4:30am - go to bed
5:35am - Corinne crawls over Rosie to turn off Rosie's weekday alarm that goes off at 5:30am. After confirming (just barely) that it isn't Corinne's 7:30am alarm, all resume sleeping.
7:30am - Corinne's alarm probably went off.
10:30am - Corinne wakes up with a phone smothered under her pillow and Rosie still asleep beside her. Plan B for the day commences.
So we had a walking tour at 1pm. We used the hostel Internet to book tickets to Sagrada Familia at 5pm for a guided tour and Casa Milá for an entrance at 7pm. Impressively, everything we wanted to see was lining up exactly for the day.
We wandered through the Boqueria at about 11, where Rosie bought some fruit juice from one of the stalls in the marketplace there.
We next found a mural by Mirò in the center of La Ramblas, followed by a bakery shop for an Americano (Rosie) and an apple tartlet (Corinne). We walked past the Palau de Güell, but just admired the outside as we already had two Gaudi works lined up for the day. We instead spent our money on sunscreen and a ham sandwich (where "ham" is more like prosciutto).
Our walking tour covered the Gothic Quarter, which was perfect since we hasn't been wandering around there as much as Las Ramblas. We saw the square where over 30 people, including children from the orphanage next door, had died during a bomb squad. There was still cracks and pock markers from the blast.
We stopped at the corner of two alley where Els Quatre Gats, where Picasso and his contemporaries hung out and drank absinthe. It was also designed in the Modernisme fashion (Neo-Gothic Modernisme by Josep Puig i Cadafalch).
When we walked into Plaça Nova, we were greeted by a giant advertisement with Iggy Pop. However, underneath there is a frieze designed by Picasso that secretly depicts Catalonian traditions even as it was commissioned by Franco while he oppressed Catalonian culture.
There was also the impressive cathedral. We learned about Barcelona's two patron saints. The first, St. Jordi (George) was famous for slaying dragons. "Slaying dragons," apparently, is a metaphor for killing off other religions and their followers. In George's day, the last of the Muslim Moors disappeared, and he probably contributed.
The second saint is Eulalia. She was tortured at 13 in 13 different ways - our tour guide broke this one down too (just like those imaginary dragons): she is probably symbolic of the many children who were abused and tortured for their religion. When they finally cut off her head, a dove came out.
Another figure we heard about was Wilfred the Hairy. The Catalonian flag (five yellow stripes with four red stripes) is from when he was injured and his blood was used to wipe the four stripes on the yellow background.
In sum, the two-and-a-half-hour tour covered a lot, Rick Steves covered a lot, and I'm sure we are just "scratching the surface," as our guide kept saying, of Barcelona. (Scratching the surface of La Ramblas put us at what was a giant sewage ditch leading to the harbor that was paved over.)
We came across Plaça Reial again, where we attempted to go find a club at last night and instead found an awkward dancing bar. All of the pretty palm trees are "implanted," as Rosie has been saying, as are the two street lamps designed by Gaudí.
After the walking tour, we had our favorite meal yet at a restaurant recommended by our hostel receptionist called Origens, which was down by the harbor. We had a delicious lentil, pepper, and octopus salad with a beef-stuffed onion and a vegetable-stuffed eggplant. We needed that energy as we took the metro to the Sagrada Familia.
Oh, the Sagrada Familia. We are almost done with our visit to Barcelona (leaving in the morning) and at 5pm on the second day we are just getting to the architect Antoni Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece. (It has been under construcition for over 100 years.) But, nevertheless, we saw it, inside and out, without having to wait in the line stretching around the block.
We also might have gotten in for free. We booked a 5pm English tour, but they didn't book the tour guide, so they said our money will be refunded in 15-30 days. We'll see if that $40 ever lands back in our pockets. (If you are reading this 30 days from now, let me know so I can check my credit card and update this post! Or call and complain...)
Instead of a tour guide, we had Rick Steves. (I skipped the part were I basically fell asleep inside the church while we were waiting for the tour, but who cares about that. Except Rosie, who took a picture for blackmail some day.)
Rick Steves outlined a tour in his book where we wandered from the Passion Facade to the Nativity Facade, from the nave to the unfinished entryway. The tri-colored columns inside evoked a canopy which had light filtering in from the stained glass (not all of it done). The columns were built to hold an not-yet-realized cross, meant to be light up and 560 feet tall. It will be the tallest steeple in the world, but a few feet shorter than the summit of Montjuïc, since "the creation of man should not eclipse the creation of God."
More awesome stuff about Gaudí and the church:
* Gaudí improved on the arch so it would support his grand steeple by hanging chains with weights and flipping them
* A 4x4 grid adds up 33 in all directions on the Passion Facade - Jesus' age at his death
* One of the men on the Passion Facade (sculpted by Josep Maria Subirachs) is a monument to Gaudí
* The roof and floor of the church were just completed in 2010, right before Pope Benedict XVI consecrated it
* A bronze door has been made for the Glory Facade that has the Lord's Prayer in Catalan and "Give us this day our daily bread" in 50 languages.
Also, there's a turtle holding up on of the columns on the Nativity Facade (reminding me of Stephen Hawking's "turtles all the way down.")
Overall, it was amazing. Highly recommend it.
We scuttled out of Sagrada Familia to make our timed entry into Casa Milà. But then we found a shop with espresso for Rosie and ice cream for me, and then the caffeine didn't kick in until we had walked a few blocks in the wrong direction, so we took a cab to what is also known as La Pedrara ("The Quarry" because of its massive amounts of stone).
We had an hour to tour the house before it closed, and we spent most of it on the undulating roof. We had this Canadian guy take our picture in front of one of the chimneys, and then he started following us. (Not quite true - Rosie kept being friendly and asking him questions about architecture school and traveling...)
So we had a new amigo named Merdad who we got to know as we walked through the attic, which housed an amazing display of the genius of Gaudí, and the apartment, which was pretty but also seemed very bare compared to the intricacies of the external details. Though there was an umbrella stand that I'm in love with (birthday present - hint hint):
If you can't afford it, a print or scale model of the bronze door from the Sagrada Familia would work too. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
Rosie and I had this grand plan to see a flamenco guitar concert at the Palace of Catalan music, which is supposed to be brilliant on the inside. We got there right at 8:30, but the concert was sold out. It will have to be on our next trip to Barcelona.
We saw the outside for the third time, then headed to a restaurant for a not-great tuna and greens salad and a much better entree of veal with fig and walnut compote.
We were still seeking tapas, though. I didn't think yesterday's two mini-meals were very tapas-like, so I wanted to have a small plate and a drink at a table on a terrace. However, we were thwarted, first by our decision-making skills (or lack thereof), then by two different restaurants saying they wouldn't seat or serve us without a minimum that was too much food for people who just ate dinner.
So we ended back up at Taller de Tapas, a local chain that we had the artichoke and chickpea dishes at yesterday. A pitcher of sangria (our new friend was still hanging out) and some octopus (not good) and some razor clams (very good), and we were back to our relaxed selves.
We wisely asked our young, cute, Ted Danson look-a-like for a bar recommendation, and wandered toward Shakerato, where we talked music, drinks and life while all three were happening (loudly) around us.
I heard (from Rick) that churros with melted chocolate is a post-bar treat, so we wandered toward the hostel and the Ramblas in a futile search. I had to be content with some Cadbury chocolate we had bought in the Madrid airport. It was partially melted from the lack of air conditioning, but all the more delicious when a bed awaited afterward.
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