Barcelona 2

So after breakfast we popped over to La Pedrera and because we were early we didn't have to queue. Have realised prebooking is the way to go or getting there early.

This is simply one of the most wonderful buildings I've ever been inside. Here we are looking out one of the entrances to the street.

And here I am up on the roof. The roof is supposed to be the best part. When it was first built people didn't like it. They called it the Stone Quarry. The newspapers of the time scathingly referred to it as a rock pile.

The exterior has no straight lines and the wrought iron foliage of the balconies and rippling stone were criticised as though you were on board a ship in an angry sea.

Gaudi used smashed champagne bottles to decorate the top of this chimney style sculpture.

It was inside that you could see the strength and beauty of the organic architecture.

Gaudi got a lot of his ideas from nature. This snake skeleton was one of inspirations.

How could anyone not like this gorgeous dream of a building?

Gaudi would squeeze lumps of clay to create the form for his door knobs.

And then it was time to leave and walk through the Barri Gotic on our way to the beach. Couldn't resist taking this photo of a couple of pigeons resting beside this ancient wall.

And happily, lunch!

When we finally got down to the beach. I was very taken by this sign.

After all that walking it was good to strip off and get into the water.

It was the best part of Tom's day.

Returning to our apartment we stumbled on this great food market. You can see Tom is still carrying his wet cozzie from the beach.

We bought some fruit to eat on the way back to the apartment.

And after a shower and a bit of a rest we hit one of the many excellent restaurants on our street. We eat unfashionably early at 7.30 or 8.00. This means we are totally uncool but we get a table which are all booked out at 9.30.

Tom tackles the risotto.

Hello Barcelona

 

Up at the crack of dawn to catch Chauffeur Prive to Gare de Lyon the GTV fast train which takes six and a half hours from Paris to Barcelona. Chauffeur Prive is an upmarket version of Uber recommended by Joel Stratte-McClure.

Here I am outside Gare de Lyons excited to experience the train trip. It was very easy. Just sit back and watch the green fields dotted with white cows, tiny villages and vineyards wiz by as you munch on a baguette.

The beauty of Barcelona is everywhere. The street lights are works of art and the natural light is far brighter than the muted shades of grey of Paris.

A quick taxi ride to our spacious two bedroom apartment in Eixample - a far cry from our tiny attic in Paris. And then we hit the streets. Before we went out to dinner we stumbled on this Gaudi building at the end of our street.

It turned out to be La Pedrera, apparently the zenith of Gaudi's work. It has been likened to a great petrified wave, a stone poem and a giant sculpture. It was totally gorgeous. And less than five minutes from our apartment. We vowed to return the next day.

The next day we set off to visit Sagrada Familia. The lovely autumnal weather reflected our spirits. Even the pavers echo the changing of the seasons.

We passed this lovely statue on the way.

He is holding a frog.

We passed this wonderful building - Casa de les Punxes. 

And then we were there at Sagrada Familias. We queued up only to find next entry was five p.m. It was eleven o'clock. We decided to retrace our steps and book tickets on line.

This giant cathedral is a work in progress. It is expected to be finally finished in ten years time - a hundred years after Gaudi's death.

A quick tapas stop.

And so we retraced our steps to visit Casa de les Punxes. It is an amazing castle like building created to house three sisters. It had the most wonderful audio visual displays which recounted the legend of Saint George and the dragon and the creation of the building itself. But first you had to walk across a shimmering, moving carpet of leaves.

Notice my foot at the bottom of the picture. And then we were into the audio visual adventure of the dragon terrorising the medieval town.

And after the dragon stuff - out on to the rooftop.

Such a busy day created a bit of a headache so a trip to the chemist was in order but chemists aren't quite the same as they are in Australia. And that was the end of our first day and a bit in Barcelona.

Picasso museum and last day in Paris

In between all the Paris Metro stuff we actually got to see some things in Paris. The Picasso museum was wonderful.

And Place de Vosges was lovely in a quiet orderly way.

Stopped to buy some wonderful sweets from this lovely woman. Her name was Helene and she owned the shop. It was like being in a kid's wonderland. Every sort of lolly you could imagine and all arranged beautifully. I don't even like sweets but I wanted to buy everything. She let us taste the marshmallows flavoured with rose, lavender and raspberries. It was like eating fairy food.

Had a last meeting of the Paris Metro group and saw these wonderful papier-mâché sculptures in the foyer of the French magazine publishing office we were using. 

The old Metroites wanted to discuss the possibility of doing a digital version of the Metro. It was a bit like the Blues Brothers putting the band back together again.

The security is full on here. All the publishing houses have bullet proof glass on their frontages and at least three security codes to enter the building as a result of the Charlie bombing last year. There is a general air of caution in the air and the military are everywhere.

A piece of photo journalism featuring Tom Moore

On our way to the Picasso museum Tom spotted a handy toilet and decided to take advantage of the situation.

It wasn't that easy to gain admittance.

Luckily the French are much more helpful than they used to be.

Eureka!

The adventure begins.

Mission partially accomplished.

The triumphant return.