Day 8 Exploring Barcelona; April 8, 2009

Larry and I rambled down to the harbor at the bottom of Las Ramblas. That's a tree-lined pedestrian street filled with people and flower shops and street entertainers making like costumed statues, and cafes and you can even buy birds or fish. It´s maybe the best thing about Barcelona. At any rate, it´s very cool.
We bought tix for the hop on-hop off tourist bus, plugged in our earphones, dialed into channel 3, and sat back to listen to a pretty decent commentary (in British English) of what we were passing. You can´t see if you sit below, so we went up top of the double decker bus, where the wind was whipping, but at least we did not get rained on today!
We went all the way around the Blue loop, and got off back at the harbor, planning to take the gondola ride above the harbor up to the top of MontJuic. After some searching, we found the right place, and the sign said ¨Closed because of high winds.¨ No doubt!
So we went up inside the tall pillar monument to Christopher Columbus. Wait in line, take a 4 foot square elevator to the top, squeeze past people to take pix all the way around, and squeeze back into the elevator to come down. The view, however, was absolutely fabulous from the top of the monument. The whole pillar is about 100 feet tall, but only about 12 feet in diameter, so I guess I shouldn´t have expected any more room!
Then we got back on the tourist bus, hooked up our turquoise headphones, and started around the loop again. I wanted to visit several buildings designed by Antonio Gaudi, who worked 100 years ago and started the Barcelona version of Art Nouveau. Here they call it ¨Modernista.¨ Dad calls it "gaudy," and that's actually where that word came from. It certainly is different from anything we've ever seen before!
First was Casa Mila, an apartment building designed by Gaudi, which used curves instead of straight lines. He was revolting against the industrial revolution which hit Spain the last half of the 19th century. Larry didn´t like it at all. I thought it was marvelous for the early 1900´s when women still wore long skirts and leg-of-mutton sleeves. It had several circular atrium openings to let light and air into the center of the building, and all the rooms had curved walls and ergonomic door handles. It really was amazing for its´ time period, and it definitely broke the mold for architecture of its´ day.
Of course we had to stand in line to get in, and we had to pay. Larry keeps wanting to wait outside, and have me go in by myself, but then who would I share it with?
Back on the bus, then off to seeLa Sagrada Familia, which is a cathedral álso designed by Gaudi, and still unfinished. It´s actually really strange outside, and really cool inside, where it's still a construction zone. There are stacks of lumber and you can hear workmen and there is plastic hanging from scaffolding. You can only walk around part of the edge. Eventually it will have at least 12 towers, which look like huge cigars with holes punched in them. The sculpture is very Art Nouveau, and Larry thought it ¨just plain weird,¨ but at least it was interesting to see a huge cathedral being built.
Dad was not going to bring a coat, but before we left I checked the weather in southern France, and it was 1 degree C, so fortunately he brought one. He blamed me for not bringing an umbrella. I told him don´t bring an umbrella, bring a coat with a hood. So yesterday I bought him an umbrella for 3€ from a guy on the street. Today we froze our tush (combined, plural the same as the singular) off on the top of the open air bus. So I saw a pair of knitted men´s gloves on the floor, and picked them up. I asked the guy whose seat they were under if they belonged to him, but he said no, so Heavenly Father sent Dad a pair of gloves just when he needed them!
We wanted to ride the bus around to this place that has architecture from everywhere in Spain, and find a restaurant there for supper. (Spell check does not work on this computer because it thinks in Catalan.) Took us forever to get there on the tour bus, then when we got off, we found you not only have to pay AGAIN to get in, but all the restaurants are closed, and there is no one around! So that was a bomb. We waited again for the tour bus, and just came back to the Christopher Columbus monument and walked up Las Ramblas toward our hotel.
We´d seen a spot the day before that was an all-you can eat salad buffet and no smoking for 9€, so we went back to that. It was GREAT! and it was only a few doors from our hotel. It looks tiny from the front, but once you get inside, it opens up in the back and the walls are all lined in wood and very cool.
I had to wait and hour and a half+ for this computer to get available AAGH! but it´s in the hall outside our room and Dad is asleep. I can hear him from here because he does not have his C-pap on because he is waiting for me to come to bed.
Tomorrow there are several wanderings I want to do here in town. We also want to take a drive up to Montserrat, which is an ancient abbey on top of a mountain and the spiritual hub of the Catalan people.