Hola, Again!

Just in from another round of seeing the sights, and thought I would post about today before leaving for th

e soccer match. R is taking his camera with us, so hopefully we’ll be able to get some good shots of Camp Nou!

Up this morning and out by 8:30 a.m. Wanted to get to La Pedrera, another Gaudi building, also known as Casa Mila. Arrived just at opening time, and found no lines at all! (Yea!) Elevatored up to the roof to go around all of Gaudi’s wonderful chimneys and look at the view. Fabulous! Yesterday it was really warming up, getting a bit too hot, but last night’s storm really cooled things down considerably. There was a lovely fresh breeze, and it was an amazing morning!

From the roof you go into the attic, which is a huge brick arched area – catenaries, they’re called. This area is set up as a museum of Gaudi’s work, and included how he worked out the physics of building places (from hanging chains and rope upside down to form the catenaries and see where the stress points were) to the furniture that he designed for use in the buildings. Some wonderful film footage with lots of lovely detail of Gaudi’s details – and they were amazing! Walked through the apartment that is set up in the building to represent what a family’s living space would look like, and then out and on to the street once again. While the building is now owned by the Caixa bank, there are five families who live in it permanently; would that be an address worth having!

From there we had a sit-down (and the best chocolate muffin I’ve EVER had!) and then bus-ed back to the flat. R suggested that I write something about Barcelona. So…it’s a stunningly beautiful city. It is very, very clean and well organized. The streets are all very wide, and the majority of them, at least in the center of town are all one-way. This makes it SO easy to find things and to get around, as bus stops are very well situated. (Although I’m afraid that after being spoiled by Barcelona, I’ll forget that other cities have two-way streets, and will undoubtedly walk off a curb right into on-coming traffic!) Many of the wide streets also have green areas in the center of them, so that there are outdoor eating areas everywhere, many under beautiful plane trees. The architecture is amazing, and not just the Gaudi. Most of the buildings have balconies, many of which have elaborate wrought-iron railings. R thinks Barca is similar to Chicago in its interesting architecture; I think it’s better.

Took a nice nap after getting back from La Pedrera (late night last night!) then up and out again, this time to see Hospital de la Santa Creu I de Sant Pau, over past La Sagrada Familia. Wow! This one was built by Lluis Domenech I Montaner (who also built the Palau de la Musica from last night). It is absolutely wonderful, but fortunately (for the building) and unfortunately (for us!) much of it is under renovation. We’re just happy that things are being taken care of, and look forward to returning to Barca one day to see it completed!

Also stopped for lunch at a nice little corner restaurant. Nothing at all in English …and not much in Spanish, either, if it comes to that! We both ended up with a plate of steak, potatoes AND an egg, sunny-side up! That’s a first! (Although we did find one on top of a hamburger in Australia once…) This also came with a nice salad – lettuce, tomato, onion, green pepper and olives -- bread AND dessert! (We both had ice cream.) Just delicious, and the entire bill, including sparkling water and a split of white wine came to something like 31Euros! Great!
Then came our walk (naturally) UP-hill…sheesh! Up past the hospital and a park, with a beautiful view of the ocean in the distance; fresh breeze – wonderful day! Caught a bus that took us close to Parc Guell and yet another of Gaudi’s houses, Casa Vicens. It’s SPECTACULAR! It is a private residence, and not open for tours, but the outside is magnificent! What a display! And the fence was incredible! Took pictures, then headed our steps flat-bound to collect ourselves and get ready for tonight’s soccer game; starts at 9 p.m.

Our plan at the moment is to take the 43 bus from the next block all the way over to Camp Nou. However, it being Sunday, there is a reduced schedule, so we may have to actually resort to taking the metro there. Shouldn’t be too much of a problem, but probably a scrum tonight getting out and back to the flat! Can’t wait for the game!

All for now! Much love,
m
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