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Published: February 26th 2008
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Hola!
The past 4 days have been packed with sights here in Barcelona. Here we go.
Alright so the first day in Barcelona, which was my birthday, I spent getting my barrings and seeing some buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi was a Spanish born architect who designed many unique buildings in Barcelona in the late 1800's and early 1900's. The first building I went to was the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family), which is basically a huge cathedral with an incredibly detailed exterior of the nativity scene and the the crucification of Christ all done with sculptures. The building is probably a few hundred feet high and is still not yet completed. The work had been started in the late 1800's and is projected to be finished sometime in the 2020's and will supposedly be able to hold around 13,000 people. Since the building is still under construction there is a bunch of scaffolding and construction equipment in the interior of the structure, but I could still get the basic idea. The roof is held up by many columns which create an effect of a forest canopy. This was conceived on
purpose by Gaudi because he had been very much influenced by nature. The columns even have knots on them where lights will go, and four angled pillars at the top, mirroring the look of the trees in the area.
After being awed by the temple I went to a couple other Gaudi buildings which were quite unique as well. They had a flowing feel to them, where the sides of the building and the balconies seemed to be almost like water flowing across the front of each of the buildings. They were unfortunately closing when I got to them so I was unable to go inside, but I did treat myself to a very nice $45 bday dinner after, where I had prawns and salmon with avocado in olive oil, toasted bread with tomato, ravioli in a garlic butter sauce, Spanish mousse with carmalized sugar, and a delicious glass of Spanish wine. It was one of the best meals I have ever had. Plus I saw a picture of Bill Clinton with the owner of the restaurant at the entrance, so I couldn't resist eating at a place a former US president had eaten at now could I 😊
The following day I walked downtown to an impressive Gothic cathedral and saw the remains of a Roman wall. Down one of the streets I heard classical guitar and was immediately drawn to it, where I promptly purchased a CD from the guy playing. Then I learned about the dense history of Barcelona at the local museum. Barcelona has had influence from the ancient tribe of the Iberians, Romans, Visigoths, Muslims, and Israelis. (To name a few). Then I walked to the Picasso Museum which is one of the best museums devoted to an individual I have ever experienced.
Pablo Ruiz Picasso was born in 1881, started painting at a young age, where he received second place honors at a contest when he was 16. He moved from realism to a more impressionistic style in his 20's and then in his later life developed the style of Cubism, which I still can't quite relate to, but find interesting.
I walked to another Gothic cathedral in the area which had an impressively large interior, and then went into the third museum of the day, the museum of erotica. Yes it was a little awkward being there by myself,
but it was still interesting learning about how open India and other East Asian countries are about sex. Most of the people that walked through were almost running. It seemed like they were a little perturbed by the museum, which makes sense because sex seems to be such a taboo topic for westerners, but I enjoyed it 😊 Comeon people it's just procreation and the furthering of our species, what's the big deal?
The following day I checked out the Barcelona Opera house which is the second largest in Europe and can hold a little over 2000 people. It has suffered 2 fires in its history, one as recently as 1994, so the inside of the building was very modern. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the main stage area, but lets just say if Tool was to perform there I would spend my life savings to get back to Barcelona.
Afterwards I walked along Barcelona's harbor and checked out the aquarium, which had a very cool domed tank with sharks, with a moving walkway that went around the outside of it. I learned about a really cool fish from the amazon called an archer fish,
which can shoot water out of its mouth in order to knock insects out of trees so that it can eat them. Plus I was reminded of the electric eel that can generate 500 volts to stun its prey. How the heck does nature evolve a creature that can generate electricity? This means dragons existed!! Maybe that is just my nerd fantasy though 😊 Then I walked to a park that had been designed by Gaudi, (this guy did everything), and went to one of the Gaudi houses, this time when it was open. I was pretty rushed because I only had 30 min, but the roof and the interior were so unique in their design, as you can see from the pics. He even designed his own furniture.
Today I went to park Guell, which you guessed it, was designed by Gaudi. Again the structural design of the buildings blew me away. He even incorporated the look of a wave breaking into an outdoor walkway! The only architect that I know of that can compare to Gaudi's ingenuity is Wright. Gaudi's stuff is very inspirational and I hope to have enough money to design my own house in
the vein of his work.
Then I took the metro across town to Monjuic, which translates to "Hill of the Jews". This is where the 1992 summer Olympics were held, so I got to admire the diving pools, fields, and ice skating rink.
I caught the metro back to the hostel and am finishing writing this with a nice bottle of wine from France that Paul got me for my Birthday. Alright that is all for now, I know there is not much detail, but I have been drinking and traveling has been becoming taxing on my ability to focus as of late. But enjoy the pics. They speak more than my words.
Daniel
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kamdab
a.k.a. Kameron Ahler
me jealous?
there's no way i'm jealous. why would i be jealous of all the super cool stuff to take pictures of. i wish i was there to take better ones than you. guess who just saw the terracota warriors and the great wall? answer: not you.