Blogs from Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Europe - page 3

Talk about zero dark thirty – my flights out of McCarran started at 12:35am to make connections in Minneapolis and New York – things were going well until my first connection at MSP – everyone had boarded for JFK and we are ready for takeoff, when our captain tells us that a snow storm, ice pellets and a blizzard just hit the New York City area and we are delayed. So we sat at the gate in Minnesota for over an hour (I promptly went to sleep), and finally we leave. Arriving at Kennedy some 90 minutes late, the place is virtually a “whiteout” – snowing like crazy, bitterly cold and flights delayed and/or cancelled in every direction – the place was a zoo! I made my way to the Delta Sky Lounge in terminal 4 ... read more

Toulon pictures were attached this morning, while we were docked in Barcelona. I don’t know why it takes so long to upload in the evenings, but it is much faster in the mornings. Hello from Barcelona. GOOD NEWS – Janet is feeling considerably better. A combination of the medicines, smooth sailing, and extra rest has gotten her back to feeling more like a passenger rather than a patient. However we had decided previously that it would not be a good idea to take our excursion to the La Sagrada Familia Basilica so we cancelled those tickets. Instead we had a fairly restful day in port but still on the ship. It would have been interesting to see what new progress they have made in the past 2 ½ years, but we knew how much walking it ... read more

Highs and lows Scotland: H: party in Peebles with the family; WHW day 1 of walk, as Rach was there; day 3 scenery was just awesome, albeit in the clouds for some of it L: Rach not being able to do WHW days 2&3 Berlin: H: Berliner Dom with dad, and time with Mum and dad generally L: picking up wrong suitcase at airport; first experience of European smokers. Prague: H: that awe inspiring, ‘oh shit’ moment getting out of the cab in the heart of the city at our air bnb at night; mum’s enjoyment and comments during the night cruise on the river; feeling like walking through a fairy tale land (a wonderfully preserved old city) L: Bloody tourists were everywhere (I now understand where the collective noun for tourists comes from: a glaze); ... read more

Off to an early start again to once more beat the crowds to Casa Batllo one of Gaudi's most famous moderniste houses. It is a wonder that he was permitted to build such a place in the early 1900's with everything else being so stayed. I won't deliver a treatise on Gaudi and the moderniste movement, suffice it so say that the craftmanship was excellent, a lot of the features very inventive with the whole thing feeling almost like it cocoons you. After a couple of hours at Casa Batllo we ventured out to Parc Guell where Gaudi lived for a time creating an otherwordly park that he envisioned as forming part of a housing estate. The park is well worth a visit for the views over Barcelona alone. The crazy architecture lifts it to another ... read more

Barcelona - Day 5 - Sagrada Familia & Antoni Gaudi's buildings. Our walking and bus tour today is all about Gaudi. I realized as I viewed his work that I had to put it into context. Gaudi was born in 1852 and lived until 1926. His architecture designs and concepts were so advanced that he would be considered a visionary if he brought the same designs out in 2018. You would be hard pressed to find another person that has designed 7 buildings that have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites. His design style is described as Modernism using most natural materials he could find. The most dominant part of his designs involved trancadis (broken glass) where he would design mosaics from broken glass and ceramics and re-purpose them. Gaudi's portion of Sagrada began in 1883 ... read more