Montserrat

Arriving back in Barcelona we decided to take a tour to the monastery at Montserrat, just outside Barcelona. It was early in the morning and because it is a the top of a mountain, it was quite chilly. Monasteries are common througout the old world, most of them are now defunct. At some point or other in history, they have become obsolete, either by force or naturally. The few that are still in operation exist for mainly charitable reasons, or pilgrimage reasons, as in the case of Montserrat. The story goes that someone found a black Madonna in the hills around the monastery and so people come to see it. Im sure there is more to it but to be honest I wasnt really paying attention, besides that is what Google is for. I was interested in the magnificent views from the mountainside where the monastery is situated, which gave us a very nice sunrise. Someone once told me that if you want a picture of the sunrise, take one of a sunset because no one will know the difference. Well, this was a sunrise, one of the few that I have taken pictures of legitimately. Inside the monastery was some interesting architecture and statues, the ubiquitous stain glass windows and of course the black Madonna herself.
She was housed in a small chamber at the top of the chapel, which was accessed by a narrow staircase going in, and exited by an equally narrow staircase going out. It was designed quite like an IKEA building with only one way and you had to go through everythin to get to the Madonna. It was an enjoyable morning. In the afternoon we did the usual Barcelona tourist bit, checking out the Sagrada Familia cathedral (still not finished although recently concecrated) and La Rambla, the mall famous for street performers. We had a nice tapas dinner, our last all together as each of us was to head in a different direction the next day. We were off to Dublin, mum, Sarah and my Uncle were off to northern England and Jade was off to New York via London for a few days. That was until the snow.
It amazes me how every year in parts of Europe, when it snows the country stops. Its as if they are totally surprised by this strange cold, white stuff that falls from the sky. England shuts down with 5cm of snow, France is the same as are some other countries. On the day we were to leave it started snowing in England, and actually they got a lot of snow. All flights in and out were cancelled for a few days. They closed the airport at Heathrow, the busiest airport in the world, and didnt even let people in the building. It was fair chaos really. Good thing we were going to Dublin and had no problems getting out of Barcelona or in to Ireland. The others however, ended up staying in Barcelona an extra 60 hours. Chaos indeed. But for us, Dublin it is