Saturday, November 7, 2009

week seven: Gaudí, Gaudí, Gaudí!

26 October 2009
I’d say we were up with the sun, but for the first time since K and I had arrived in Barcelona, the hot Spanish sun decided to hide behind billows of clouds… So, early in the morning, we woke up and decided to explore the world of Gaudí… we went first to the Park Güell, believing it to be the ‘Gaudí museum’ and quickly finding out that there was no such thing…it was within walking distance from our hotel, so we started the long, uphill trek into the world of Gaudí… so, it wasn’t what we expected but, we did see Gaudí’s house, which was like an amalgamation of 19th century etiquette and Candy Land… and then, walking through Park Güell, my notion of Candy Land/ Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory was further enhanced with all of the mosaics, buildings, and bizzaro-monuments scattered about the property… Once inside the gift shop though, certain postcards caught both K and my interest… we asked the cashier where these buildings were, and we found out that the buildings we thought were the Gaudí ‘museum’ were actually private residences that he had designed about the city… meaning? Field trip :)
So, after taking plenty of crazy pictures (to go along with the crazy landscape) K and I heded back into the city to see Casa Batlló… Gaudí’s undersea adventure… seriously, he didn’t use one straight line in the whole structure… and the whole building was made to feel as though you were underwater, immersed in nature… part of Captain Nemo’s journey 20,000 leagues under the sea!!! Everything was based off of measurements and shapes in nature, and therefore the whole structure appeared and felt as though it had grown organically, rather than having been created by man… sure, you knew it was created by Gaudí, but I could help feelings as though I had walked into some natural Atlantis…Next on the list? Casa Milà/La Pedrera… wicked close to Casa Batlló (which meant no long metro ride!) and with just as noticeable façade… It’s so strange to think that Gaudí was building these things in the early 1900’s… they’re progressive even today! You know how there are always these theories about how people will be living in 100 years? I’m now convinced that we’ll all be in Gaudí-like buildings, with, or without the space-suits :) allora…… after waiting in yet another unseemly line (we’re not in Disney World, and yet…) we walked inside and walked through what has become a museum… the most impressive thing about La Pedrera is not, in fact, the inside, nor is it the façade (though that is something to gawk at!), it’s the roof… Once atop the roof, you would swear that you’ve walked onto the set of a Star Wars movie, not that you’re in the middle of Barcelona (modern-day or otherwise!) K and I felt like little kids in an amusement park, there were so many places to hide and the shape of the roof was perfect for running around… not that we did… but we got some pretty cool pictures out of it :)Okay, so after having had our fill of Gaudí for the day, we decided to head over to the traditional Spanish Village, Poble Espanyol, for some traditional food and a relaxing view of a more simple life… So we hopped on the metro and walked into the world of old Spain… perfect ending to a crazy day :)

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