Helo there, lovely readers! Happy 2015! After 3 months, I'm finally updating this blog! The reason I haven't written anything new so far it's basically because I haven't been anywhere outside of Barcelona since I came back. I feel my daily life in the city it's not as exciting for you guys anymore, haha :B Today I feel like writing so, I'm gonna tell you about my visit to Vilafranca del Penedès, a city 61km (37 miles) away from Barcelona which turned out to be a hidden jewel in the center of Catalonia!
The main reason I visited it's because of one of my best friends Marion, who is from a village next to Vilafranca. She is always the one coming over to Barcelona, so she asked me if I wanted to visit her hometown for once. I had never visited Vilafranca, and she told me to bring my camera, because the place was worth taking pictures of. So I followed her and brought my baby Nikon! Seeing the results, I think I did well, haha.
I seriously have a thing for window balcony houses, and Marion knows that. I would totally move this far away from my hometown just to live in a beauty like this (probably at a cheaper price than back in Barcelona)!
All the details...!
The city is just full of Modernist buildings and decorations. Catalan Modernism (also known as "Modernisme" in Catalan language) is the historiographic denomination given to an art and literature movement. Its main form of expression was in architecture, but many other arts were involved (painting, sculpture, etc.), and especially the design and the decorative arts. You'll usually find aesthetic and nature motifs in Modernist buildings.
This movement was centred in the city of Barcelona, though it reached far beyond (as you can see), and is best known for its architectural expression, especially in the work of Antoni Gaudí (if you've visited Barcelona, you've probably heard of him)!
You probably can't tell from the pictures, but it was a very cloudy day and it ended up raining after a 45 minute-walk around the city. So we decided to go to Marion sister's place to wait until it stopped. Actually we both had a reason (well, two reasons) to shelter ourselves there... Two furry and utterly adorable reasons! :B
Yessss, kitties! Marion's sister has two beautiful cats: Neko and Mao. Funny story is, both names are written with the same character ( 猫) as they mean the same word (cat) in both Japanese and Chinese.
The tabby cat is Mao. He's the coldest and most skeptical cat, but he seems to have a thing for me he doesn't have with anyone else! *blushes* He's also a professional model, as you can see!
He couldn't stop posing for me! Cmon Mao, give me your best face!
Aaaaand this one is Neko! Neko was way more difficult to photograph, as he didn't seem to like the camera as much as his tabby buddy. However, I was fast enough to take decent pictures of him!
Neko is the loving and the playful cat in the house. He doesn't mind being petted and he will never scratch you! (Unlike Mao...)
This shot was pretty difficult to take, but I am pretty proud of it! :B
Petting Mao, hehe!
Marion seemed to be better at taking photos than me at some point! Look at this photoset she took of Neko!
These two seem to be pretty good friends :B
Hey Mao, whatchu looking at?
CL
¡Hola, Nana!
ReplyDeleteSigo tu blog desde hace tiempo y me gustaría comentarte algo... Estudio Traducción y llevo meses pensando en aprender una nueva lengua que tengo que escoger de cara al próximo curso. Me dan a elegir entre varias lenguas asiáticas así que me preguntaba si podías decirme cuál es tu experiencia aprendiendo estos idiomas, cuánto tiempo llevas estudiándolos, si has avanzado rápido o si alguna lengua es más difícil que otra para los españoles. Cualquier cosa que me cuentes me ayudará muchísimo a hacerme una idea :)
Espero que puedas ayudarme :D
Lorena