Summer Camp Geography

About a week ago (more, now! Gosh I'm slow), Mallory and Molly paid me a visit from beautiful Firenze. Fortunately I had secured a king-size aero mattress from a friend, so I was able to host them in my new apartment which sadly lacks an extra bedroom.

I took them around the town, showing them my favorite spots in the Born for drinks as well as making a home-cooked dinner upon their arrival. Molly happens to have an absolutely fantastic camera, so we went a little crazy with glamor shots. All around the city, and n the Parc de la Ciutadella, we took lots of pictures which Molly posted on her flickr page. We rented a small rowboat for a half hour in the park, having numerous collisions with rowdy Italian teenagers and almost getting decapitated while going under a bridge that was probably not meant to be passed. We also it up the Fundació Joan Miró, a museum dedicated to the Barcelonian artist about whom I am writing my research paper. He's a bit of a crazy dude, so we had fun exploring the art, sculpture and other mixed-medium pieces at the museum.

Coincidentally, earlier last week I received a response from another local on LoQuo to my post about a language exchange. I figured it would be fun for my visitors to meet the new local with me, so I set up lunch with David for Friday. David, a half Swiss, half Catalan 20-year old from a town about 15 miles up the coast from Barcelona, met us for lunch and ended up spending all of Friday, and Saturday afternoon with us. He's a very international guy, having worked at summer camps in both Germany and in the US and speaking six languages fluently (Catalan, Spanish, Swiss German, German, English and French). He's hoping to start hotel management school in Switzerland this August, and wants to hone his already excellent English before starting. Lunch and the afternoon were great, and we ended up walking all around the city together. Afterwards, we headed to the Born for dinner, and after a criss-crossing the area twice, David conceded that he did not, as it turned out, know where he was going. He had mixed up which side of Via Laietana to go to, and I had been right all along. Score one for Dan.

After visiting the Miró museum on Saturday, David picked us up (in a car!) and we headed to the very top of Montjuic, where there is an old fortress that overlooks the city. The view was fantastic, and we would have stayed a little longer if only it hadn't been pouring. Fortunately, David's car was equipped with a giant umbrella and an extra raincoat, but it was still quite a wet expedition.

We met up with Scott and David (roommates) for dinner at a tapas place near Passeig de Gracia, which did not disappoint. I had rabbit, tried jamón for the first time (literally the most typical Catalan food) and went through quite a bit of 5 euro/bottle house wine. Later in conversation, it came up that (Catalan) David had been to a camp in the states, which happened to be in Asheville, North Carolina. Over the course of a few minutes, minds ticked together as we slowly realized the monumental coincidence which was taking place before our eyes. Scott, as well, went to camp in Asheville, and was hoping to meet a local from his camp with whom he had been emailing. David was hoping to meet another American from his camp. Turns out they had attended the same camp, although in alternate years, and had already been emailing eachother to meet up in Barcelona. It took us like ten minutes to comprehend the craziness. Small world!