I started the day pretty early (since I fell asleep at 9pm!) and had breakfast at the hotel. Then I headed over to the Picasso museum. I love love love Picasso. And this museum was pretty cool because it was mostly of his earlier works, starting when he was about 15. Even though he is famous for his more modern, abstract art, what a lot of people don't realize is how talented he was at realist art ( which I am totally sure made him what he was in terms of the more abstract stuff). Some of the paintings he did while so young were just amazing. The museum also had a ton of his ceramics work and after having done pottery for a couple of years with Annie, I was even more impressed with these.
After the museum I headed way up town to Park Guell, which Gaudi designed. To be honest I've never really had an opinion of Gaudi because I have never seem much of his work, but after today I was blown away. This park is huge and I kind of see it similar to central park in terms of how you can experience it - you can wander in and wander out relatively quickly to get a feel for it or you can spend some lengthy time in there just relaxing and using it as a true park. I did the first but was still pretty amazed. The first picture below is just one of many, many mosaics and sculptures that Gaudi did in the park. Breathtaking. (and free!)
Then, continuing my tour of Gaudi I went to Casa Batllo, which is a house that Gaudi designed and built for this rich family. Oh. My. Gosh. I have never seen anything like this. There is not one single straight line/wall in the house and it is just so beautiful. I don't know how someone can architect a house like that without it all crumbling to the ground. Sadly I forgot to take a picture on my phone here :(
Then I walked to another Gaudi house called Casa Mila but decided not to go in and just looked at it from the outside.
My last Gaudi stop was La Sagrada Familia, an unfinished church that Gaudi designed that is the most famous landmark in Barcelona. I was expecting to like it but not love it since it was so hyped and there are so many famous churches. But, I was wrong, I loved it. This place was unlike any church I have ever seen. So modern, so much light, so well designed and so interesting. Gaudi seemed to have thought of designing every little crook and nanny (is that the right saying?) of this place, but in no way does it feel over designed. It just feels interesting, unique and beautiful. Below the second picture is of the inside of part of the church. I can't explain how amazing it was. And the front of the church, wow. So much design, so many biblical scenes. Just breathtaking.
My last stop of the day was pretty cool. I've been wanting to see the Castellers since I decided to come to Barcelona but unfortunately there were no shows scheduled during my visit. However, I found out that the practices of the Barcelona Castellers is open to the public and free to watch! So I headed over there in the evening and I'm so glad I did. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. About 75 people were there to practice and they just kept building higher and higher towers. It all looks so haphazard but the science that went into it was crazy. When the base set up a guy would go in the middle and use his body to measure that everyone was the right distance apart and at similar heights. Then when the reinforcements started to support on the outside at the bottom they didn't just support anywhere, there was a clear method to where they put there hands and when. And then there was a caller that told each level when they should go up, what adjustments needed to be made and so on. Below is a picture of when they made it up 5 levels. They also did another one that was 6 levels and one that just had single people going up 4 levels (standing on each others' shoulders) and then the whole thing moved from one end to another and spun around. Crazy! The whole thing actually reminded me a lot of trapeze - both because they are training for something super cool and also because of the community feel there was there (which I have said many times is one of my favorite things about trapeze).
After that it was pretty late so I headed home and soon will hit the sack for my early flight to meet Poops and Mom in London, yay! All this walking and all these hills are definitely catching up with me too - had some calf cramping going on, but that just means soon I will have calves of steel!
Ok, more mañana!
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