Goodbye Europe, goodbye Spain, goodbye mullets!

Hola!

I am now in Madrid but as I only got here today I can't report much about it. It seems busy, crowded; it has a metro. But Barcelona! Wow, a new rival for my heart where previously there was only Berlin. And Venice. Heck!

Anyway, Barcelona was great - I loved it! I had to leave Home Hostel on Monday because they were closing for a week. And so I moved to another hostel - this one in town, rather than the train ride out of town where Home is. And this other Hostel, Backpackers BCN, was pretty good too - almost as good as Home I'd say. Not as good as home though. (Oh, I am looking forward to being home).

On Sunday, I went to the Fundacio Joan Miro - an art gallery which I thought I'd have to catch a fun funicular railway to get to, but alas, it was broken, so there was a funicular substitute: a bus funicular. Not as fun! The gallery was great - lots of Miro (obviously) and also a special exhibition on collages which was great - more Picasso!

Then on Monday, I went to La Sagrada Familia - the Gaudi cathedral that is still being built. They estimate 25-30 years more and it'll be done! It's quite amazing: neo-gothic, a lot of Gaudi's inspiration came from nature so lots of the shapes in it imitate nature. Also instead of the usual ugly gargoyles, there are animals: snails, chameleons, turtles, lizards, etc (more I'm sure but I can't remember). And in the facade that depicts the Nativity, it shows turkeys - because people eat turkeys at Christmas! Hilarious.

All that is well and good, but what I really want to tell you about is something I saw that has given my life a whole new meaning. In fact, I don't know how life now can have any meaning. What I'm talking about is the mullet to end all mullets. I realised early on when I arrived in Spain that here they take the mullet seriously. None of this namby-pamby "fashionable mullet" business. No, these are serious mullets on serious men, the kind of mulleted men you would probably never want to make eye contact with. And then I see The Mullet. Words cannot describe it. All I can say is that it was amazing. It flowed. It was greasy. It was dark, the man attached to the mullet was swarthy (because, you know, the mullet wears the man, not the other way around). It was ... wow. I am breathless just thinking about it.

And there I will leave it, ladies and gentlemen. On that lovely thought - perhaps what I came to Europe to find! - I will sign off. This will be my last Europe entry, but maybe I will keep posting once I am back in Melbourne, I don't know.

May the spirit of the mullet be with you.

xxxx