On the 2nd day, we woke up quite late. We were very tired last night especially after the rain. I was having slight fever, covering myself with blanket from head to toe but i survived in the end. In order to respect my 2 travel-mates, i shall not tell you all how both of them spent 1 hour preparing. =_= Anyway, we had a very nice breakfast courtesy of the hotel.

Once done, we headed off for Old Trafford stadium!

The Old Trafford tram station was quite deserted since it was early in the morning……and there was no football match. There’s one Old Trafford stadium right after the tram station – that’s the cricket stadium. Hahaha.

For Manchester United Football Stadium, you need to walk straight on……just go straightttttttttttttttt and you’ll reach the stadium. Pretty straightforward. I had to ask a passerby for direction….but didn’t notice there was a big sign right in front of me. Hahaha.

Anyway, the stadium tour was very nice. We went to the museum, or Theatre of Dream, showcasing the trophies, the jerseys and the history of the club. I saw a lot of newspaper cuttings about the Munich incident. It was a very sad incident. So many talented footballers died. There was this eternal flame burning in the Munich Tunnel (South Stand) to commemorate (not sure if it’s the right word) the innocent lives lost in this tragic incident.

The stadium tour guide explained to us the different history of the stadium and how it was extended and why it cannot be extended anymore. Quite a lot of stuff. Definitely worth a visit. Oh, we also went to the players’ changing room, pretty near to the tunnel where the players run out to meet the fans. The guide turned on the sound effect and told us to march towards the field (we cannot touch the field though). It was like a matchday…very very nice atmosphere. I really hope i can get to watch a match there in the future.

After that, we went to Trafford Centre – the largest shopping complex I’ve ever seen in UK. Very very big and very nicely designed. But not something I really fancy. I’m not a shopping addict anyway.

That’s all for my 2nd day. hahahaha. Nothing much eh? But at least, I’ve fulfilled one of my childhood dreams – to visit Old Trafford football stadium. It was worth it.

And now, I need to get some rest before my flu gets worse. Having a lot of phlegms. Gosh. I will try to start drawing again tomorrow and perhaps writing my story.

Finally, i found some time to write this post. As some of you might know, i’ve just came back from Barcelona, Spain. Honestly, it is a very very nice trip (though a bit rush). Believe it or not, it was my first trip (with friends/colleagues/classmates) after secondary school. It’s like…10 years? And it was also my first time sleeping in a room full of strangers who speak different languages. Hahaha.

During the trip, I get to know 2 new friends : Shereen the nice girl and Steven the Manchester United fan (should really find him to go to my childhood dream destination………….Old Trafford Theatre of Dreams). There were 9 of us. 4 guys and 5 girls.

Barcelona is indeed a very very nice city. Nice weather, nice food, nice buildings n architecture. The weather is 10x better than the gloomy London. And i also noticed one thing….Spanish people loves art. Everywhere you go, you can see very nice buildings, apartments, restaurants…..etc. Even their park is nice.

For those who don’t know much about Barcelona, it is a city where the famous architect Antonio Gaudi and the famous artist Pablo Picasso used to live in. There are a lot of nice architectures and buildings which have Gaudi’s influence in them. I went to 4 of Gaudi’s works – the unfinished Sagrada Familia, the Casa Batllo (pronounced as Casa Batjo), Casa Milla and Park Guell.

 

Sagrada Familia, if not mistaken, is a church. It’s Gaudi’s last work before his death. It is a very very tall building. You can notice it immediately when you are in Barcelona city. It is that obvious. Well, it’s been about 100 years since Gaudi’s death and the construction is still undergoing due to the complexity of the design (each pillar uses different materials…different stones and marbles….the staircase is circular….the carvings are unique, etc).

 

Casa Batllo is one of his best works. It’s a house, which looks like an apartment…around 4-6 storeys high. It costs around 16.50 Euro to get in. But i advise you to go during daytime because Gaudi’s design uses a lot of sunlight. The entire house is built based on the concept of underwater world. Seashells, waves, ripples of water, etc. Even the walls were being painted like a wave. The lightings were properly designed as well. Everything inside the house seemed so nice and perfect. After viewing this work…….i understand why Gaudi is being hailed as the greatest architect of all time.

Park Guell is also a very nice place. A huge project. I think we didn’t manage to go all the monuments/buildings due to lack of time.

Casa Milla is quite normal actually. Maybe because the ownership has changed quite a lot and few refurbishments had been done over the past few decades.

Besides that, I also went to Picasso’s museum where they showcase his works from the early stages to his death. How the artworks evolved. Oh, he also drew a lot of comic. Hahahha.

Mmm, i also tried the nice food there ….tapas (equivalent to our DIM SUM…small dishes), paela (donno how to spell, but it’s normally big seafood dishes. We had black rice..cooked using squid, and also some seafood rice), salted cod fish, cured ham, and mcdonald. Hahaha.

The people in Spain are not that friendly, sadly. UK people are friendlier. And a lot of Spanish people don’t speak English. I went to Mcdonald and the old lady couldn’t speak a single English word.

McD : Hola (hello)
Me : Hola. Set 4 please.
McD : ?? Numero Quadro?? (number 4)
Me : er…si (yes)
McD : Cola? (coke)
Me : Er..si…

Settled. Luckily i know few Spanish words. Hahahha. So you better be prepared to learn some Spanish words before going there. Most important word of all time …BANO = toilet

Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip to a wonderful city. A very insightful one also since i get to see the famous Gaudi and Picasso’s works. My inspirations.

Oh, one thing to note though, and a very important one. Beware of pickpockets and ‘strangers’. The security is quite bad there. My friend got approached by a guy asking for money in front of LV shop. My friend wanted to give, but i dragged the innocent guy away and the spanish fella kept scolding (no use la, since we cannot understand). I just made sure he didn’t follow us. The girl Shereen also got approached. I went to get her but didn’t notice she was being ‘mugged’ as well. I cannot cover two people As for me, i nearly got my wallet stolen in the train. I felt someone was touching my right arm and i saw the old lady next to me extending her hand hidden under her jacket. So i moved to the left, and she too, moved to the left. She gave up when few of the Spanish people stared at her, together with me and my friends.

Remember not to push your way through into the train. Pushing will expose you to them. So beware. 9 of us, and 3-4 of us got this kind of experience. That’s already nearly 50%.

Alright, that’s all for now. Time to practice my drawings.

p/s…thanks Adele for the planning:D