YCGL - Thursday, Sept 28, 2023 - Barcelona - First - Draft

 Hi there!

Jere had to catch a 6:15 bus, so I got up a little after she did.  I made my 6:45 bus just fine, but my luggage tag wouldn't print, so I had to go to the desk, where a very efficient clerk got me going.  All went fine until security.  Now, how many times have I gone through security since it started after 9/11?  I should have the process down, but Noooo, I still mess it up. Once I got through the ticket check, I remembered I had a banana in my pocket.  (Yeah, yeah, laugh that one up.)  Scarfed it down quickly.  Oh yeah, I've got a half a water bottle full, drink that down quick.  Get up to the rollers to put the backpack in the box, after pulling out the computer and the Kindle, oops, the phone and pen and pencil.  Oh yeah, and the watch.  I've got really nice suspenders with a plastic/nylon set of grips so they don't trigger the device, but did I remember to use those?  Of course not, so off with the suspenders, so now I'm having to hold up my pants as I walk through the detector.  I always worry about my two heart valves, and sure enough, I hope the lady got a good feel as she checked my chest, well I know she did.  But then she asked if I  still had anything in my pocket?  Duh, I had a pair of ear buds and eye drops that I forgot about.  So back through the detector, put the buds and the eye drop bottle in a huge tray and walk through, and after they got scanned, I have a large tray with just my ear buds.  Apparently, I didn't have the bottle of eye drops in a quart bag.  But I was still at the gate about an hour ahead of time.  

Next to me on the plane were a mother and daughter.  Mom was middle aged, daughter was 11 or 12 or so.  They were so together, they laughed and kidded and they were just having a fun time on the plane.  I didn't talk to the mom who was in the center seat, except when they got out to go to the bathroom.  I smiled a lot and so did they.  At the baggage claim, I was standing across the loop in the conveyer belt from them, and when the little girl saw me, she smiled and waved, and then did her mother.  I walked back over to them and told the mom that I really enjoyed sitting next to them because they so obviously enjoyed each other in a way you don't often see.  Turns out that mom is a dentist in the Lofoton Islands and the girl was starting seventh grade and learning English. At least, shy and giggly about actually talking.  I know how she feels.  They were off for a week's girl's outing trip.  They'll have a great time.

I took the bus into the center of town where it was two blocks from my hotel, where I got about 2:30.  I had a ticket for Gaudi's Sagrada Familia at 5:30, so I decided to walk over by way of two of Gaudi's famous buildings, Casa Batllo and Casa Mila, also known as La Pedrera, the Quarry.   Actually, I checked on-line to see if I could get a tour of Casa Mila in the afternoon before the Sagrada Familia.  It turns out, they had a 10:00 pm tour, so I signed up for that.  

[Frustrated, pissy aside.  Well, in the latest update to iCloud, now when you download pictures from iCloud, it downloads them in Apple's native format, HEIC.  It is very efficient for saving space, but totally worthless to use in Windows.  Or maybe there is something strange in Barcelona's electrons to make the program work differently.  Who knows.  The new process takes about three times longer to be useful.  Maybe it will be useful to you since I won't be able to inundate you with several hundred pictures of Sagrada Familia, or anything else for that matter.]

I think I got it.....maybe

The Sagrada Familia is huge and you can't take it all in in just one visit.  And I'm going to try and take you there.  So, bare (I know its bear, but we're going to need all the humor we can get.) with me.  

The footprint of the basilica is a rectangle.  For our purposes, north  is going to be where the altar is located.  The east side of the rectangle is the Nativity side.  It is highly ornate, almost grotesquely gaudy, by Gaudi,  It takes a while to understand its use of space and character.  The west side of the box is the Passion side, and it is plain and stark.  There is a model outside which shows what has been completed in the basilica in gray and what is still left to complete in pink.  

Here is the "east" side of the model and the east side of the church.

      

The trees don't help.

The way to tell the Nativity side is by the single large arch over the doors.  

The "west" side is like this.

The Passion side has multiple arches.  

By the way, all the pink?  They started the construction in 1882 and hope to be basically completed in 2026.  Good luck with that.

There will be a total of 18 towers.  Twelve for the disciples, four for the apostles, one for Mary and one for Christ.  The height of the Christ tower will be 172.5 meters, or 566 feet tall.  The only view that really shows the Christ tower is from the "north-east",

The crane is on the Nativity tower and is working on the Christ tower.  The tower on the right hand side is the Mary tower with a star on top.  It is lite and can be seen from most of the city.

The Nativity Façade is so incredible that I didn't get a good picture of the main arch.  I'm going to close in on this photo, centering on the closest archways over the doors.

                 

And two more closeups.

Above the columns is the Nativity Scene.  

                      

To their lower left are the three wise men and lower right are the shepherds.

Above the Nativity Scene are angels and little children praising the baby.

To the upper right above the kings are musicians.

               

I've never seen an angel playing a bassoon.

Other scenes around the Nativity side:

                    

Entering Bethlehem.                         Jesus's blessing at the temple.

And on it goes....  What looks like flowing chocolate around everything is a garden and foliage.  Gaudi was heavy into nature and there are examples of that around the church.  

Then we walked inside.  You are hit with the cold blue colors from the east wall and the warm gold and yellows of the west side.