On The Move!!

Monday, May 25, 2015

We took the Gaudi tour today. We saw 4 different Gaudi projects including the Sagrada Familia. Gaudi was quite an amazing designer. Apparently he didn't do well in architecture school because he had to work to support himself. When he graduated his professor said that he was either going to be a famously successful architect or a madman. People say he was a bit of both. Sadly he died after being hit by a metro train. It's an interesting story - you should look it up. We didn't eat as well as yesterday, but still enjoyed tapas in the afternoon and evening. We are getting a lot of walking in.

Andy in the Placa Reial - where we met to start the Gaudi tour.

One of Gaudi's only public commissioned jobs - to make a lamppost. It was one of his first jobs after graduating. He went over budget and didn't finish on time - so they never worked together again.

Two of the chimneys on the Palau Guell. Gaudi formed a lifelong friendship with Eusebi Guell - a successful entrepreneur who hired Gaudi to do several projects for him. This was a home for him to live in.

Between the carriage entrance and carriage exit is a sculpture designed by Gaudi which contains elements of the Catalan Flag as well as the Phoenix.

Later we went on the Metro and I thought the girls would like to see what was playing locally

Metro Station traveling to see other Gaudi buildings

This is Casa Batllo. This is build on one of the most pricey streets in Barcelona - the family Batllo owned the building and inhabited the first floor - but rented out other floors. Some of the original tenants held onto these apartments and now their descendents still inhabit them paying only about $600/month thanks to rent control. The balconies ( you can't see well in this view) look like skulls and there is a dragon on the top of the building. it's very cool.

This is La Pedrera - more a sculpture than a building - made from limestone that was handcarved to make the curves. Each iron balcony is a one of a kind masterpiece in itself. Apparently the owner hired Gaudi (but his wife never liked it). Even the ceilings were carved (as seen below).

When Gaudi died - the owners wife covered over many of the ceilings because she hated them so much and threw the Gaudi original designed furniture onto the streets. Our tour guide said that there may be original furniture in some of the neighboring homes picked up from that day - no one will ever know.

Lastly we visited La Sagrada Familia. Pictures do not do justice to this place. He designed it, and painstakingly modeled every aspect of it including the figurines. He did plaster masks of people to make them lifelike. To make the babies in the carvings -he went to the local hospital and did plaster masks of stillborns. It is supposed to be done in 11 years - however it appears unlikely that will actually happen. Every side represents something different. The west side above depicts the final days of Christ.

The east side presents the birth of Christ.

The inside has the golden triangle to represent the Holy Father. The pillars that support the building are fashioned like trees branching into the canopy of heaven.

Jesus is on the cross under a parachute - it is quite stunning

The stained glass is also amazingly beautiful

He built a school for local children and the children of workers. The undulating roof is interesting in that it is build from altering the angles of straight lines.

A model of what his office looked like - including his lunch hanging from the shelves. He lived in the building for the last years of his life.

The staircase leading down from the pillars that we climbed to the top of. It was creepy coming down.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

From SF to Barcelona - day 1 all about the food

We left San Francisco Friday at 8AM, spent a few hours in the Newark airport and then onto Barcelona. Flying First/Business makes an incredible difference in terms of tolerating the flight - we were comfortable, able to get some sleep and the food was good. No complaints about the trip.

We arrived in Barcelona around 9AM. Got through customs quickly and took a cab to the hotel. The room wasn't ready (good thing we had slept) - so we walked around and then took a free walking tour that covered the Gothic area and discussed how to take the best photos (not so sure that applies with iphone cameras - but it was interesting). I did not know that the people of Barcelona do not consider themselves from Spain - but from Catalonia. Learned some interesting things like how the Jewish of Barcelona were thought to have caused the Black Plague - because most of them did not get the illness during the great outbreak and they was deemed suspicious. Now a days - we know it was probably more related to their novel practice of washing their hands prior to meals and overall better hygiene than the average person. Once the tour was winding down - we had to run as we had reservations at a tapas restaurant called Tickets. It was a 2 mile walk (with Dad using his iphone GPS) and was so worth making the reservations 6 weeks in advance. Amazing, really interesting and well presented food. The only down was that Andy was getting so tired, he had a hard time enjoying the last few items as he was struggling to stay awake. We walked back to the hotel for a quick nap and then wandered around more in the evening until our next reservation at Espai-Sucre (technically a dessert restaurant - but also with non dessert foods). The food here rivaled and possibly beat Tickets for both taste and intrigue. We weren't always sure what we were eating - but it was all amazing.

