So Christian has proven that he can be spontaneous, and bought us a lovely holiday to Barcelona after Christmas.
We left home at 5.45 and met Mark from Whitecar at 6.30. Security was simple enough, and we then had breakfast in a pub (eggs benedict for Christian and pancakes for me). It was a 7.45 flight from terminal 3.
The flight was uneventful apart from the very tall woman behind me kneeing me in the kidneys. I asked her to please desist, and she did. I dozed for much of the flight, and Christian took photos over me out the window.
Arrival in Barcelona was easy, and passport control was quick. We found the Aerobus to Plaza Espanya, which cost €10 each return. At Plaza Espanya, we bought a ten-ride public transport ticket and took the metro to Glories. From there, it was a short walk to the hotel. It was too early to check in so we left our bags there.
We didn't have much time, so we caught a bus straight away to as close to Sagrada Familia as we could get, and had a tapas lunch at Xamfra Gaudi? I thought we were pretty clear about what we wanted, and thought the man had understood (he had good English), but we still ended up with a wrong order of meatballs. The meal was still quite nice - we had compulsory patatas bravas, grilled squid (amazing), tempura aubergine (not as good as it sounds) and something else.
We then walked the short distance to Sagrada Familia, and felt very cold in its shadow. Christian went to get audio guides while I waited amongst the tourist chaos. We discovered that our tower visit, so thoughtfully booked by Christian, had been cancelled due to wind. Disappointing, but we will get our money back apparently. So instead, we took our time and worked through the very good audio guide.
We started with the external features, which were all very symbolic, and interesting. My favourite bits were the turtle and tortoise. And then we went inside. The audio guide played some swelling choral music, but nothing prepared me for what I saw. I just looked up and gawped for about ten minutes, feeling a bit overcome and emotional. The inside was not anything like the outside. It was much more symmetrical and regular looking, and gentle, and the glass was just the most beautiful I've seen. The way he planned the use of light, and the sheer size of it, getting lighter as it went up, was genius. We looked at various features, guided by the recording, and marvelled. Some of it was still shut off for works, which is a shame. We went out the opposite door and studied that facade too.
Next we went into the museum underneath. It showed just what a genius he was with architecture and maths, and what an undertaking this project actually was/is. It's not scheduled to be finished until 2024, and the central towers are going to dwarf what's already there. I can't imagine how huge it will be. We didn't spend any time in the shop.
We walked rather than bused back to the hotel. I'd been cold, but the walking route was somehow all in the warm sun. We stopped at a fuel station to get a drink and some interesting nutty meringue things, and again in Carrefour so I could see whether they carried French products (they didn't).
Back to hotel at 3.30. At this point, we could get our hotel key, and were pleasantly surprised that they'd taken our luggage to the room. We followed it up. The room was small, but well appointed, if very much not soundproof. We were also on the road side of the building, and so the road noise was very noticeable. We were both exhausted, so had a nap, which, initially an hour, got extended until 6.30.
We got ready and went downstairs for dinner. I had a spring roll (actually nice) and beef canelloni, Christian had a (huge) salad and fish. We both had sangria and crema catalana. It was a good meal, in that the recipes were simple but very tasty.
Back upstairs, we watched some telly, and went to bed not particularly late.
We left home at 5.45 and met Mark from Whitecar at 6.30. Security was simple enough, and we then had breakfast in a pub (eggs benedict for Christian and pancakes for me). It was a 7.45 flight from terminal 3.
The flight was uneventful apart from the very tall woman behind me kneeing me in the kidneys. I asked her to please desist, and she did. I dozed for much of the flight, and Christian took photos over me out the window.
Arrival in Barcelona was easy, and passport control was quick. We found the Aerobus to Plaza Espanya, which cost €10 each return. At Plaza Espanya, we bought a ten-ride public transport ticket and took the metro to Glories. From there, it was a short walk to the hotel. It was too early to check in so we left our bags there.
We didn't have much time, so we caught a bus straight away to as close to Sagrada Familia as we could get, and had a tapas lunch at Xamfra Gaudi? I thought we were pretty clear about what we wanted, and thought the man had understood (he had good English), but we still ended up with a wrong order of meatballs. The meal was still quite nice - we had compulsory patatas bravas, grilled squid (amazing), tempura aubergine (not as good as it sounds) and something else.
We started with the external features, which were all very symbolic, and interesting. My favourite bits were the turtle and tortoise. And then we went inside. The audio guide played some swelling choral music, but nothing prepared me for what I saw. I just looked up and gawped for about ten minutes, feeling a bit overcome and emotional. The inside was not anything like the outside. It was much more symmetrical and regular looking, and gentle, and the glass was just the most beautiful I've seen. The way he planned the use of light, and the sheer size of it, getting lighter as it went up, was genius. We looked at various features, guided by the recording, and marvelled. Some of it was still shut off for works, which is a shame. We went out the opposite door and studied that facade too.
Next we went into the museum underneath. It showed just what a genius he was with architecture and maths, and what an undertaking this project actually was/is. It's not scheduled to be finished until 2024, and the central towers are going to dwarf what's already there. I can't imagine how huge it will be. We didn't spend any time in the shop.
We walked rather than bused back to the hotel. I'd been cold, but the walking route was somehow all in the warm sun. We stopped at a fuel station to get a drink and some interesting nutty meringue things, and again in Carrefour so I could see whether they carried French products (they didn't).
Back to hotel at 3.30. At this point, we could get our hotel key, and were pleasantly surprised that they'd taken our luggage to the room. We followed it up. The room was small, but well appointed, if very much not soundproof. We were also on the road side of the building, and so the road noise was very noticeable. We were both exhausted, so had a nap, which, initially an hour, got extended until 6.30.
We got ready and went downstairs for dinner. I had a spring roll (actually nice) and beef canelloni, Christian had a (huge) salad and fish. We both had sangria and crema catalana. It was a good meal, in that the recipes were simple but very tasty.
Back upstairs, we watched some telly, and went to bed not particularly late.
No comments:
Post a Comment