Barcelona, Part II

On Thursday (after a wonderful lunch with a visiting UNC professor in Pamplona), I took a bus back to Barcelona. Since my flight to Milan was early Saturday morning, I had to be in Barcelona for Friday night anyway — so I decided to make a real visit out of it. I went on Thursday night so I'd have all day Friday to walk around on my own, visiting museums I hadn't gotten to see with Brooke last month.

At the "Xocolat" (Chocolate) Museum, my ticket came in the form of a chocolate bar. I was happy before I even saw the exhibits.

Most interesting fact I learned: The consumption of chocolate has turned into an indicator of the standard of living in developed countries. The highest indexes of consumption per person a year are the following: Switzerland (why am I not surprised), 10 kg (there's probably 10 kg of Swiss chocolate in my desk drawer right now); Great Britain, 7 kg; Germany, 7 kg; USA, 5 kg; France, 4 kg; Japan, 3 kg; Spain, 2 kg.

I also saw, among many other random selections, a chocolate Messi, a chocolate Sagrada Familia and a giant chocolate iPhone.

I also visited the museum of inventions and ideas, the museum of history of Barcelona, the museum of history of Catalunya, a couple of markets and a pretty park. I spent two hours of the afternoon walking around with my friend Sam, who goes to UNC but was in Spain with his dad for spring break. It was amazing timing that our itineraries overlapped enough for us to meet up!

Barcelona is a gorgeous city.