We finished up there around 11PM and walked back to hotel for more needed sleep. So far - we are loving Barcelona. We are posting pictures to the photostream - so hopefully you can see most of them there. I'll add a few favorites to this blog.

tree of food - "eggs" made of pistachio ice cream with seeds - hanging strawberries dipped in yogurt glaze, red current churros with a yogurt dipping sauce.

tomato toast with 6 year aged Jamon.

tuna hand rolls - these were amazing (had quinoa in bottom and fish eggs on top with saffron thread)

Amazing dessert - cinnamon churros with chocolate dipping pudding.

Sue at Tickets

These aged ham legs are very popular here. Very expensive as we=ll

Andy photographing a fountain

lots of dragons around the area

Tapas bar at Tickets - where they prepeared the food

Cathedral

first course at Espai Sucre - cauliflower and herb soup with croutons, cheese bread, and some thing with ground sausage that was also amazing

mint foam, Kefir Ice cream, chocolate cake with mango mousse

we don't need these - but interesting name of a pop-up store.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Budapest

Our last 2 days of the trip were spent in Budapest. We arrived there after going through the last lock on the trip which was interesting to experience. The engineering of a lock that amazes me. We arrived at Budapest close to midnight - and the city view is nothing short of spectacular! (see pictures on previous post). Budapest is actually 3 cities that were merged in 1873 to become a larger metropolis spanning both sides of the Danube. Buda and Obuda lie on the right bank - and are a landscape of rolling hills that drop off steeply towards the river. Pest occupies a flat expanse that allows the city to flow eastward. Buda has the best views of the city - while Pest is the center of the city's lively metropolis. The two parts are connected by 6 different bridges.

Our first day in Budapest started with a walking tour. First we crossed the Chain Bridge and then took the funnicular to the top of the hill where the Buda Castle sits. It has been demolished and reconstructed several times (you can read about this on Wikipedia). It currently houses 3 different museums and the national history museum. We then walked around Castle Hill where we saw the changing of the guards. We also saw the entrance to the Hospital/ Bomb shelter. There are natural limestone caves under the castle and government at one time built a bomb shelter and emergency surgical center within them with state of the art surgical equipment, xray and it's own power generators that could sustain 100 people for up to 30 days. We also saw the Matthius Church and the Fisherman's Bastion (from where the best pictures of the city can be taken). We caught a public bus that took us back across the Chain Bridge to the inner city of Pest where we walked from the Basilica through the pedestrian streets down to the Market Place- where the locals do their shopping (and the tourists buy their tourist stuff).

After the tour - Andy and I headed off on our own to see other sites in the city. We got to see the Shoe Memorial on the banks of the Danube - a memorial to the Jews who were marched to the banks of the Danube by the Arrow Cross Party (similar to the Nazis) , commanded to take off their shoes, and then were shot on the bank of the Danube so that they would fall into the water and be carried away. It is a touching memorial with bronze cast shoes lying on the banks of the river. It seems that being Jewish or Gypsy was worse in Hungary than most other places in Europe - they were persecuted by the Arrow Cross party, the Nazis, and the Soviets over a period of 60-70+ years. We toured the Holocaust Memorial and the Terror Museum and although interesting - were very depressing. We also toured the Basilica (an amazingly beautiful church), the Dohany Street Great Synagogue, Andressy Street, several different Xmas markets, and wandered in and out of different streets in downtown Budapest.

Budapest is a beautiful city with a lot of history (as are most cities in Europe). We enjoyed every city we visited and traveling by river boat was a great way to take it all in. I'm sure that there is a lot more to see - but with limited time, we thoroughly enjoyed this mode of travel. We did a lot of walking which helped us to enjoy all the foods without affecting how our clothes fit. Sadly - our week has come to a close and we have headed back home. Hopefully the next great adventure is not too far off.

Thanks for reading!