Hotel La Paz, Murcia, Spain, June 17, 2010
OK, so (obviously) Robin’s merciful side reasserted itself and she didn’t kill me—yet…
And I never, never want to drive in Barcelona again, unless for some reason I move there and get to know the place a whole lot better. After renting a car downtown and trying to work my way back to the hotel to pick up Robin, it took me nearly 2 hours to go (essentially) around the block. Way too many one way streets and way too few street signs.
Barcelona was a quick stop, but Robin picked out a few choice sights for us to see. Our plane was delayed so we had a bit less time than expected the first day, so we spent the first few hours of our stay checking out La Rambla, the main tourist street in the city. Quite a sight to behold. Two things that were quirky and interesting to watch were the folks dressed up as living statues waiting for tourists to pay to have their photos taken (some were quite entertaining), and the street vendors with the bootleg movies and knock-off handbags. They would lay out their wares on sheet
s, with rope tied to each corner. Each piece of rope was gathered into a handle in the middle, which they held onto at all times—presumably to make a quick getaway if the authorities showed up.
Tuesday started great with a walk through an amazing market, a stroll along the pier and into Barri Gotic. Then the Picasso museum—well worth the visit. I think we both felt like we finally understood what he was doing after getting a bit of an education.
Then on to one of the most amazing things I’ve see on the entire trip—Sagrada de la Familia. It is a cathedral nearly all designed by Gaudi and is taking more than 100 years to build. The completion date is around 2030 and it is simply spectacular, not just in the architecture (reflects nature in a way I haven’t seen before) but in the fact tha
t we are witness to the construction of what will be one of the great buildings and churches of the world.
We followed that up with a brief visit to Park Guell (also designed by Gaudi) after having a really crappy map that made us walk about 200% more than necessary. But it was very cool in any case—I’m now a big fan of Gaudi and his use of angles and natural shapes.
We ended our evening search for tapas and wine, as you must be in Barcelona, successfully.
OK, so (obviously) Robin’s merciful side reasserted itself and she didn’t kill me—yet…
And I never, never want to drive in Barcelona again, unless for some reason I move there and get to know the place a whole lot better. After renting a car downtown and trying to work my way back to the hotel to pick up Robin, it took me nearly 2 hours to go (essentially) around the block. Way too many one way streets and way too few street signs.
Barcelona was a quick stop, but Robin picked out a few choice sights for us to see. Our plane was delayed so we had a bit less time than expected the first day, so we spent the first few hours of our stay checking out La Rambla, the main tourist street in the city. Quite a sight to behold. Two things that were quirky and interesting to watch were the folks dressed up as living statues waiting for tourists to pay to have their photos taken (some were quite entertaining), and the street vendors with the bootleg movies and knock-off handbags. They would lay out their wares on sheet
s, with rope tied to each corner. Each piece of rope was gathered into a handle in the middle, which they held onto at all times—presumably to make a quick getaway if the authorities showed up.Tuesday started great with a walk through an amazing market, a stroll along the pier and into Barri Gotic. Then the Picasso museum—well worth the visit. I think we both felt like we finally understood what he was doing after getting a bit of an education.
Then on to one of the most amazing things I’ve see on the entire trip—Sagrada de la Familia. It is a cathedral nearly all designed by Gaudi and is taking more than 100 years to build. The completion date is around 2030 and it is simply spectacular, not just in the architecture (reflects nature in a way I haven’t seen before) but in the fact tha
t we are witness to the construction of what will be one of the great buildings and churches of the world.We followed that up with a brief visit to Park Guell (also designed by Gaudi) after having a really crappy map that made us walk about 200% more than necessary. But it was very cool in any case—I’m now a big fan of Gaudi and his use of angles and natural shapes.
We ended our evening search for tapas and wine, as you must be in Barcelona, successfully.
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