The truly fast and furious

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Easter Sunday 27 of April 2008. Everyone in Greece is waking up with a hangover, slowly making their way towards their grandparents house in the village, ready to roast a lamb to celebrate Christ knows what, whereas I am glad to report that we are going to be immersed in one of the greatest global sporting events, an F1 race.

Two minutes walk from the hostel, we got on the subway, two stops northwards we switched to the mainline Renfe network, got our 5.20 euro return tickets and half an hour later we alighted at Montmelo station a few miles northwest of Barcelona.

A short 15 minute walk away through the Montmello village took us to the famous Circuit de Catalunya.

Due to the amazing planning we got our general admission (peluse) tickets with the minimum of fuss and search.

Almost one hour after leaving our hostel we were inside the immense grand prix circuit, only about an hour before the start of the F1 race.

Immediately upon entering the circuit we could see that one of the support races was on, the one with the Porsche looking rally cars.

The day was sunny and very hot and the attendance was massive, a total of 132.000 people, when something like a Chelsea champions league match only gathers 40.000 people.

By consulting the circuit map, we decided to try a general admission area underneath a set of seats but we quickly realized how amazingly packed the whole thing was.

It seems that everyone arrived extremely early, put up their umbrella and their rug and claimed their place. Most had one of those camping freezers full of food and beverages, mainly beers.

Most men (unfortunately) had their tops off and were sunbathing in the scorching sun. It was there and then I made a mental note never, ever to get a general admission ticket to an F1 event ever again.

We were lucky to find a nice spot in the end in an area which was not overly crowded and fortunately had a clear view of one of the large plasma screens, which really made the day.

During my first F1 race in Silverstone, I could follow the race on the radio (in English of course), in my second one in Monza, there was no radio and no access to a tv viewing platform, there was a bit of commentary in English and Italian from scattered loudspeakers which was quite a stupid idea when you consider that everyone in an F1 race wears earplugs due to the phenomenal sound pressure of the engines.

In the barcelona race I had an elevated place on a hill and a clear view of one of the TV’s and so this was the best F1 race I have been to so far. I am sure any seated future event will be even better.

Karen was feeling miserable at the beginning due to her sunburn but, as she said, forgot the pain when the first F1 car pass bys occurred.

She was amazed that finally after all these years as a TV spectator she was actually live in a race and was experiencing the tremendous speeds and noise of the cars, a feeling which is not truly conveyed on the small tv screen.

Attending an F1 race is truly one of those "things to do before you die" experiences.

Incidentally we were right in front of the first crash when Sébastien Bourdais run into Nelson Piquet.

Unfortunately the reigning world champion Kimi Räikkönen (for Ferrari) confirmed he is the main candidate for the 2009 title with a victory.

The Finn led from start to finish and really left no options to his main opposition, Lewis Hamilton (for MacLaren).

His team mate Felipe Massa was second on a one-two, beating Lewis Hamilton, who took the third step of the podium ahead of Robert Kubica's BMW.

I really enjoyed it when Fernando Alonso's engine blew up. Oh the joy of watching the look of disappointment on the faces of these racist Spaniards.

The joy was doubled when almost half of the crowd started packing up and leaving. Are these suppose to be F1 fans or Alonso groupies?

Oh well, the queues for the toilets and the booze disappeared after that, so cheers Alonso.

Heikki Kovalainen's (McLaren) crash in the Campsa corner at a speed of 230 km/hr occurred behind our backs.

There were a few very nervous moments in between, until we got to see a close up shot of Heiki waving his hand at the fans.

From the replay on the TV screen we saw that he lost a piece of the front left tyre, which ended up bursting, and so lost control of the car and went straight into the protection tyres.

So unfortunately in the end Räikkönen increased his lead with a 29-point leadership, beating Hamilton by 9 points and Robert Kubica by 10.

His Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa is fourth on the overall standings with 18 points. It is however still early on the calendar, and Lewis did really well so hopes are still up for a british champion (and first ever black f1 race champion).


We left satisfied with the great day we had watching this spectacular global sporting event and made it quickly back at the hostel for a refreshing shower.

The tourist time (9:00 to around 18:00hours) was running out and Karen looked quite miserable with her sunburn so instead of taking the subway and walking I offered to pay for a cab to take us right outside my favorite Gaudi building Casa Milà, which is commonly known in Barcelona as La Pedrera (the quarry).

So a short ride away we arrived at our last visit to a Gaudi creation, which coincidentally is the largest civil building designed by the architect.

It is an apartment block which was constructed between 1906 and 1910. It was Gaudi's last work before he devoted himself to the construction of the Sagrada Familia.

The guy you ought to thank and be impressed by is of course Pedro Milà i Camps, a rich businessman which was impressed by the word of mouth popularity of the nearby Casa Batló. Since Gaudi's name was on the lips of the people, he employed him to construct an apartment building on a corner site at the Passeig de Gracia, in the Eixample district.

