Freixenet Winery, Monserrat, Brett's Birthday dinner, and a not so lazy Sunday

Early Saturday morning Anavi, Krista, and I trudged down the stairs to the metro to head to school. Once we arrived at school we, with most of the AIFS students, piled on 2 buses to Freixnet Winery. Freixnet Winery has been making cava since 1861 only stopping during the Spanish Civil War. We watched a 10 minute clip on the history of the winery before we went down into the wine cellars. The farther underground we got, the worse it smelled. It smelled of fermenting wine and mildew. Not a good combination. I couldn't look up at the ceiling for the fear that a spider would fall on my face.

No sour face!

We got on a trolley that took us through the underground levels up to the tasting room. The driver drove like every other Spanish driver, fast and nerve racking. I think he took every turn as a challenge to see how fast he could take it. We all survived and made it to the tasting room where we were all given a glass of their Carta Nevada. I really enjoyed this cava. I didn't even make a sour face when trying it.
After a bathroom break and gift shop exploration, we got back on the buses to go to Monserrat. Monserrat is a multi tipped mountain that has a monastery, a museum, some restaurants, and great hiking trails tucked into the side. The view is great and I didn't even go to the top. I didn't wear clothes suitable for hiking so I am going to go back to hike in a few weeks. Brett, Simone, and I wanted to hear the boys choir at 1:00 pm so we made our way to the monastery. We walked in a few minutes after 1 and expected to hear the boys choir. Instead there was a wedding in progress. Surprisingly the monastery was still open for public viewing during the ceremony. Not to intrude to much into the bride and groom's special day, we marveled at the monastery for a few minutes and left.

Our lunch view

Hungry, we began to look for a place to eat. We all packed lunches so we walked up a path to have an even better view to accompany our lunch. Once we sat down to eat our lunches, out of what seemed like no where, came 2 cats. They sat about 2 feet from us and watched us the entire time we ate lunch. We saw a few more cats after that and some were so cute. Brett even named one Melody. The name is very fitting.
Since none of us were dressed for hiking, we decided to go into the museum. In the museum there are pieces by Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Sean Scully, and many more. This museum was breathtaking. The artwork inside this museum was wonderful to see. Each piece had such detail and passion put into it. You can tell by just looking at each work of art. One of the last exhibits was an Egyptian mummy. It was so cool! Just the head was unwrapped but you could see the teeth and parts of the skull though the mummified skin.
After spending almost two hours in the museum we walked back to where we were dropped off to walk down to one of the look out points. When we arrived it was a clear beautiful day but now it had fogged over slightly. There is a sculpture that is a popular tourist photo spot. People climb to the top of the sculpture and pose for their photo there. The only catch is that the top of the sculpture hangs off the edge of the cliff. It is also about 30 feet tall. For this reason they have put up a fence around the bottom of the sculpture. But it's not a good fence as there are 3 ways to get past it: under it, through it, and over it. It is only 6 feet tall and doesn't touch the ground all the way. Many people from my school went up this sculpture. Not once did it cross my mind to go up this sculpture. Shortly after people got their photos on the sculpture, we piled back on the buses back to Barcelona.
Every time we were on the bus, I fell asleep. This bus ride was no exception. Though I missed out on the scenery along the way, each nap was great. 

It was a squish but we all fit

Once we got home from our day trip, we had about an hour to get ready before Simone, Sophia, Madi, and Daniel came over. Brett came over an hour after everyone else so everything would be ready before he came over. Brett's birthday was October 29th, during our semester break. We weren't all together to celebrate on his birthday so we had a belated birthday celebration last night. While Daniel and I made Macaroni and Cheese with breadcrumbs and Sophia made a Caesar salad, Madi and Anavi decorated the cake. Just as the Mac and Cheese went in the oven, the salad was done, the cake was fully decorated, and the balloons were all blown up, Brett knocked on our door. We had a great night full of laughter and good friends.
Today was a productive day. I moved all the bags and furniture in my room and did a thorough cleaning. I organized my clothes and belongings again. I did homework and cleaned up more from dinner last night. I got a lot done today but I also didn't get up until 11:30 am. Not having to set an alarm last night was very nice.