Las Ramblas y La Boqueria

So the morning we went to Sagrada Familia we walked to a Carrefour- a Wal-Mart like store (I WISH they had one in Switzerland), and Brett went in to quickly buy a stroller.  Unfortunately, what should have taken 10 minutes tops turned into about an hour because of trying to find employees to help get down the box, then waiting in line to buy it, then opening it and finding that it was missing a set of wheels, and trying to get that straightened out.  But at least we weren’t breaking our backs carrying Orrin in the carrier everywhere we went.  But then of course after we saw Sagrada Familia we had to figure out how to get to the next stop, and the dumb metro was pretty hard to figure out because they didn’t have adequate maps.  Anyway, we (actually Brett) figured it out. 

We went and rambled on Las Ramblas.  It is a long walkway for pedestrians with lots of stores and street cafes and vendors and performers.

 

 

Here’s the entrance to La Boqueria, a big awesome market type place.

 

And again, so much color!  Barcelona is so BRIGHT!

I don’t even know what these fruits are.  Anyone?

Nice- rabbit anyone?

 

Jethro begged me to let him buy one of these little cactus plants, so I did.

Lucy on Aslan:

We got to see the bridge swing apart in half to let a couple boats go through.  Notice random stranger’s hand protectively keeping Ethne from going too close to the edge.  Thanks stranger!

 

Sagrada Familia

Some more of Gaudi’s work—Sagrada Familia.  Gaudi died before it was finished, but they are working on it and it is expected to be completed sometime around 2026.  The light!  The color!  It’s really amazing.  That Gaudi was one cool cat.

Here’s a bit of the outside:

And the interior.  The little pamphlet says “The intimacy combined with the spaciousness is that of the forest, which will be the interior of the church.” – Gaudi  The columns are like trees and branches.

I love how the light comes down here.  Love love.

    

     

Here’s one picture from wiki, because it’s amazing:

Wiki says: Describing Sagrada Familia, art Critic Rainer Zerbst said "it is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art" and Paul Goldberger called it 'the most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages'. 

Indeed.