awesome sunday!

On Saturday, I forgot to mention that my friends got a note taped to their apartment building's door saying IN ENGLISH that they needed to keep it down on weekends. They claim we have parties EVERY Friday and Saturday and the apartments on both sides and across the street are all bothered by it. It said we were "firmly invited" to be quieter after 22.00. Personally I thought it was funny because it was so overly dramatic. Steph's brother Charlie was so outraged that he'd ripped it in quarters, but I could still read it because they'd made it double sided and there were still some pieces.

Sunday, I woke up at 10 on the dot so I could chat online with my friends about what we were going to do that day. We'd agreed to chat at 10:05 exactly. We arranged to meet at Sagrada Familia at 11:45. They were a little late so I read up on the building. My favorite facts were that Gaudi was not the guy who was originally hired to do the job. Some other guy was but he clashed with the church so Gaudi was commissioned to do it instead. Some people in the Catalan Catholic Church are trying to get Gaudi named a saint. His name in Catalan is close to the word for "to enjoy." Also, I'd heard that he had commited suicide, but the book said that he was run over by a tram just outside of Sagrada Familia (which he lived inside of near the end). Sagrada Familia is expected to be completed in 2030. It's totally funded by the public.


Steph and her brother Charlie finally came to meet me. I was surprised Mikaela wasn't with them. We bought our tickets and went in the main entrance. Towers are more impressive from far away, I think. From directly underneath them, it's a little hard to comprehend their magnitude. When you see Sagrada Familia from on top of another building, though, it's like WOAH there it is!

The front is decorated with very angular figures draped in cloaks. They don't look very happy. I guess I wouldn't be either if I was frozen in place on the side of a building.


The front door is metal relief of words. Some of them stuck out more than others. Also, some were shiny like gold but most of them were deep green brass.

Inside, I was amazed by how unfinished it was! There was a really nice stained glass window just to the left. Its window was a very traditional looking shape, with a sort of flower at the top and then a triangle of circles and long sections leading to more circles and then more ovals. The window itself was very mod-- geometric shapes of colors. There was writing on a few of the panes as well.

MASSIVE pillars held the building up. They were almost round, but with divets around them. They had big growths on them about 3/4 of the way up. From the mound, they split into pillars that stretched in different directions to the ceiling. They didn't branch straight up, though, they sort of arched out.

The ceiling was really cool, like trumpets pointing down at you. They had jaggedy edges though. They had strips along the inside that were lined in gold. They were very unique.

The floor is still essentially bare. There's loads of construction equipment in the center with walkways fenced off around the edge. How cool would it be to work on Sagrada Familia?! Of all the construction jobs…

Ahead along the path, there was a staircase that was open and spiraled upward. It had sort of rails on the sides but they were not straight-- they undulated like a crinkly leaf. It was wrapped around a tube with cutouts taken out of it, which were similar to the towers. The overall shape of it was very reminiscent of a snail. The amount of detail in every little space was amazing.

Then suddenly, we were sort of spat out of the main area to the far side of the building. We could see people coming down some stairs and really wanted to find out how to go UP stairs. We decided to head out the back first, after investigating an exhibit on Antoni's inspiration. He was really into mathematical shapes, along with nature. That almost sounds like opposites but it definitely worked together. Lots of stuff in nature is also secretly mathematical.

We decided to go outside. We looked at the Nativity Facade. The outside of that building is nuts. There's so much carving that it's almost hard to tell what any of it is. I'm pretty sure they've got Jesus and Mary and about 100 animals. Merry Christmas.


We walked through the museum under the church. My favorite part was the pictures of it being built. It was amazing to see how the towers slowly grew and how the whole thing was surrounded by fields, not city. Across the street, even now, there's a park. Also, they had a cool model of how they draped sand bags from the ceiling to build the arches. AND Gaudi is buried under there. He was under construction though. Next we went back out the front and went back in the main door to get in line for the lift. WE want to go up in the towers!!

We had to wait about 45 minutes but it was totally worth it. The elevator ride seemed really long and I KNEW it was going to be high. At the top when the doors open, they send you up some MORE stairs! It was craziness. We were inside one of the major towers. You could see out of some slit-windows down to the city below and across over the church to the other towers.


Then we crossed over a sort of bridge between towers. We could see the other towers very clearly instead of through little cracks.


Then they send you down the stairs through another one of the towers. I admit I have trouble with heights and vertigo. Bungee jumping didn't help me. There were more slits in this tower and I kept trying to take pictures out them but I'm not sure it was worth the effort. Just go down the stairs!

The worst was the second part of the steps. They're meant to be like a spiral snail. The math term is helicoidal. They were terrifying. You can see down the middle of them and there's no railing in the center. You can see down several stories. I leaned against the rail on the outside and basically slid down.



From there, we booked it to the subway and rode to Barceloneta. Steph had spent some quality time with my guidebook in line and we decided that would be an ideal place for some traditional food. We found a cute restaurant called something-er-other cerveceria. It was facing the waterfront at Port Vell.


We basically had a feast. Charlie and I had Paella Mixta-- seafood and meat. We also got calamari and onion rings and bread and olives and Steph had a Spanish omelette. It was all DELICIOUS. The whole thing came out under 50 Euros. We MAY have to go back there!! Also, the decor was really cute-- they had LIME green walls and stone on some of the walls and wood panels and fish and ships' steering wheels and all sorts of silly things. Loved it.

Then we walked along Port Vell. My favorite band from last week was out again. They were still doing their dance moves and they had an even bigger crowd than they did the last time I saw them.
As stuffed as we were, we got some ice cream from a booth next. I got raspberry sorbet and it was AMAZING.
Then we tried to go shopping on Paseig de Gracia, but everything was closed!! We ended up walking down the Rambla from Placa Catalunya. We wandered into loads of random shops that were open. I saw some gold and magenta tennis shoes-- "trainers" that I MAY have to own. I've been thinking about them since I saw them. They were pricey, but perhaps worth it?
We walked almost to the cathedral-- I recognized the side of it. There were breakdancers out front this week. We wound our way back to the Rambla to catch the "tyube" and got Starbucks on our way by. I went back with Charlie and Steph to their flat.
We waited around to get hungry then went to Lalola, where we go every Sunday. Mikaela and her boyfriend "Beaver" came too. 4 of the 5 of us had a half chicken. They put loads of salt on it and it's DELICIOUSO! It comes with fries and aioli. Overall, amazing. Then I parted ways and went home on the subway. It was raining slightly and my laundry got soaked. Boo. I chatted with Nat and called Mom via Skype before going to sleep. It was a very fun day.