Europe
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Oh goody, I can finally make the word for
the day "gaudy". We set off early to walk the sections of
Barcelona that are filled with baroque, gothic and Gaudi
masterpieces. Just like yesterday, the day began with a light
drizzle and we were glad we had three umbrellas. Our first
tour is called "El Eixample" or the enlargement. This area
houses two of Gaudi's designs and several other wonderful
buildings with colored ceramic tiles and iron work dominating
the facades.
Gaudi's Casa Batillo is a colorful monstrosity with mosaic
designs covering the front and a multicolored tiled roof. Up
the street is another of his most famous works called Casa
Mila, La Pedrera (The Stone Quarry). It is known as an
abstract sculpture where curve prevails. The walls inside and
out curve in smooth lines and are
decorated with colorful
designs. On the roof top is a series of interesting chimneys.
These stacks appear to me to look like abstract warrior heads
but, TD thought they looked like aliens. Check out the photo
and let us know what you think.
Inside the building, you are
allowed to tour an apartment decorated in period design
furnishings. It was fabulous. The bathrooms had single unit
shower water dispensers which were the first I have ever seen.
Each window had a small balcony with gaudy metal railings
overlooking the city. Even the wooden floors had linear
designs in them. The kitchen had all the modern luxuries of
1900, an ice box, gas cooking burner, two sinks, but there was
still a wood cooking stove. This are a must see on your visit
to Barcelona.
Next stop was Mc Donald's for AD's lunch and bladder relief.
You can always count on Mc D's for clean restrooms. We
followed the side streets back towards the Placa de Catalunya
and the ambled over to La Ramba for our next walk. This is a
lovely street with a center, tree lined walkway with many
flower stalls, leaving a trail of fresh spring scents.
Another
of Barcelona's main sights is the Boqueria Market. The locals
come here to shop for fresh foods for the day's meal. We saw a
delightful array of fruit and vegetable stalls, buying a
prepared fruit dish for our lunch. They also had amazing
displays of meats and fish that included all parts of the
animal. We wonder what they make with lung or sheep head with
the eyes included?
Another Gaudi palace sits down the street from the market and
is known as Palau Guell. The Guell family were patrons of
Gaudi, and a city park which houses Gaudi's home is named
after them. The rain has continued to come down in earnest and
after 5 hours of walking around, it has become a nuisance. We
decided to go back to the hotel and look for indoor
activities. AD's first choice was bowling, so after a brief
rest we headed to a nearby bowling alley, only to find them
pre-booked with leagues. The lady at the desk said come back
at 10 am. Gad! So out into the rain, we go to find another
internet place to wile away the early evening. Restaurants
don't open until 8:30, so we needed to fill the gap. It was
nice to get some time at the internet that isn't taken up by
the busy work of locating hotels, transferring journals and
coordinating the trip. Everyone had fun and we were
revitalized by our individual activities. Back to the room for
wine and games, then off to dinner and back for bed.
The word for the day is "precipitation".
Rain, rain go away come again another day. The drizzle
continued this morning as we were trying to decide what to do
for our last morning in Spain. I voted for Parc Guell where
Gaudi's house is, but TD and AD chose bowling. So bowling it
was. Since the lanes don't open until 10, we began journal
writing and doing homework.
We each had fun bowling and TD bowled a 155 as a high score,
mine was a 122 and AD's was a 102. The taxi picked us up for
the airport at 12:00 and off we went to fly to Berlin. The
flight left a little late but otherwise was uneventful and we
arrived in Berlin to gray skies and drizzling rain. I'm
wondering if all of Europe is under cloud cover, but without
English TV we don't get to see the weather.
Our hotel, which we booked on the web, is a converted
apartment house and reeks of cigarette smoke. The beds feel
uncomfortable and the bathroom is across the hall. Oh well, at
least there are no bugs evident. TD is particularly unhappy
that the receptionist doesn't speak any English. She did give
us maps and could point to where the hotel is located!!
Depressed, we headed for the streets to escape the smell and
found we are located in a lovely neighborhood with lots of
shops and restaurants. We did a little hotel shopping and will
see how the nights sleep goes. TD selected Mexican again for
dinner and we were treated to a huge and delicious meal.
However, once again the smoke was overwhelming. It seems that
everyone smokes and smokes a lot. (Sigh..... JW)
Unfortunately, the rain has also brought cold temperatures and
make eating outside impossible.
On the bright side, our neighborhood has a luxury used car
dealership and I found my next car! It is a 1983 Rolls
Royce convertible. Dark blue with a tan leather interior. I
cannot describe how beautiful this car is. It is truly
incredible and bargain at 57K Euros. AD wants the yellow
Lamborghini as his 16th birthday present. As you can tell this
is quite the used car dealership. TD is sticking with his old
Dodge truck. We can't avoid the hotel any longer so it's off
to bed with dreams of a Rolls in my head.
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AD Journal |
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