hi there. i'm aaron.

Hi there. I'm Aaron Sonnenberg. I work at Blip and live in Greenpoint. You can find me on flickr, twitter or e-mail me at: aaron/at/blip/dot/com

This is home, and this is everything.

On Friday we visited Montserrat. The weather forecast called for afternoon rain, so we woke up early to take advantage of the clear morning skies.

It took us about an hour’s ride on the R5 train from the “Plaza de España” station - conveniently located right around the corner from our Barcelona lodgings. Emerging from the underground portion of the ride, we gazed out the windows as the city faded into suburbs, the suburbs faded into green farmland, and eventually, jagged, rocky mountains wrapped all around us. It was fantastic to get away from the natural hustle of the city for a while.

I listened to The National (one of those bands I’d been meaning to listen to forever) on Jane’s iPod, while she closed in on the end of “Although of Course You End up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace,” by David Lipsky.

The hour went by quickly and we soon exited the train car at the “Montserrat Aeri” station. We instantly spotted the bright yellow cable cars floating into the sky to our left. A two-minute walk through a tunnel under the tracks would bring us the base station, and soon we were inside of our own yellow capsule (Well, us and seven or so other travelers).

Suffice to say the ride up was stunning. Despite the fact that we were hanging from a cable hundreds, if not thousands of feet above the ground, we both remained undaunted and glued to the windows. I was searching for that perfect picture – constantly adjusting my camera’s focus, trying to snap shots of the mountains and fast approaching monastery through the plexiglas windows. Jane seemed to be focused on absorbing the view - capturing an occasional shot on her camera as well.

We reached the top pretty quickly, exited the cable car, and after climbing a short flight of stairs - we both stood in awe of the Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat. The combination of the dramatic panoramic views and other worldly rock formations framing the abbey left us confused as to our whereabouts - this couldn’t just be a mountain an hour outside of Barcelona, could it?

Shortly after reaching the abbey, we realized we could climb even higher up the mountain. Pictured above is my view from the Funicular de Saint Joan, a small rail car that took us further up Montserrat and into the graces of some of the most amazing looking views, rock formations and old monuments I’ve seen.

In the coming days, I’ll be posting more pictures and stories from the excursion, as well as the rest of our trip to Spain. Our visit to Montserrat was certainly one of the highlights.

It’s very strange for me to be sitting here in a Brooklyn coffee shop, an eight hour plane flight, hour long train ride, fifteen minute cable car ride, and seven minute funicular (did I mention I love this word?) ride away, writing this.

My hope is that by continuing to post my pictures and stories from the trip, I won’t forget its memories. Really, though, how could I?

Most importantly, I want to retain the sense of perspective and empowerment this trip gave me. I had forgotten that travel – by forcing me out of my daily routines and comfort zones, could give me that feeling. I don’t want to forget it again.

More to come…
- #Barcelona
- #Cable Car
- #Montserrat
- #Spain
- #Travel
- #pic pick
- #Travel Photos
13 Jun 2010 / 13 notes