Day 10 - Barcelona + Gaudi

It sure was nice to have a Western European breakfast this morning. AND to sleep in. Sounds almost like a vacation. But today was all about Gaudi, the famous Spanish/Catalonian architect.

His second-most famous building, La Padrera is just a couple blocks from our hotel. So we lucked out and booked a tour time online, sameday at noon. 

La Pedrera sounds like a pretty sexy name for this apartment building, but it turns out it means "The Rock Quarry" in Spanish. 100 years ago, this Modernist building was so far ahead of it's time it was ridiculed by the neighbors as something chopped out of Rock quarry. Gaudi's buildings are a combination of structure and art. He likes to get playful with his rooftop terraces

and chimneys.

Next we went on a Gaudi walking tour with a local architect to see a variety of his work in the area. We started in this square where he designed the lampposts as a young student.

Our guide was very knowledgeable about architecture because he is an architect. So why is he giving tours? It turns out he's a starving young architect, just like a starving artist.

We ended the day at the Sagrada Familia, (Sacred Family), Gaudi's most famous design. We took an inside tour to get the most out of our visit here.

From the towering towers 

to the amazing sculptural detail

as someone who loves architecture, this has been one of the highlights of my trip so far. The tree trunk parabolic arches inside are fascinating too.

After this we all went to a nearby Tapas bar for dinner. Since it's World Cup season there was a loud sports team in and we could hardly think, let alone talk. Then we took the Metro back to our hotel and crashed. Over the last 9 days we have averaged walking 6.5 miles a day. The least was 4 and the highest day was 8. So we're going to take a break this morning while Gina and the girls go kayaking.

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