Getting caught up... Derby Match!

Here is the best picture I got of the Piromusicál. Its kind of hard to see, but the fountain is down at the bottom. It kinda looks like smoke. The video should show it better.

Day 27 – September 24th – Wednesday
Today was a holiday, so of course, we didn't have school and we don't for the rest of the week. I'm loving the five-day weekend. We had a great paella for lunch, this time with meat (chicken and rabbit) instead of seafood. Personally, I liked the seafood better. After lunch, I had to take a little siesta after such an exciting night. I woke up in time for the Barcelona soccer game and watched it with my padre español. It was 2-0 at halftime in favor of Barça, but after fifteen minutes of the second half, it was tied up. At this point, I had to leave because we were going to see the Piromusicál. This was like nothing I have ever seen in my life. It took place in Plaça Espanya, which is where the palace and magic fountain are located. Basically, there was live music, recorded music, two huge TVs, the magic fountain (which is an intense fountain with lights and everything that changes shape and makes crazy designs with the water), and fireworks, all choreographed together. It was about a 45 minutes show and it utilized fireworks in ways I've never seen. They shot them in all directions and of all types, colors and sizes. I will add a video that I took so that you can get a taste for what it was like. It was amazing. I definitely thought there were a lot of people there, but when I heard the next day that there were about 1,250,000 people, I was blown away. It did take about twenty minutes before I even thought about moving from my spot, but everything seemed to clear out pretty quick. I didn't even think about taking the metro home. Also, Matt and I were hungry by this point so we stopped and got some falafel, which was quite delicious. It seems like every night I see a larger group of people than the night before. But, as there was literally half of Barcelona in the same place as I was last night, I think tomorrow night won't be quite as big. This Mercè festival has been quite phenomenal so far and it's nice that I can be in Barcelona for the biggest festival of the year.

Day 28 – September 25th – Thursday
Nothing to report today. It rained. I stayed inside for most of the day and then went to bed early because tomorrow is an excursion to the small coastal town of Sitges.

Day 29 – September 26th – Friday
I had to get up pretty early today, but luckily, our meeting spot was very close to my house, so not much walking and no metro needed. Once everyone was on the tour bus, we headed of on our excursion. First we stopped at the Codorníu Cavas, which is one of the biggest wine producers in the world. We took a tour through literally millions and millions of wine bottles underground and finally ended with a little sample, which was actually champagne rather than wine. It was an interesting tour, especially because our guide was pretty funny and would pull cute girls out of the crowd and get them to act as guinea pigs for things such as holding the glass properly, or just to stand by some wine barrels while he took a picture for them. Then we climbed back on the bus after a trip through the gift shop and headed to Sitges. It is a small town located on the cliffs by the coast, so you can imagine how picturesque it is. Unfortunately, on this particular day, it was pretty overcast and windy, but I still got some pretty cool panoramic shots. The clouds were doing some interesting things, so it made for a nice backdrop. We walked around for a while and sat on the beach, even though it was not sunny. The sand there was a little bit different of a consistency than in Barcelona, a little finer and darker. I did manage to spend a little money in the five hours we were there and then we climbed back on the bus and headed back to good ol' Barcelona, where apparently it had been raining all day. Not a bad day for an excursion. Tonight I went to La Oveja Negra (The Black Sheep) and discovered that pretty much any place with black in the name is friendly. I met up with the group of people that I had hung our with and Sitges and we also met a few Spaniards, one from Barcelona, the other from Uruguay.

Day 30 – September 27th – Saturday
I'm really enjoying this whole five-day weekend. I feel like I'm on vacation. I've been waking up around one or two in the afternoon and then just kinda laying around and eating before going out on the town. Today I changed my scenery a little bit and went to a beach that I'd never been to before: Selva del Mar. It turned out to be the surfing beach. Too bad I forgot my board. It was also nice because it was not crowded at all and there were no people trying to sell me beer every fifteen seconds. Also, there were some planes in the sky doing back flips and barrel rolls getting ready for the air show today. I did get in the water for a little while, and it was delightfully warm, but I decided to get out after I saw a little white jellyfish floating nearby. This beach had the biggest waves I've seen in Spain, though they were not more than three or four feet and it was pretty windy, so I'm guessing they don't get much bigger. I headed home from there to take a little siesta before the big game. Tonight was the derby match in Barcelona. That is, the game between the two teams within the city, F.C. Barcelona and Espanyol. And it was a crazy game! Barcelona controlled most of the first half, but Espanyol was the only one to score, but near the end of the half, one Espanyol player received his second yellow card and was sent off. The second half was more of the same. Barça controlling the ball, but unable to score, while Espanyol, with only ten men, build two solid lines in the back to ward off attacks. Finally, but only after I had put on his jersey, Tierry Henry managed to squeak one past on a miscommunication between the Espanyol goalie and his defender. So now it was tied up and things started to get crazy. They had to pause the game for almost ten minutes after people started lighting flares and fireworks. People even broke out onto the field, but just yelled a lot. It was interesting because in the US, they will not show anything that goes on when fans run onto the field, but here, they were following it like breaking news. They didn't go to a commercial break or anything. After they started back up, there were about twelve minutes of added time total. And it was just enough. Literally in the last seconds, Barça won a penalty kick, scored off of it and walked into the locker room. Espanyol fans stood in disbelief. That night, I went out wearing my Barcelona jersey, of course, and when I got on the metro, I was surrounded by Espanyol fans. A little scary, but we won, so I could look at them with pride.
Its still kind of hard to see, so I guess you'll have to wait until I can show you in person, but at least you can see a bit of the fireworks.