day 19 barcelona

8 june 2009

antoni gaudi day! this is mainly what i have heard about barcelona, and we joined another hop on/off tour bus to see the city. first we got off at plaza del ray and tried to see the city's historical museum... alas, it was closed.

then in quick succession we hit up casa batllo which was crazy cool. very fluid lines, broken tiles in mosaic form (st.george's dragon on the roof) and use of natural light and slats for ventilation. also draws a lot of inspiration from nature with arches that look like rib cages etc.

walked to casa mila (UNESCO world heritage site) but we decided against that and went to sagrada familia instead... wow.

still under construction, gaudi's original ideas in model form are being used to construct the temple. his use of catenary arches (inverted natural arch lines) is very cool, as is inspiration from trees and plants (with evidence from the columns and central nave area. such new open concepts for the design, and the passion facade has statues unlike any that are traditionally seen on buildings like this (like the nativity facade on the other side of the church)

there was also his workshop we checked out and an exhibition on gaudi and nature which provides a tonne of background as to where his ideas came from. in short, he is my newest hero.

for the last gaudi installment, we had a picnic at parc guell which is cool, but not like the other designs. was supposed to meet katie and nicole at the picasso museum, but they couldn't make it in the end. drank beer and red wine on the beach and then sangria for dinner with good paella (to make up for madrid travesty)

other:
- t-rex guy... we are going to hell
- nusbaum owes me 50e for ipod bet, but i know he won't pay
- nusbaum gives me credit for usually knowing where we are going