November 16th – Deb’s notes on Barcelona and just whatever comes to mind.

Warren said he’d leave La Pedrera (the stone quarry) up to me, for unknown reasons. It’s the famous Gaudi house that we knew as Casa Mila. The locals use the Pedrera name.

Anyway, we’d been looking forward to seeing it and we not disappointed. As a matter of fact, it ‘way exceeded my expectations. The roof alone was worth the price of admission. We spent about an hour up there looking at all the fantastically shaped and decorated chimneys and ventilation towers and all. Not to mention the wonderful views of Barcelona. And the chance to have a voyeur’s view of some lovely roof-top gardens nearby. The other three exhibition floors were just gravy after the roof-terrace.

But they were pretty nifty gravy. The attics with their hundreds of catenary arches was fascinating, and they had interesting displays of how Gaudi actually planned his buildings along with objects that inspired him and showed up in his work, things like bits of coral reef, and bones, and pine cones. The bunches of little school kids touring were just mesmerized by the building models, as were we.

The third floor was an apartment decorated the way it would have been in Gaudi’s day, and that was fun. I hadn’t know that he did all the interiors too, with fantastical plaster decorations on ceilings and doorways, and wonderful ergonomic brass fixtures like door pulls and drawer knobs just beg to be touched. I’d had no idea he also designed furniture, and from the replicas for sale in the gift shop, his furniture, unlike Frank Lloyd Wright’s was very comfortable.

Anyway, we had a great time and came away with a huge admiration for this architect. We got to see another of his houses, and walked around his magnificent unfinished cathedral. It’s breathtaking, and we doubt we’ll be seeing another cathedral in progress in our lifetime.

So now I have a big crush on Gaudi. Warren is relieved that I didn’t see the replica Gaudi drawer pulls before we finished our kitchen – they would have substantially raised our costs. I actually came close to buying some salt and pepper shakers shaped like Gaudi chimneys in the gift shop but restrained myself…

Some other little unrelated Barcelona impressions:

·         Our little market has a wonderful variety of take-away fruit salads in big plastic glasses, kinda like slurpy glasses. Big chunks of kiwi, melon, berries, pineapple. They are a heck of a deal – lots of lovely fresh fruit for about $1.50. They are some similar offerings at the tourist places out on Ramblas, but for three times the price. From what I hear, many years ago the fruit vendors would make up fruit salad from their dead-ripe fruit to sell at the end of the day. When all the tourists started hitting Barcelona the fruit salads took off as a product onto themselves. I can imagine how nice they must be on a hot summer day – they were wonderful enough on a warm November day.

·         Once again, how even a block off the tourist track makes a huge difference in food price and quality. It never ceases to amaze me.

·         Seeing parents and grandparents picking up the little kids from preschool and elementary school.  Each little person gets a snack of some kind (a marienda) because dinners are so late here. Offerings include little sandwiches or yogurt or cookies or even just a baguette end. You can tell from their pleased faces, this is a big event in a small person’s day. And their school uniforms are so varied. Some look like tidy matching sweat shirts and sweat pants, others like British pleated skirts/slacks and blazers, and still others (for both boys and girls) like pinafores made of cotton ticking. In pink.

·         How much English we’re hearing spoken on the street here. We haven’t been anywhere this touristy since we got to Spain. Lots of Brits coming for Spanish sun and sea, even at this time of year. It’s sort of disconcerting to suddenly understand a conversation nearby.

·         We’re a bit nervy over all the reports of pickpockets we keep hearing. Sounds like an epidemic. But all we can do is try to be a bit wary, and forge on.

·         What a lovely day it was today. High 60’s and sunny. Supposed to cool off and maybe have scattered showers this weekend. Have our trusty folding brolly, so will endure. Plus we intend to be inside more going to (surprise!) some more museums.

·         Feeling a bit sad that I can’t keep up with my intrepid husband, although why that should surprise me after over 40 years of not being able to keep up with him is a mystery. Not for nothing did he ride a bike over 2000 miles last summer. He’s just a toughy, and sadly I’m getting less tough. After being out for 7 or 8 or 9 hours, I’m done, and he still has energy. So he’s currently out doing some more walking, and seeing more of the city by night. I say Bravo for him!