Barcelona, Spain

Max and I left early on a Friday morning (yet another French holiday) and flew to Barcelona for a little vacation. We were both getting a little squirrely and were ready to see some more new things. The first thing we wanted to do when we got to Barcelona was to see La Sagrada Famila (above). It is the unfinished masterpiece of architect Antoni Gaudi and will be Europe's largest cathedral when completed. Construction started in 1882 and is estimated to continue until around 2020, hence the massive cranes in the background. Even though Gaudi has since passed away, the construction is being carried out through interpretations of his other works.

After walking around La Sagrada Familia, we headed over to La Pedrera, another one of Gaudi's creations. The sculpted stone exterior seriously reminded me of something from the Flintstones, but with much more sophistication. We went inside to visit the museum about Gaudi, to see one of the building's apartments, and to stroll the rooftop terrace. The design of the building was very interesting since the entire structure was based on arches and pillars instead of walls which allows a lot of natural light to filtrate through it's apartments.

These are some of the chimneys and vents on the roof of La Pedrera. They're as functional as they are bizarre but strangely mesh with the rest of the architecture of the building. The rooftop contains a series of stairs that leads around the entire perimeter of the terrace with various chimneys and vents scattered along the way.

The view from the from the rooftop of La Pedrera was great and we could see the La Sagrada Familia without dodging the masses of people and tour buses.

 






We ended the afternoon with another of Gaudi's works, Casa Batllo. He did not design this building from the ground up but trans- formed the existing structure. After that, we figured we'd seen about all of Gaudi that we could want to and went out to eat.

We woke up Saturday morning and took the metro to Las Ramblas, one of Spain's most famous streets. We more or less stumbled across the market, Mercat de la Boqueria, as soon as we came up from the station. The market was filled with so many fruit stands, and we both bought fresh fruit juices like papaya mango and strawberry kiwi to have with breakfast. We would go back there again for breakfast later during the trip but it wouldn't be as lively as it was that Saturday morning.

Here I am, standing in Las Ramblas, Purell-ing my hands after finishing a messy, but delicious pastry from the market. The boulevard was just waking up and by evening, the streets would be jammed with people. There was never a dull moment here.

We headed over to the Barri Gothic district where parts of the city have survived since the Middle Ages. Here a cathedral was built over the ruins of a Romanesque church. The outside of the cathedral was either being cleaned or under construction, I couldn't really tell.








We stopped at a small corner cafe for lunch, sat at the bar and watched a machine squeeze juice out of oranges as we ate. It's the small things that make me smile, that and Max who was good sport the whole time I would randomly take his picture.

While stand- ing in line to see the Museu Picasso, we saw the man 3 people ahead of us get bombed with pigeon feces. It was not pretty. Every- one took shel- ter under an overhang after that. Next, we walk- ed by the Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar(right).

Exhausted from walking all over, we took at break down by the beach for part of the day. The water was still pretty cold (don't tell the surfers), but the weather was nice for lying out in the sun. Some people thought it was really nice...can you spot the topless lady in this picture? It's like playing Where's Waldo, but it was a little too easy when you're there in person. I'm still a prudish American, I know.

Later that evening, we went back to Las Ramblas for some tapas and sangria. While deciding on a place to eat, we ran into a parade or something, going down the boulevard. Canons were being fired, people were playing music with sticks, and giant puppets were dancing in the street. We still have no idea what the occasion was but it was a lot of fun watching and listening to everything going by.

The last day we were there was the only day the weather was a little questionable. We went to see the Monument a Colom, a statue of Columbus overlooking the harbor. By the time were done seeing all that we wanted to see, we were so tired and kind of ready to be back in our smaller, slower paced Chambery. That was the first time I'd ever spent quality time in a really large European city and I don't think I'll forget it any time soon. I'd recommend it to anyone.