Ok, one more attempt to place more pics in my blog.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again...

The piéce de rèsistance (I know this was wrongly written. I'm not French either, so just cut me some slack, 'kay?!), namely perhaps the main work of Antoní Gaudí - a.k.a. La Sagrada Familia.


Note the naturalism present at the main entrance on the last pic. The columns looking like tree trunks, for instance. Also the religious symbolism can clearly be found. The 4 pillars over the main entrance are representative of the 4 evangelists. There'll also be (eventually) one pillar representing each of the 12 apostles of Christ, though I'm not sure of whether this has been built yet.

Really quite magnificent, this building is - and impressive. Info on his architectural influences, how he came about to actually construct it, etc. can be found within the church itself. You can also see the construction in action as well. Works of the mosaic so typical of Gaudí, constructions of pillars and other stuff as well. Really very fascinating to watch it. What's also fascinating is the fact that the whole building process of the church is competely dependent of donations from the public. This is of course why the process of building it is going so slowly. As I previously explained, the church will be completed in about 20 years. But I'll be back!

Peace out!

Elise

Crap.

Noooooooo! Can't fit any more pics! Dunno why! Was going to put in a few pics of La Sagrada Familia as well, but nooooooooooooo! For some odd reason I am hindered in doing this. Grr.

Stoopid.

Some pics

So, what does this Gaudí artwork look like? Well, there are tons of pics out there on the internet on these buildings, but here are some of the pics that I found which I thought were some of the better ones... So here goes...

First out: Parque Güell:

The famous dragon at the entrance of the park. V. purdy.

Another famous attraction: The benches. You'll probably hear this from every single tour guide in Barcelona, owtte (or words to that effect), but these benches are shaped exactly after the shape of the body when you sit down, so it is by no means uncomfortable in its shape at least. The only factor against it is that its really COLD to sit on those tiles in the shade, so hog the best spots!
This is taken from a sort of open-air hall around the entrance behind the dragon. Note the mosaic ceiling. These are found several places in the hall. Also when we were in the park there was a Spanish accordion player who played some old tunes... Classical tunes, I think they were... The park is entirely free of any sort of entry fees, except from the fact that there is a person dressed in an outfit representing the Güell dragon to whom you can give donations to the maintenance of the park (I think).

La Pedreira. It looks funky from this angle, and believe me, from other angles as well. If you know about the computer game called "The Neverhood" and the clay construction of the buildings there, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from La Pedreira. But step onto the roof of the building and you get an excellent view of the city as well as see the mosaic work that was so typical of Gaudí's buildings. There is even a piece wherein the mosaic tiles were made by shards of green glass from bottles! Really quite fascinating!

Also, inside the building itself - there is an exhibition in the attic on how Gaudí was influenced by nature in constructing his buildings and also how they were constructed in order to use the space and light available as much as possible. In the floor underneath it there is a sort of museum where you can see how a typical apartment in that building looked like at the time when it first was built (1920's). Lots of antique stuff and knick-knacks there. And yes, there are people living there at the moment. Two floors underneath all this are being let (to pretty stiff prices, I assume) to some people who actually can afford it.

Bummer! Can't fit any more pics in this entry! Hang on a sec...

Vooooooooooolare...

Random, but still catchy even after 50-odd years.

Sitting here listening to a personal compilation of ESC participants over the years. "ESC" is btw short for "Eurovision Song Contest". Just in case you were oblivious to that fact.

Hace 1 semana... err... 1 week ago I was in Spain with my parents, that is to say, the rest of my family. We stayed in the beauuuuuuuuuuuuutiful city of Barcelona wherein we checked out all of the sights, the buildings designed by Gaudí (which I've btw fallen in love with) and the older part of town and - I think - the highest point of the city. Oh yeah, not to mention Las Ramblas! Oh my gosh, you can't believe how beautiful it was there! It's not like gloomy Stavanger, or any of the British cities, but it really is unique. It really is something special, that city.

As for speaking Spanish, I didn't get too much of a chance to do so. Mostly because I didn't converse much with them, due to the fact that my Spanish is v. bad. V. much in the primary stage. I didn't dare to converse too much with them. Just a few sentences like, "Queremos ir a (enter name of famous Barcelonian building here), por favor" and "hay (enter object here) aquí en la ciudad?". Not much, really.

Ooooooooh dude! Buck's Fizz is on! "And then you gotta speed it up... For making your mind up..."

Sorry, as I was saying, I didn't get to use the language that much. The majority of the taxi drivers didn't dare to strike up a conversation, as we spoke foreign languages which they were pretty much... err... what's the word... either bad at it or didn't know a word of it. English and Norwegian, respectively. That's the one thing I regret from that trip; that I didn't pluck up the courage to speak up to the taxi drivers in Spanish. I mean, I really did want to speak Spanish to them - I had even prepared sentences to say to them - yet nothing came out.

I guess I'm too chicken.

But what was weird was that a few nights into our vacation I was playing cards with my mom, and suddenly I realized that I was counting in Spanish... Not always out loud, mind you, but still... I've had many of those kinds of moments, and each of them are really very peculiar.

But anyways, the buildings we saw were very impressive. V., v. impressive. Especially La Sagrada Familia, Parque Güell and La Pedreira. Those were btw the only buildings and park designed by Gaudí which we visited. There was another one, Casa Batlló, but we did not have time. ONE WEEK WASN'T ENOUGH! Oh, yeah, we found out that La Sagrada Familia, which is still in the process of construction, will be completed in 20 years... I'll be 40, (presumably with job, hubby and kids), Mom 74 and Dad 78. We've promised ourselves to return as soon as it is finished and attend a mass there. Can't wait! If only the work could be done a bit faster, though...

And the food - ooooooooooooooomigosh! The seafood there is excellent! As a self-admitted seafood lover, I can safely say that the fish, shellfish etc. are impeccable! There are few other places in the world (of those where I've been, of course) where they serve seafood so fresh that it actually tastes slightly sweet. Lovely. And the fruits and veggies there are equally immaculate! :-D Wonderfully fresh. Aaaah... Miss it already! Miss Barcelona in general!!!

Okay, enough for now! More later!

Take care! Peace out!

Elise