How do you travel so much and get all of your work done? Well, here's the sad truth: I'm a boring traveler. I walk and walk and walk and when I'm tired I sit at a cafe and type up papers. I had a fantastic time seeing Barcelona in this way, and I was able to get a lot done on my Language essay. (I wrote it about Spanish publishing, so I could feel like chatting to trinket vendors was doing 'research'.)
At one point, I was sitting at a cafe overlooking the Sagrada Familia and chomping on a pastry, when all of a sudden a great load of honking tourists came pouring out. Then fire trucks roared up. Whoops. Some guy decided that day was a good one to set Gaudi's still-unfinished masterpiece on fire.
Keep in mind, the building has been under construction since the 1800s. It's absolutely gorgeous, but the awe-inspiring towers are sort of dwarfed by even taller industrial cranes.
It kind of adds to the appeal, though. Maybe someday I will be able to take my children... or grandchildren... or great-grandchildren... to see the finished building. Or maybe it will take another 80 years, like they think, in which case my great-grandchildren will have to find dashing rich husbands to travel with; I'll be too tired.
But unlike Gaudi, my work has actual deadlines, so once the crowd became too much to bear I moved inside a Starbucks and watched the commotion from inside the window. Just another day witnessing a cathedral being both built and burned down.
At one point, I was sitting at a cafe overlooking the Sagrada Familia and chomping on a pastry, when all of a sudden a great load of honking tourists came pouring out. Then fire trucks roared up. Whoops. Some guy decided that day was a good one to set Gaudi's still-unfinished masterpiece on fire.
Keep in mind, the building has been under construction since the 1800s. It's absolutely gorgeous, but the awe-inspiring towers are sort of dwarfed by even taller industrial cranes.
It kind of adds to the appeal, though. Maybe someday I will be able to take my children... or grandchildren... or great-grandchildren... to see the finished building. Or maybe it will take another 80 years, like they think, in which case my great-grandchildren will have to find dashing rich husbands to travel with; I'll be too tired.
But unlike Gaudi, my work has actual deadlines, so once the crowd became too much to bear I moved inside a Starbucks and watched the commotion from inside the window. Just another day witnessing a cathedral being both built and burned down.
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