More Gaudi

Tuesday May 17, 2011                                       Day 321
Roger and I awoke at our usual 8:00. He went out for juice and croissants. Since the others were still asleep, Roger and I walked down to the dock to see if we could spot We Are Water, the final boat in the Barcelona World Race, which came in only last week. The dock area we accessed in December to see the boats was now off-limits. We were unable to locate We Are Water, but we did see Gaes Centros Auditivos, another boat which participated in the race. It was closed up, but we were able to get a couple of photos of it through some fencing. Fourteen boats set out on the around-the-world race on December 31. Only eight of them completed the race.

 We took the metro to the center of town and toured the Gaudi house known as Casa Batlló. It was a magical experience – Gaudi was a genius.

A vase in the Casa Batlló

This is a newell post in the stairwell. Amazing!!

A fireplace, with benches in the recess on each side.

A beautiful transition from one room to the next.

An inner door. It is said there are no straight lines in this house!

Windows overlooking the street at the front of the house.

Look at the ceiling above the light fixture! Everything about Gaudi is astonishing.

A vented interior doorway

Beautiful detail above an interior door.

Another beautiful door

A mirror in one of the rooms.

A view of the back of the house.

Looking down from the roof - note the lovely mosaic pattern.

Detail of the vent stacks below

These are vent stacks - how wimsical!

More beautiful mosaics.

Alicia and Jamie on the roof

Note the wimiscal dragon-back shape of the front facade.

We came upon this fantastical bit of artwork in the street on our way to lunch. 

Alicia wanted to see The Palau de la Música Catalana – the Palace of Catalan Music, and it turns out there was a concert there in the evening, so we bought tickets for the concert.

Ceiling detail inside the concert hall.

View of the stage area.

Detail of the wall of the stage

Detail of the wall in the seating area
with a glimpse of a pipe organ beyond.

The concert was a benefit for the victims of the earthquake in Japan. The printed program booklet was astonishing – it had a double-sized centerfold, which we had to fold into a fan shape. When one looked at the fan one direction, a heart was visible; from the other direction, a circle, presumably representing the sun which is Japan’s symbol.

Program, fan-folded with both the heart and circle visible

Viewed from one side, there is a heart . . .

. . . and from the other side, the sun.

We ended our evening with dinner in a little dive which turned out to serve excellent Mojitos. For some reason I don’t recall what we actually ate. Afterward, Alicia, Peter and Jamie went out on the town and again, Roger and I collapsed in our room with our computers.