El Alcalde de Zalamea in Castelldefels

Last Sunday evening I went to see a play in Castelldefels with my Teatro Español en el Siglo de Oro class.   It's El Alcalde de Zalamea by Calderón de la Barca.  It's his second most famous play behind La Vida es Sueño (which we will be reading in the month of May).  We met outside one of the main train stations in the center of the city and had to buy Zone 2 train tickets.  (My Zone 1 T-Jove wouldn't cut it).  Castelldefels is a town outside of Barcelona, but technically still inside Barcelona.  I believe it's close to the airport.  The town reminded me of a city suburb, with typical European thin streets.  After the 30 minute train ride, we arrived in the town with about 45 minutes to spare until showtime.  The theater was right outside the train station, so it really would be very difficult to get lost.  Here's my train ticket with a blurry group of students from my class (and the other section of the class) behind.  The building they're standing in front of is the train station.

La Sagrada Família

Or, what you'll receive on a postcard if anyone ever sends you one from Barcelona.  Or, Barcelona's most emblematic architectural icon.  Or, the most visited tourist site in all of Spain.  Or, Antonio Gaudí's most ostentatious work.

The Temple Expiatori (Expiatory Church) was started in 1882 and was finished in... wait... nope, it's still not finished.  If you ever do receive a postcard of La Sagrada Família, the photo on the front is a lie.  It is not the picturesque version with lovely clean, blue skies you'll see.  But instead there are huge construction cranes sticking out of the top.  In fact, most of Barcelona is littered with cranes.  It's the city that's always changing, perhaps.  Or in the case of La Sagrada Familia, it's the church that's never finished.  They say it will be completed in the next 10 to 20 years, but you never know...

Jardins del Laberint D'Horta

The Labyrinth Park!  I've wanted to go here ever since I knew that this park exists in the outskirts of Barcelona. I mean, who can resist getting lost in a hedge-maze (even if there are a bunch of screaming schoolchildren occasionally getting in your way)?  This park is so carefully manicured and cared for that it cost 2,17 euro to get in!  I arrived a little after 11 in the morning and wandered around waiting for my friend to join me (she lost her phone and I was waiting for her at the wrong spot-- long story short).  So here are plenty of pictures of the park!