europa Cup won by the team. The photographer was organizing our group of 30 people and at the end he complimented our great behavior. He said that he has never seen a group that listens, and behaves so well. Good job EHS!
Finally, after the experience at the Camp Nou, we boarded our coach bus and started our journey to the city of Castellon where the host families awaited us. A flat tire later we finally made it safe and sound, everybody greeted their families and now are enjoying the most gratifying experience of the trip, family stay.  Pictures to come later on.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE GROUP PICTURE THAT IS HOLDING THE CUP FROM THE WEBSITE BELOW. It will only be available until April 21st.  
www.picsolve.com/fcbfoto
password: fcbm325m4081

Barcelona day 3: La Pedrera, Park Guell, Sagrada Familia, and Flamenco

Day 3 started in La Pedrera (Residential housing designed by Gaudí) 

Students were ready to explore La Pedrera with their audio guides. The audio guides were some in Spanish and some in English depending on their request. 

The group hanging out in the main courtyard of the house. 

Alex and Billy on the roof of La Pedrera. Nice cardigan Billy, very european. 

Behind Sarah, into the distance, you can see Gaudís masterpiece "La sagrada familia"

Reed, Clark, and Ryan watching a video on the design of La Pedrera.

We left La Pedrera and took the subway to our next stop, another one of Gaudi's works of art, Park Guell. 

Here we can see Reed and Dennis exploring the different places around the Park Guell. 

We had a nice picnic at Park Guell, we bought the traditional bocadillos. Bocadillo is a sandwich. The difference is that its in a bread similar to french bread and it has iberian jam like jamon serrano and manchego cheese. There was vegetarian options as well. 

Legendary group photo at the entrance of Park Guell. 

After a nice picnic and exploration time, we took the city bus to go see Gaudís unfinished masterpiece, the cathedral of the sacred family "La Sagrada Familia". There are not enough words in the English dictionary to describe the beauty, relevance, magic, and the reverence that this place has. Enjoy the pictures.  

Each side of the church tells a story of Jesus life. The picture on the right shows the nativity scene and the picture on the left shows the passions of Christ.

The columns in the interior of the church were designed to give the visitor the sense that you were in the middle of a forest with tall trees. The stained glass was designed to use the natural sun light from the sunrise of the east and the sunset from the west.

We left the Cathedral perplexed by its beauty and took the subway back to our hotel where we rested before going out to dinner and a night of flamenco dancing.

Barcelona day two: Picasso, city exploration , Montjuic, Beach, and Soccer.

We started our day at the Picasso museum. 

We continued on a tour of the Cathedral 

There was time to explore the city. 

There was even time to fuel up with candy. 

The subway ride was a success and we made it to Montjuic. 

At the fortress of Montjuic we had a great time enjoying the view,  climbing on top of the cannons, and finding amazing places for a photo opportunity. Enjoy some of them. 

The fortress of Montjuic. 

At the entrance of the fortress of Montjuic. 

Enjoying the ocean view. 

After our time at Monjuic, we took the subway and made our way back to Las Ramblas where again we had time to explore our surroundings. We gathered at the Christopher Columbus statue and walked down the boardwalk to the beach.  

Everybody was excited to feel the sand on their feet except the sand was deceivingly cold. 

After hanging out at the beach we found a place to have dinner.

Paella with seafood, vegetables and chicken for us, and a round of rummy. 

Dinner was over and we hurried up to find a place where we could watch the SUPER CLASICO. The SUPER CLASICO is the most awaited soccer game of the year: Real Madrid vs Barcelona. We stood outside a restaurant together with a lot of locals that had the same idea and enjoyed Barcelonas victory over their rivals Real Madrid.

The crowd goes crazy after Messi score the 4th goal to give Barcelona the victory of 4-3 over Real Madrid.