10/11/10 Lunes con Xocolata

I slept in and spent the morning, putting pictures on my computer, unpacking and organizing.  The most important part of my morning was that I finally got another month of INTERNET!  My mom had her grandkids over for the day.  Technically Tuesday was the holiday, so having Monday off was different depending on where you were.  Her grandkids didn’t have school, but their mom still had to work.  Their mom came over for lunch.  I was happy to leave after lunch to meet up with Emily, because the kids have been starting to bother.  Whiny children is one thing, but whiny children speaking Catalan takes it to a whole new level.  Not to mention, I think how kids are raised in Spain is different in general.  I feel like the kids are babied way too much and that they could use a little more discipline than they get.

            Emily decided to explore Parc de la Ciutadella.  We met at the Arc de Triomf and walked down the park.  It was nice and calm compared to the hectic and chaotic feeling I got while walking around Rome.  We went to all the famous places in the park.  We went to the fountain, this pond with geese where people rent row boats, a giant mammoth statue and the Parliament building of Catalunya.  It was nice to walk around, but the weather was also kind of chilly.  After getting back from Rome, it has definitely started feeling like fall.  I was in pain throughout our whole walk because my flats, which have always been really comfortable, decided to start giving me blisters.  Maybe my feet have grown since last fall?  We met some older American guys in the park who were trying to find the Museum of Contemporary Art.  According to the map it was right next to the Parliament building, and even when we pointed them in the right direction, they still couldn’t find.  We ended up running into them again about twenty minutes later as Emily and I were on our way to a chocolate museum.

            El Museu de la Xocolata was the best part of the day.  It was a small museum, but we both got a chocolate bar with our admission ticket.  The museum had a variety of displays with pictures, chocolate sculptures, videos and hands on computer touch screens.  Barcelona is home to many famous chocolateers (spell check) and many of their sculptures were in the museum.  My favorite part of the museum was learning about all the traditional Catalan holidays and what foods they typically celebrate with—both chocolate desserts and non-chocolate desserts (postres).  Right next to the museum is a school for people making desserts.  We watched a few guys trying to make a chocolate model of La Sagrada Familia. 

            After the museum, I headed home.  As usual, I watched an episode of NCIS while Pepita cooked dinner.  If anything, I will definitely know all the crime and investigation words in Spanish by the time I get home.  I got to Skype Ben, Morgan and my Mom for the first time in about a month.  It was nice to catch up with everyone!