Barcelona Day 32- Tour in New Town

Today we would have another tour with the wonderful William. This tour would be mostly Gaudi's work and new town. We started off by driving in a bus. William explained that when they started planning for new town they decided that all the building's corners would be diagonal because it was so hot in Barcelona and the diagonal corners would allow for the breeze to get through better. I can't imagine how hot it would be without those corners because it is already a really hot place. Gaudi designed some of the sidewalk tiles. That was across from the bone building. The building that I had seen when I was younger and it was a dream to see it in person. William made a different speech about it though. He explained it as a dragon. We went to Sacred Familia (sacred family) the cathedral that has been under construction for years. It looks kind of scary from the outside. And then you go inside and it is so light and welcoming. The stained glass is amazing. It is so beautiful and bright. It made or a place you wanted to be. His dream is becoming a reality. There was such beauty there. I wanted to stay for such a long time. Gaudi could be considered a genius for figuring out this special arch he used to create this cathedral. He also didn't want to be the only architect to work on this Cathedral. He wanted to to be built for at least 300 years because he thought only then has enough people worked on it so no one knows who originally designed it. On the back of the Cathedral, or what is the back now but will later be a side, a different artist worked on the outside. The scene from the bible is completely different. It is much more simple and boxy. I’m not big on religion but this place was amazing, and so peaceful. If I could pic a perfect place to worship it would be there. Everyone, no matter their religion, needs to see this place. I can't wait to see it when it is finished; I can only hope its done in my lifetime. After that we moved on to a villa that was going to be built for people in Barcelona. It eventually didn't get finished because the people thought there would be green grass when Gaudi was eco-friendly. That was fun to walk through, and the style was distinctly his. We then went to the mosaic wrapping bench. The view from it was beautiful! And the bench was beautiful. I was starting to gain a newer understanding of his work. In history class we had always said Gaudi was gaudy to try and remember it for the test. But seeing it in person gives you a new appreciation for it.

After our morning of Gaudi's work we went to lunch. It was across from Frank Gehry's gold fish. It was shining and rather beautiful. It was a proud, huge, sculpture looking out to the sea. After lunch I went and got pictures of it and bought a really large water bottle. It was too hot not to have water. We were back on the bus and going into a more business part of the city. What was amazing that it was so quiet. Hardly anyone was out, I guess Sunday is really quiet just like in Logan. We stopped at the Barcelona Gherkin. It was so colorful and rather different from the one in London. The one in London has cool sides and is really sleek. The one in Barcelona is a lot different. It has flaps that can open and so the texture is a lot more rough. While I love the colors of the Barcelona one, I like the sleekness of the London one. After that we continued walking. In Barcelona some builders are using a technique that dies the entire cement and then make patterns in their buildings. It makes for a pretty building that isn't a plain square. This same building we walked by and at a different angle it look like it was paper, like it was one dimension. It was really interesting. We went to a university where an old linen chimney still stood. From there we said goodbye to the bus and walked through a park that was quaint and had some fun equipment. They had chairs that wobbled and metal slides. There were these things that were supposed to be surrounded by flowers and vines above it. Unfortunately people trampled the flowers and so now the lounge chairs are surrounded by dirt. Good idea though. There was a pasta place that had a very graphic pattern. It was red, black and white. Barcelona was full of very unique and beautiful business buildings. Makes you wonder why all city's can't have such great downtown centers. We finished the tour by a really hot walk and then caught the metro for our way home. A lot of us were happy to be back from the heat. I don't remember a lot of specifics because when it's that hot and humid it makes you foggy.

That evening I headed out with Susie, Jessica, and Benae to see a fountain that we had been showed the day before where they have a music light show. We thought it was a must to see before it ended. We continued our walk and had to make our way through the gay pride parade. It was rather fun! They had great music and it was nice to see them being able to express themselves without worrying about being called names. It showed a real exceptance that I don't think we have in the U.S. I mean sure parts do but a lot of people look down on being homosexual. I liked that this group was proud. So we made our way up to the fountain and it was amazing. We had the fountain in front of us and the concert behind us. We took tons of pictures with Benaes camera. And at one point the three of us did the Charlie's Angels poise and this lady next to Susie took our picture! It was funny! I've never been one for pictures but it was a ton of fun! We just let loose. We had a blast! It was a great second night in Barcelona! The entire day was great. We learned lots of history, we saw what made Barcelona, Bacelona, and had a party that night. Barcelona has been one great place!