Day 14: Barcelona - THE CAMP NOU!!!

Today was going to see a dream come true for me. I was quietly excited as I poured myself some milk in a bowl of cereal at breakfast. Accessing the Barcelona website on my phone, I checked what I could do at The Camp Nou. A bit of a scare was that to go on the tour inside the stadium, the website suggested that I'd have to book one day in advance to be safe. But given that it wasn't really peak season, I was pretty sure that I'd get in without much trouble.

I was in a bit of a trance in the morning, still unable to believe that I was actually going to be at this place that I saw so often on TV, with the likes of Messi, Iniesta and Xavi running riot on opposition defences. If there was one thing I had come to do in Barcelona, it was to visit The Camp Nou. I took a short 1-station ride to the station 'Badal'. From there it was about a 15-20 minute walk.

I got my first glimpse of the stadium from the south side. And it was colossal. With a capacity of 110,000 people, it had to be! I had to head to the west side for the entrance. It was here that I first saw the actual stadium complex - with stores, restaurants, parking, arrangements for ticketing, etc. The excitement was building, and I had unknowingly quickened my pace. I headed first for the ticket counter... only to find that that was not the one for the tour. It was actually for season tickets. There were a few old people hanging around there, smoking cigars - the kinds you'd expect to see at every match, watching it from box seats and the like.

So I had to head past the parking lot, to the place where the Barcelona Club Store was. The ticket counters for the tour were right next to it, and I had my 17 euros - PEANUTS - ready with me! Upon entering the stadium, I'm offered to rent a pair of 'walkthrough guide headphones' for 5 euros. I didn't see anyone taking it, and also the write-ups on the internet didn't really think it was worth it. So I head right inside. The path for fans is well laid out, and leads first directly to a mini-theatre. There's a wait of about 10 mins of wait, where I manage to get a few strained glimpses of the pitch.

Upon heading into the theatre, everyone is provided with a pair of 3D glasses! There are about 130-150 seats I'd guess. I plonk myself right in the middle to get a good view of the screen. The video is, if you haven't guessed it till now, of course, about the club, with a lot of stunning 3D videos of some goals being scored by the current team. And it is just MAGNIFICENT. The emotion the video managed to serve up with all the music and the fantastic camera angles combined with the collective ooohs and aaahs of the audience ensured that I had my eyes full in the end. It was MAGIC. I was COMPLETELY in a trance now.

The next 2 hours or so is etched in my memory and I can just press 'play' in my head whenever I want.

The line of fans move on to the locker rooms from there. Messi stood here a few months ago, and will again in a month's time. Guardiola was at the board, drawing out plans on who plays where, and will be again. Xavi was there, pitching in with his experience. And will be again. My hands were living a life of their own, clicking random pictures, which are like a blur in my memory...

Then we headed towards the pitch, walking through the players' tunnel... My mind was making me hear sounds of crowds roaring around me. I felt like I was there, right there, when a game was being played, walking out with the players... I sat on one of the seats for a bit and let myself come back to the real world. What a sight it would be to watch a game here!

Then I moved on back inside through the Champions gallery (with all them trophies that Barca has won)... Past the room where the post-match interviews are held... and onto the next (higher) tier of seats. And then onto the top tier with those cushion seats, glass box and air conditioning! If there was a place to be when a game was on, this was it! It would probably set me back by a coupla hundred euros at least, but I'd be more than willing. Some day, I will come back and watch a game here! Dream on... as they say :)

After absolutely drowning myself in the atmosphere, I headed through to the museum which has videos of Barca's greats playing. There are even memorabilia from other sports - handball, basketball.. and you realize there's much more to the club than football.

The museum exit heads right back to the Barca Store by a bridge. There's absolutely everything that you can imagine with a Barca engraved on it - from underwear to cups to caps to tees.

Its 3pm by the time I finish. I head back to the hostel, siesta, and in the evening head out to see La Sagrada Familia and a few other astounding Gaudi works. Since I have a bus early next morning, to Marseille, I return early (11ish) after another tapas filled dinner at Tapa Tapa, which's good, but a little bit more expensive than last night.

The day, though, clearly belonged, to The Camp Nou. Gaudi or no Gaudi, THIS is what calls me back to Barcelona more than anything else!