i cant remember the last time i had to walk this much. must have been italy trip, or? oh, huangshan mountain climbing. how is it that traveling really becomes more of an excercise than just a relaxing holiday? these tight schedules, us trying to cram in as much sightseeing as we physically can...at the expense of having very very sore feet. barcelona really brought back memories of other trips. at the thought of sore feet, i think back to beijing summer 2005. when i climbed the great wall (the older broken down bits) with emelie's flipflops, got sunburned from head to toe, and had a 2hr long foot massage near our hostel. that was so nice. right, back to sunny spain.

 

we really out did ourselves the first evening with that ambitious moonlight promenade, i found it really hard to wake up the next day. but miho opened the balcony window and the bright morning sun came streaming in. through sore, cloudy eyes i saw the silhouette of our pretty metal railing, took a deep breath and decided to embrace the new day. museu picasso was the first stop. fisheye camera ready and all set to go in my hand, we passed through most of the gothic area around Via Laietana before spotting the long queue for the museum. full of picasso's early works, the collection really gave me a different picture of him, more like how he masterfully developed his work into cubism and the such. but these cubic imitations of velaquez's work was so amazing, the cutest. slight set back: the throng of tourists were doing my head in. way too much people lah. so we decided to go a bit out of the way, to see parc montjuic and poble espanyol.

 

half way up the massive hill, in front of the castle like national museum, quenched by thirst, we sat down on the flight of stairs and looked out at the vast scenery that stretched before us. this was busy barcelona, with its new york like square streets, surrounded by hills and mountains, facing the horizon of the mediterranean. a street musician played guitar in the background, i closed my eyes and imagined myself a sponge, sucking all this in. this very moment.... so that when i'm in the middle of term, up to my eyebrows in college work, i can take a break, close me eyes and remember that instant. i think its something in the music, this is why people say barcelona's so colourful. while walking along that aged stone path, these walls with so much history, it all just doesnt seem complete without the faint echo of a classic tune. i loved the music, made me want to go back to playing the violin and the accordian. but i guess i cant have everything.