Canet de Mar train platform
Argentinian musicians on the train into Barcelona
First stop was Gaudi's magnificently grand, uncompleted, symbolic church, the Sagrada Familia. Still under construction and not scheduled to finish for another 50 years, a great deal of the Sagrada's architecture is inspired by Gaudi's love for the outdoors. Columns are trees, the ceiling is the roof of the forest, leaves and berries and grass appear on the wall and adorn the spires.
This church stands out among all the rest that I have seen in Europe. I like European churches very much, cloisters and flying butresses, altars and naves, bell towers with hunchbacks. Yet after a while one wants to see something that breaks the mold. The Sagrada delivers. It appeals to many of the traditional devices while bringing them into contemporary design. I also appreciated the Sagrada for what it said about paradise. Churches have been striving to reach and represent the heavens for centuries. Gaudi didn't intentionally try to capture heaven. He tried to show the paradise that is earth. I felt like he was trying to say, "Open your eyes. Appreciate where we are right NOW. What we have here is pretty darn good. Don't waste this!"
Sagrada Familia
The Judas kiss
Interior of Sagrada Familia
Forest ceiling
The scourging
Pizza! Tanya and I dined in the shadows of the Sagrada Familia. You can barely see it through the window.
We wandered around the city, going to another Gaudi project, the Park Guel. My camera failed me on this venture but don't fret, I returned! We made our way to tourist central, La Rambla and were treated to lots of people-watching and early carnival celebrations. We spent the rest of the night meandering through the old town, stopping at a restaurant bar and getting tapas and a pitcher of sangria. Tanya was great company on Valentine's Day and I was very happy when she said that she would join me again in the city the next day.
Random parade.
Fountain at night
I wish I could have met the man who rode this thing around town
