We woke up at 9:30 and had packed up and checked out by 10:00am. Having a few hours before our flight, we decided to "aprovechar," and go to La Pedrera.
I overshot our metro stop and we went to buy some bread to hold us over until lunch time. We took the metro to Passeig de Gracia and quickly walked up the few blocks. The line looked deceivingly big as we didn't have to wait too long. We ran into our Italian friends from the day before.
Inside the house we got the highlight version of the guided tour and quickly ran up to the famous roof. Absolutely Incredible! Crazy sculptures and shapes that looked like knights or chessmen lined the pathways connected by steps. The roof was packed with school groups. I loved walking around and wanted my future house to look like this.
The rest of the house was really cool although not as sublime as Casa Balló. I enjoyed the many arches, like vertebrae of a spine that supported the attic. We semi-rushed our visit and left to catch the metro. We took the metro to Sagrada Familia to look for a souvenir we'd seen the other day for Hunter, which wasn't there, and then went up the hill, stopping only to grab a quick bocadillo before returning to the hotel to pick up our bags and then heading to the airport.
Having figured out the public transportation, we quickly made it to the airport. It took us a while to find the Vueling checkin. We arrived early to the airport only to have our flight delayed. While waiting, Guardía Civil detained a drunk guy who was trying to get on the plane. After an hour delay we boarded and while sitting down, the drunk man ran onto the plane, celebrated to sporadic applause and then was escorted off the aircraft. We talked to an interesting Spanish veterinarian on the way over. I fell asleep and woke up as we touched down in Granada.
Thankfully our baggage came through and we took the bus back to my apartment. My mom seemed a little overwhelmed by the city as we walked to the my apartment from the bus stop. I knew it'd had been risky to leave my door open while I was gone for the weekend, and was right as my roommates had played a prank on me by leaving empty packs of cigarettes, cans of beer, lines of "cocaine," (salt) and the ID card of a Spanish girl. I quickly moved everything off my desk and through it outside onto Heiko's balcony. Heiko had made my bed for me, which was very nice. I showed my mom the apartment and introduced her to Heiko and Alberto. We then immediately left as I wanted to see if we could make it to the Mirador of San Nicolas in time to see the sun set.
We took one of the microbuses up, which worked well, and although we missed the sunset, my mom was able to get a feel for Granada. "Like living in an amusement park," she would say. I wanted to take her to Flamenco but wasn't sure what time it started. We headed through the warren of the Albaycín until we got to the street of the teterías. We looked at the Arab stores and then headed to Gran Vía where we went to the tapas bar that specializes in wine. We then checked the flamenco show times which didn't start until 10:30. We came back to my apartment to regroup. My mom met Antonio and we had a little time to get settled in before heading back up to the Upsetter flamenco bar.
Finding seats in the front of the little, underground, smoky room we waited for the show to start. I had seen part of the trio before at the two previous shows I 'd been to here. They started playing, the old man belting out the emotional lyrics, the guitarist playing the classic Spanish style progressions and the dancer, powerful and alluring, spinning and stomping. They took too long of a intermission. The second half was good though.
Back in my apartment, I introduced my mom to Nathalie and then set up the extra mattress in my room. I stayed up to do some reading before going to sleep.
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