When you go to Barcelona, like any other place, there is a list of “Must See’s”. For us, it included:
1. Sagrada de Familia (The Sacred Family), a grandiose Gothic church that is still in the works designed by Antoni Gaudi, otherwise known as “The Architect of God”
2. Park Guell, a park designed by the same architect for Barcelona’s upper class society and is now a UNESCO Heritage Site.
3. The Picasso Museum, which features the local born artist’s early works.
4. And the FC Barcelona Museum at Camp Nou.
Naturally, for our weekend holiday, I picked the most important from the lot. And yep, if you know me well enough, you guessed it right! The FC Barcelona Museum.
When we went to Brazil a couple of months ago, I got the chance to visit the Museo de Futebol of Brazil (K could not come with me then as he had work). I loved it! I loved walking into the first room of the Museum embraced by dramatic drumbeats…tum…tum-dum…tug…tum…tug…tum-dum… at the same time, seeing life-sized holograms of Brazil’s top footballers of all time: Ronaldo, Falcão, Vavã, Rivaldo, Gilmar, Garrincha, Romario, Didi, Bebeto, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho Gaucho, Tostão, Djalma Santo, Gerson, Zizinho, Socrates, Jairzinho, Rivellino, Zagallo, Carlos Alberto, Julinho Botelho, Zico, Nilton Santo, Taffarel, and Carlos Alberto Torres. The Baroque Angels, they are called.
My all-time favorite was the next room. And just writing about it now gives me goosebumps.
In the next room, there were 3 big screens set up. As I went up the escalator to the platform I felt my heart pounding in my chest and my hair raising in my arms as I was constantly embraced by the roar of the crowds cheering in Brazilian football matches. Different eras but with the same deafening shouts as Brazil scores a goal. It wasn’t just a one man victory. It was the country’s.
In Barcelona there were the same rooms. But nothing like the one’s in Sao Paulo. Still, it brought me the same rush it has been giving me for more than half of my life. It reminded me why I love football so much.
Last June, in Rio de Janeiro, K and I were supposed to watch a local football match. We had our tickets, we were prepared and from Sao Paulo we flew all the way to Rio, but alas! The game was rescheduled and instead of Saturday it was to be on Sunday—the Sunday when we would head back to Belgium.
You can imagine how enraged I was with the ticket agent who failed to inform us of the change. Apparently, they just assumed that Sunday was also fine with us. Having worked in a call center for 4 years I certainly gave them a “Call to Remember”.
So it was that we didn’t expect to see a football match when we went to Barcelona. Good thing I just happened to check the FC Barcelona schedule 3 days before we were scheduled to go there. As I went over their website my heart started beating faster and faster. “Could it be possible?” I asked myself. “Could it really, really, really be possible that they had a game and that there were still actually tickets available?”.
My husband rechecked it and much to our delight, we were able to get tickets for a Saturday night game of FC Barcelona vs Racing de Santander PLUS go and visit the FC Barcelona museum before the match.
18 years I have been a football fan and on that day, Saturday, October 15, 2011, I could not have asked for more. No, it wasn’t Juventus. No, it wasn’t Alessandro del Piero. No, I wasn’t in Italy. But it was FC Barcelona. It was Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, David Villa and Puyol. It was Barcelona Baby. And best of all, I could share the experience with my husband.
After watching the Barcelona game, these days, all I ask for is a little bit of world peace, environmental consciousness, and cure for cancer. Seriously and sincerely.
1. Sagrada de Familia (The Sacred Family), a grandiose Gothic church that is still in the works designed by Antoni Gaudi, otherwise known as “The Architect of God”
2. Park Guell, a park designed by the same architect for Barcelona’s upper class society and is now a UNESCO Heritage Site.
3. The Picasso Museum, which features the local born artist’s early works.
4. And the FC Barcelona Museum at Camp Nou.
Naturally, for our weekend holiday, I picked the most important from the lot. And yep, if you know me well enough, you guessed it right! The FC Barcelona Museum.
When we went to Brazil a couple of months ago, I got the chance to visit the Museo de Futebol of Brazil (K could not come with me then as he had work). I loved it! I loved walking into the first room of the Museum embraced by dramatic drumbeats…tum…tum-dum…tug…tum…tug…tum-dum… at the same time, seeing life-sized holograms of Brazil’s top footballers of all time: Ronaldo, Falcão, Vavã, Rivaldo, Gilmar, Garrincha, Romario, Didi, Bebeto, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho Gaucho, Tostão, Djalma Santo, Gerson, Zizinho, Socrates, Jairzinho, Rivellino, Zagallo, Carlos Alberto, Julinho Botelho, Zico, Nilton Santo, Taffarel, and Carlos Alberto Torres. The Baroque Angels, they are called.
My all-time favorite was the next room. And just writing about it now gives me goosebumps.
In the next room, there were 3 big screens set up. As I went up the escalator to the platform I felt my heart pounding in my chest and my hair raising in my arms as I was constantly embraced by the roar of the crowds cheering in Brazilian football matches. Different eras but with the same deafening shouts as Brazil scores a goal. It wasn’t just a one man victory. It was the country’s.
In Barcelona there were the same rooms. But nothing like the one’s in Sao Paulo. Still, it brought me the same rush it has been giving me for more than half of my life. It reminded me why I love football so much.
Last June, in Rio de Janeiro, K and I were supposed to watch a local football match. We had our tickets, we were prepared and from Sao Paulo we flew all the way to Rio, but alas! The game was rescheduled and instead of Saturday it was to be on Sunday—the Sunday when we would head back to Belgium.
You can imagine how enraged I was with the ticket agent who failed to inform us of the change. Apparently, they just assumed that Sunday was also fine with us. Having worked in a call center for 4 years I certainly gave them a “Call to Remember”.
So it was that we didn’t expect to see a football match when we went to Barcelona. Good thing I just happened to check the FC Barcelona schedule 3 days before we were scheduled to go there. As I went over their website my heart started beating faster and faster. “Could it be possible?” I asked myself. “Could it really, really, really be possible that they had a game and that there were still actually tickets available?”.
My husband rechecked it and much to our delight, we were able to get tickets for a Saturday night game of FC Barcelona vs Racing de Santander PLUS go and visit the FC Barcelona museum before the match.
18 years I have been a football fan and on that day, Saturday, October 15, 2011, I could not have asked for more. No, it wasn’t Juventus. No, it wasn’t Alessandro del Piero. No, I wasn’t in Italy. But it was FC Barcelona. It was Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, David Villa and Puyol. It was Barcelona Baby. And best of all, I could share the experience with my husband.
After watching the Barcelona game, these days, all I ask for is a little bit of world peace, environmental consciousness, and cure for cancer. Seriously and sincerely.
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