Today can be summed up as “Gaudi Worship Day.” A trip to Barcelona wouldn’t be complete without some Gaudi sites.

I hate being a dumb tourist, so I did some research on the guy before getting here. From what I can gather from Becky’s book, Antoni Gaudi was a brilliant architect who was known for his parabolic curves and inspiration derived from nature.

The Highlights

Palau Guell – We actually saw this one the day before wandering Las Ramblas, but it fit better in this post. It was the only Gaudi house with free admission, as they were renovating 90% of the house. We did see the basement, which was really cool and covered with arches and curved ceilings. A good taste of what was to come.

La Pedreira/Casa Milo – I think Alan and Ezeibe had been kind of apprehensive about Gaudi up until this point. This was the house that sold all of us on the guy. The rooftop of this apartment complex was the best part. There were great views of Barcelona (we would later become obsessive of views of Barcelona from high vantage points) and the warrior/smoke chimneys were so foreboding and a genius architectural and artistic feature. Gaudi really paid attention to the details, even the doorknobs of this place were carefully thought out as a functional and artistic presence.

Some of the chimney sculptures on the rooftop.

La Sagrada Familia – This cathedral is out of control. It’s almost excessive in the amount of sculptures and carvings and belltowers that make up this place. And it’s only halfway done. If this thing finishes before my lifetime, I am definitely going back. Outside admission, in hindsight, was probably good enough, as the inside was totally empty and the good stained glass and front theater area were blocked when we went. However, the museum is worth the admission fee if you do pay to go into the cathedral.

I thought the Big Dig took forever.

Park Guell – We got to the park close to sunset. We were a little overwhelmed with how much ground we had to cover before sunset, as that was when the park closed. We actually got to see most of it. We did miss Gaudi’s house though. We’re not even sure if we were even in Park Guell anymore, but we had wandered up the hill that it sits on through various paths and ended up with this incredible view of Barcelona and the Mediterranean. Barcelona at sunset is breathtaking.

Ezeibe captures a Kodak moment.

Not-So-Cool Stuff

Walking – La Sagrada and Park Guell…just on the border of a reasonable walking distance. It’s an uphill climb. But, we did get to see another Gaudi-esque hospital (not designed by Gaudi though, but in a similar modernisme style)

All this walking makes me want to break a leg and get admitted...

Paella – Ezeibe was on a mission to find the perfect authentic paella. This did not happen on this day. We found a place for lunch a bit up from La Sagrada Familia that seemed local, authentic, and cheap. However, the paella seemed like it came out of the frozen food section.

Casa Batillo – Another one of Gaudi’s houses. Very nice on the outside. The inside seemed amazing. The price of admission: 20 euros. That was a bit much for our wallets. We and Gaudi are not that tight.

At Park Guell –
Me: Hey, isn’t this the place where they had that America’s Next Top Model finale?
Alan: I just heard someone say that it was.
Me: …How should I feel about knowing this?
Alan: Not good.

America's Next Top Model cave...where's Tyra?

Disasters

Arsticket – We decided at La Pedrera to get a museum pass. I’ll talk more about this on the next day in Barcelona, but this was an ill-advised choice as we didn’t really see any other museums.

Dinner – Our hunger and lack of research and ability to agree on one restaurant led us to another overpriced and sub-par-food chain. This one was another Ruby Tuesday’s type of incarnation, just in Barcelona. The menu looked promising, but Ezeibe and Alan realized they had eaten at a restaurant with the same exact menu the night before. And thus the dilemma of picking a dinnertime restaurant with Mike, Ezeibe, and Alan: We can all agree we want something authentic, although none of us really know what authentic would be, and authentic doesn’t sound very appetizing in Catalonia when push comes to shove. Ezeibe is a stickler for quality. He lives for that pricey five-star shit. Alan prefers inexpensive and reasonable prices, but not a chain. And me, I’ve been craving Kentucky Fried Chicken for the past week and a half. And their ads were everywhere in Barcelona. You can see how these opposing viewpoints and our passive-aggressive introverted ways can lead to a lot of awkward silent tension come dinnertime.

Other photos:

I'll always looked unprepared in any of our group shots because I'm too anti-social to ask someone to take our picture. Therefore, I use my mini-tripod to set up the shot, set the 10-second timer, and run into the group shot to varying levels of effectiveness.

Picture of my house

Eating breakfast, about to head to JFK in about three hours.

I had a video journal ready yesterday, but then I got mad self-conscious about my facial hair. It was that horrifying look of “I shaved, but clearly with an electric razor, which is fine, except I clearly missed significant patches of almost-hair that made me look creepy.” I tend to have this look two out of seven days a week.

Books I’m taking along: Blink (thanks Leslie!), Renaissance Art: A Short Introduction (thanks Becky!), and a book on Gaudi and his works (thanks again Becky!). I hope to pick up some magazines or fiction on the way.

I had a horrible fight with my 2GB SD card and getting the Canon CHDK firmware to autoload on my camera starting up. Sadly, it does not, so I have to install it every time I start the camera. I must be stupid. I’m still not sure if I’ve figured out how to play with the shutter and exposure settings with the new firmware hack.

I now have routine panic attacks that occur every 5 minutes that I’m going to run out the door and forget something major I intended to bring. Suspects are Passport, digital camera, charger, or my backup spare clothing.

I have no fucking clue what we’re going to do when we land in Barcelona.