Is Gaudi too Gaudy?

Two days ago I was sitting on the couch reading when Talia came over, grabbed my finger, and said, "Come on, Mom, come on! Let's go, let's go!"

A bit confused, I asked, "But where do you want to go?"

"Barcelona."

And so, here are a few more pictures of Barcelona itself, taken during our recent Catalonian vacation. To be completely honest, the girls probably enjoyed our days at the beach more than these architectural pilgrimages to discover Gaudi. Apparently Talia loved Barcelona nonetheless, mostly because Papa Kay constantly treated her to tic tacs while she was riding on his shoulders. Even though he has been back in Nebraska for a week, every time the door rings, she hopefully asks: "Papa Kay? Tic tac time!"

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Day 1: Dancing La Sardana and the Park Güell.

We began our Barcelona adventure with a trip to the main cathedral where the older generation gathers to dance La Sardana, a traditional dance, on Sundays at noon. While I confess being pretty disappointed by the vast number of tourists crowding the spectacle (guess I'm not the only one to browse the guidebooks), I thought that the band was fascinating, especially since it included instruments I'd never seen before.


Afterward we happened upon the Park Güell, designed by Gaudi. I'm not going to write much about Gaudi since I've promised to let Jason have reign over his area of expertise. Still, here are a few photos.





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Day 2: La Casa Milà, better known as La Pedrera





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Day 3: And last but not least, the famous Sagrada Familia cathedral, scheduled for completion sometime in the next thirty years.





This last picture shows my Dad looking up at the Sagrada Familia. It's one of my favorites because it so clearly shows how he's not quite sure what to make of Gaudi's architecture... In his mind, good architecture should also serve a concrete purpose. While I generally agree, what I love most about Gaudi is that he was outlandish enough to actually design, create, and build these outlandish structures that you would never expect to find in the real world. Whether you love it our hate it, Gaudi's bound to cause a reaction!