Barcelona III

My last day in Barcelona started off with good intentions.  I wanted to wake up early and go see the inside of the Sagrada Familia.  However, in instead woke up around 10am and decided to just make it a lazy kind of day .  I also didn't really want to spend the money as I was trying to avoid taking more money out of the ATMs.  Anyhow, I woke up, had my customary croissant and espresso breakfast, got a fruit salad from the food market.  I enjoyed the creek Gaudi walking tour so much that I decided to do the other one the company offered, the Old City tour.  I luckily had the same tour guide, and it was once again great.

I'd like to take this moment to share with you a Catalan tradition that I learned from the walking tour.  Instead of Santa Claus at Christmas, they have this log with a painted on face.  The log shows up about a week before Christmas, and the children "feed" the log every night, just like we leave out cookies and milk for Santa.  All week, the children feed the log, so the log is theoretically getting pretty backed up.  That log needs to go!  So the night before Christmas, the back half of the log is covered in a blanket, and the children sing a Christmas song in Catalan while beating the log with sticks!  The next morning, hopefully the log will have crapped out of a bunch of gifts and they'll all be under the blanket.  They literally beat the poo out of that Christmas log.

There is also traditionally another figure in the classic Catalan nativity scene.  There's Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus......and a shepherd with his pants down in a squatting position.  His name in Catalan translates to "the shitter".  The idea is that he giving back to the earth that which was provided to him, in an endless cycle of bounty.  You can buy your very own pooping shepherd in many of the tourist shops, and sometimes you can get one that looks like someone famous, like the Pope or Queen Elizabeth.

Right now I'm sitting on the airplane in Dublin, waiting to take off for Boston.  Dublin has the distinction of having a US customs checkpoint here, so Ive already cleared customs.  I know you were worried!!!!  :). It's kind of cool because you get off your arriving flight (from Barcelona, in this story) and you proceed directly to the U S immigration center in the airport.  If you've checked a bag like I did (I was tired of hauling that thing around, plus I bought some liquids in Barcelona), then you had to sit and wait while they got your bag from the other airplane.  Then they call you up to a desk, ask you some questions, and scan your boarding pass.  A picture of your bag pops up on the computer screen, you confirm that it's yours and then hopefully you're on your way.  

I'm headed to Providence for a few days to hang out with the lovely Suz, my oldest NYC friend.  Then I'll head into Boston for the night and stay at Kera's.  I'm having dinner with Steph and Camille, two friends from grad school.   It's going to be a grand few days of catching up with old friends, and then it's back to Austin.