Slowing Down in Barcelona

While walking 11 miles a day

On my flight back from Barcelona…a 13 hour flight by the way…I made a friend by sharing my apple slices.

It was pretty easy, to share the apple, mainly because I’m allergic, but also because it just seemed intuitive to offer someone something when I had something extra.

The whole flight was like that really.

A little community of people looking out for one another. I didn’t know how to put my armrest up, so the man in the aisle next to me leaned over to show me. And then his charger port wasn’t working so I offered him my power bank, and so on it went, until I offered my apple slices to the person to my left.

We ended up speaking about the software company he founded, and his 10 year old child, and how I want to get my PhD one day. I got his business card and the 13 hours ended up feeling like nothing more than a slightly uncomfortable meet and greet, reminding me how much I love traveling with strangers.

My flight neighbor//new friend, who is a Brazilian living in France, told me that he is always pleasantly surprised by the kindness of those from New York; that I, like my other New Yorkers, tend to look out for one another.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was from upstate, in the middle of nowhere, and couldn’t take credit for his view on New Yorkers, so I just told him that my trip to Barcelona reminded me of the importance of community and giving without expectation.

Which is true.

The minute I landed in Barcelona, I was asked to be completely present.

The first bar we went to, Mariposa Negra (which I highly recommend), is posted up right next to a ceramics studio of the same name. The artist creates all sorts of Tim Burton-esque mugs and cups, which are used in the bar. All night I was trying to figure out if the art studio came first and then the bar saw an opportunity, or if it was one idea to have a studio next to a bar, or my favorite theory, maybe the bar was open and an artist happened through there one day and was like “hey, your cups suck,” and then they opened a studio next door.

Another bar we went to, the bartender offered us a shot of acorn liquor as we were leaving. Something that occurs often apparently. A gesture of, “hey, thanks for stopping by.”

I met the owner of a small boutique who sewed the clothing upstairs in the loft space. The pieces were all mis-matched fabrics and she told me about how much the work means to her while her dog fell into my legs to be pet. I bought a beanie with a checker pattern on one side.

Places to See

Breakfast/Coffee

• Right Side Coffee

• Funky Bakers

• Ombu Cafe

• Myra Brunch

• Orval Coffee

• EatMyTrip Brunch

• Citizen Cafe

• Hidden Coffee

• Firebug

• La Besneta

• El Central del Raval

Food & Drink

• La Alcoba

• Bar Del Pla

• Bar Mudanza

• Dr. Stravinsky

• Story

• Paradiso

• Mariposa Negra

• Bormuth

• Space Cowboy

• La Vietnamita

Places to Go

• Sagrada Familia

• ALL of the Gaudi houses (do it)

• Park Guell — this one is really touristy, so I recommend staying awhile. It is a beautiful park after all

• Ciutadella Park (you can find the Arco de Triunfo de Barcelona and the Cascada Monumental, and a really awesome greenhouse)

• Montserrat (it’s about a two hour trip inland, but it’s really beautiful…bring snacks)

• A Tablao Flamenco show (there’s a lot on La Rambla)

• Palau de la Musica (only if you see a show you want to go to — the tour is meh)

• The Cathedral de Barcelona and the Gothic Quarter (obvi my happy place)

• Moco Museum

• Casa Gralla (it’s a really cool vintage store and there’s more vintage around that area)

• OMG BCN (another cute shop with other cute places around)

• Heidi Soto in Born

• Paprium (a cute paper store)

• Maricastana

We walked about 11 miles a day. The most, I think I’ve ever walked in one day. And yet, I felt this certain sense of slowness with my time. Maybe it was “vacation-mode,” but I’m not convinced. Partly because I don’t think I’m ever in “vacation-mode,” I think I’m always in “let’s explore the area so I can decide if I’m going to move here-mode.”

In fact, I would say I very rarely enjoy “time.”

I often wonder if I’m even capable of being someone who lives in the moment. Yes, I do all the socially pushed gratitude posts that make it seem like I’m some god of presence.

Yet, I continuously find myself looking ahead, longing to be in a minute I am not.

On flights, I have to fight the urge to check the time left every few minutes. There’s just something about seeing the little plane on it’s path as I’m rooting for it.

At the beginning of my trip, I even caught myself thinking about the next destination as I was taking photos of the current. Forever hunting.

And all the while I was judging other tourists for not witnessing the marvel before them, posing themselves for photos as if they were what made the monument, or the art piece, or the landscape.

Yes. I am a hypocrite.

But, I still stop and appreciate. The others just take their photos and run away.

“Hypocrite”

In the art museum, I saw this one couple stop at each piece just for posed photos, then moving on without even looking at the art. -_-

We tend to be frustrated the pieces of ourselves we see in someone else :)

Sometimes I even wonder if I actually love photography or if I use it as an ego boost to tell the world about how adventurous I am.

My insecurities haunted me during my roadtrip across the states. I stopped almost too infrequently. I never stopped to take a photo of the sunset (mostly out of fear), but I averaged 10, 11 hours days. I told myself it was because I just enjoyed the drive. But, a part of me was also trying to “beat” some imagined clock.

Going to Barcelona, the insecurities creeped up almost immediately. Was I truly witnessing the city?

The city doesn’t really start its day until 9 a.m. And as someone who gets up at 4:45 each morning, it felt surreal. I thought I liked slow mornings, but Barcelona likes SLOW mornings.

If you go to a coffee shop, they expect you to sit down and enjoy your coffee. A lot of places even have signs not allowing laptops.

I role-played what a slow life could be during my time there. When I didn’t have anywhere to be, I would walk for as long as my legs would take me. I would stop and experience neighborhoods and its people. I would wander to the sea, and dream up different stories I would like to tell through painting.

I got to see what my life would feel like out of production-mode. This obsession with production has been something I’ve been grappling with regarding my art for a long time and being in Barcelona pulled the thread just a bit more as I unravel these patterns.

And I don’t believe I have to be in Europe to enjoy that side of myself, but I would also be lying if I said it didn’t feel heavy being back in America, immediately forcing open my production line again.

I love my tenacity. I really do. But, when I don’t go to sleep until 7:30 in the morning because I’m so focused on finishing a painting since the idea of letting it sit another day or week is killing me, I have to reevaluate how I operate.

During my trip, I read Jedidiah Jenkin’s book, To Shake the Sleeping Self. And I have to say, it was a very fitting read for the journey.

One passage stuck with me on this trip, helping me stay away from the shame spiral regarding my poor relationship with time. It was new year’s and someone said “be ever at peace with your neighbors, and ever at war with your vices.”

There is balance. Between my desire to do and my need for ease. It isn’t about fully discovering that balance and “fixing” myself, but rather, moving in this life navigating towards that balance. And sharing apple slices along the way.

Moving to Europe might also help.

Barcelona: 10/10