La Merce 2010

Hey everyone! It has been quite a crazy week, so I am going to re-cap for you. This weekend was La Merce, Barcelona's largest festival. And I mean BIG! The government sponsors hundreds of free events - concerts, acrobatic performances, parades, fireworks, light shows, you name it!

I have been a busy girl these past few days. So here are some of the highlights:

Fireworks on the beach every night at 10 pm. It was a competition between Canada, France, and Spain. After viewing all 3 shows, I have to say that France took the cake. I was really close to the fireworks, it was like they were falling around us! So beautiful!

On Saturday during the day, my friend Kelsey and I headed up to the Castell de Montjuic. We walked around the whole castle and then sat on the lawn to watch a trapeze artist. We also saw the "Always Drinking Marching Band," who are a comedic marching band group. They were fabulous!

Last night was the Correfoc, the "Fire Run." Ladies and gentleman, we are not in Kansas anymore. The idea here is to pack hundreds of thousands of people into the streets and then these people dressed up as devils parade down the street with sparklers on pitchforks. Lit fireworks. As in, fire sparks are flying everywhere, showering down on everyone! We were recommended to wear cotton pants and long-sleeve shirts and a head covering. I am very glad I did! It was actually pretty frightening, but very fun. And no worries, there are ambulances ready to go and plenty of policemen on the sidelines.

Another cool thing I saw was the lightshow and jugglers at Ciutadella Park. The show was awesome! The jugglers had balls and pins that lit up in different colors, so it looked really neat in the dark.

As far as traditions go, one of the highlights of the event is the Castellers (human tower builders). These troups form awesome tower-like structures by climbing up on each other's shoulders.

This morning, I visited the International Church of Barcelona. The service was in English (a bit refreshing i must say) and the people there are quite wonderful. The members come from all different countries and there are a bunch of students from all over the place. We went to a BBQ afterwards at the pastor's home in Les Planes, right in the mountains. Very beautiful!

So that's what has been happening. Check out my pictures above!