Day 10- Mango and last day in Barcelona

Our last full day in Europe...very bittersweet. I was sad to leave Barcelona because it was beautiful, but I was excited to get home and back to the states. Our last business visit (which was also my favorite business visit) was to Mango Spain. We met with Ms. Vilajoana, the PR manager. Mango is a clothing company based out of Spain, but is located all over Europe and a few stores are in the US. We started with a tour of the design center. This is where all the designers create their items. It was so cool. She took us through the entire process of how it starts in the designer's mind to when it has been manufactured and is sent off to the stores. The design center was build specifically to give the designers a creative atmosphere. The lunch room has a view of what would be a tropical garden. The company put up a wall blocking the parking lot and created a soothing atmosphere for the designers so it did not feel as if they were in just a regular old office building. Mango began over 25 years ago and has grown to have over 1600 employees today. There is a high focus on communication in this company. The building is created to have each department working closely together. This makes communication easy between a designer and their superior. Mango is constantly working to prepare for the following season. When we went to visit, they had just finished their fall/winter 09 line and were starting design for spring 10. They constantly work 2 seasons ahead. Mango is said to be like Banana Republic in the US. The CEO of Mango came up with the name when he tried a mango for the first time. He thought it would be a good name because a mango is a mango in every language. He saw it as an international tool that would be understood all over the world.
After our business visit, a few of us decided to go to Park Guell. It was about a 20 minute bus ride north of the hotel. The park was huge! It was not a typical park with green open areas and trees. This was a tropical oasis set up on a hill overlooking the city. The architecture was beautiful. Lots of tile and bright colors. There were trials that lead in every direction. We spent a few hours there and felt like we barley dipped our toes in. I was more interested in the flowers I found at the park. They were beautiful and very unique.
After the park, we headed back to the hotel to pack and to prepare for our last group dinner in Europe. We went to the Attic Restaurant for tapas and a choice of duck or fish. I took the fish. Not quite ready to experience duck. The meal began with a choice of wine and tapas. We were given 7 or 8 choices of tapas (another way to say appetizers) and each choice was served on 3 or 4 plates. So, we were all pretty full before the meal even arrived. This was by far the best meal. The fish was so fresh and the veggies were just the right accent to the fish. We ended the meal with a chocolate mousse and espresso. It was a great way to end our trip to Barcelona and a wonderful way to say farwell to Europe.