Gaudi's proposal called for a less colorful but nevertheless an even more unconventional building than the Casa Batló. Its fame lies in the fact that apparently there is not a single straight line.

The building does not use load-bearing external walls, but rests on pillars and arches, which is commonly used nowadays especially for office developments.

In order to allow light in all the rooms, the apartments are arranged around two central courtyards, one circular and the other oval shaped.

On the outside, the balconies look like a series of waves.

The wrought-iron balconies were designed by Josep Maria Jujol, who improvised on the spot. Some people see the facade as a cliff-like rock with caves. During construction, people dubbed it a quarry, or 'Pedrera'.

To date, Barcelonans still call the building 'La Pedrera' rather than 'Casa Milà'.

The top floor, attic and the extraordinary roof are the only places open to visitors since the rest are still occupied, like Casa Batlo.

The first stop of the informative audio guide tour is the apartment on the top floor with original furniture which gives an idea of how the interior must have looked at the beginning of the 20th century.

Just like on the outside, the interior has virtually no straight lines. The attractive rooms have a lot of character, with a mixture of expressionist and Art Nouveau styles.

However, what was striking was the contrast between the really dated furniture and the modern looking building which encapsulates them. These two elements were really out of place with each other.

Clearly this is a building ahead of its time. Current interior designing with leather sofas, flat plasma screens and robotic espresso machines would have suited this building rather than the elaborate Victorian looking interior decoration which was the norm at the time.

The attic, houses an exposition of all the major Gaudi's works, with photos and scale models of his buildings. It's the closest to a proper Gaudi museum you will find anywhere in Barcelona. We spend quite a while examining the well presented exhibition before making our way to the spectacular roof terrace.

The roof is probably the most extraordinary of the building. It features a number of surrealistic colorful chimneys. Many of them look like warriors in a science fiction movie.

The roof also features a bench similar to the one in Park Güell. Unfortunately, our roof visit was spoiled a bit by all the other tourists but hey, c'est la vie.

I tried to block them from view and enjoy the futuristic landscape through my camera lens.

After spending a bit of time on the lovely roof we descended and took the subway towards the Gothic quarter. I knew my way around a bit from my Picasso collection visit, so I took Karen to this place with flamenco dance and sangria. Sadly it was closed and upon closer inspection it looked like it was closed for a while but someone forgot to take down the advertising posters.

Disappointed by this turn of events, we started wandering around the Gothic quarter trying to find a place to for dinner. Shortly afterwards we stumbled upon a small basement restaurant on Place De St Miquel. They had photos at the entrance of two special tourist menus alongside a photo of the owner with Maradona. If it is good for Diego it certainly is good for us.

The interior of the place was really, nice, very rustic you could say, very traditional looking. The clientele seemed to be in the vast majority British tourists of an advanced age. Perfect place then for a nice meal.

After no thoughts at all I decided to have the tourist menu which was advertised on the photos at the entrance. Unfortunately, Karen could not have the other advertisement for the paella which we were informed was for two people. I wanted to eat meat, missing my protein fix, so Karen instead went for a green salad and a bowl of snails in an elaborate sauce.

Karen didn’t like her meals, I was amazed by the quantity and quality of mine. For 21 euros I got a platter for starter with at least 5-6 different cured meats and other bits and pieces like deep fried cheese balls, olives etc, served in a main meal plate. The main meal comprised 5 different cuts of meat all barbequed to perfection, I got a sirloin and ribs and a fillet steak, chicken and even a sausage. Everything tasted delicious. Desert (included in the 21 euros) was the now familiar crème Catalan but without the caramelized sugar on the top, just syrup.

For this lovely meal in a great setting we paid the same 55 euros as we paid yesterday for two plates at that festival thingy at the Forum. So it seems that for the first time I have been to a place where the locals are ripped off instead of the tourists. How refreshing!!!

To help the food settle down we had a nice romantic walk around the artistically lit Gothic quarter. At one corner a lone guitar player was playing unbelievably complicated right hand action acoustic guitar, his music being echoed around the medieval walls and reverberating down the mini alleyways whilst he was surrounded by passer bys equally mystified by his technique and gusto.

A nice end to a fine day. We started with the cacophonous, deafening sounds of engines revving up to 19000 rpm around a track surrounded by 130.000 spectators and being melted down by the sweltering sun and we are ending our day tucked into a small alleyway in medieval surroundings, comforted by a slight breeze and guided by tinkering lights all the while being serenaded by the comforting sounds of a lone acoustic guitar virtuoso. Black and White it may be, it certainly is GREAT.

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Photos

Barcelona F1 2008
First crash right in front of us

Barcelona F1 2008
Lewis, A brit in a british car

Comments

[awake]

aren't they?
"The Finn led from start to finish and really left no options to his main opposition, Lewis Hamilton (for MacLaren). " I guess after and the Instanbul Gp (4 wins of Ferrari in 5 GPs) the main candidates for the title are Kimi and Felipe.... aren't they?