Barcelona Trip - Day 2

Last night was another Chinese New Years dinner - this time just a few ISU friends. Kathleen and I are ready and raring to go on our quest for Antoni Gaudi, the great architect of Barcelona.

Our first stop is the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral unlike any I have ever seen, the Notre Dame, St. Peter's, St. Paul's.

This mammoth work is a testament to Gaudi's brilliance, since the plans (and original models) were destroyed in a rebellion, yet painstakingly restored and now being vivified in epic proportions.

We took the elevator up and the stairs down, marveling at every step. Gaudi based his work on Nature,


the stairs made of curving spine-like edges and coiling shells,




ventilation chimneys made into fruits that work in harmony with the wind,

lofting roof supports grown from trunks and branches like trees.




The arches are astonishingly light, drafted with strings and weights in this inverted model to follow the optimal load paths.

We spend hours touring the museum built around Gaudi's workshop and models, but still want more. So we trek up to the top of the hill at Parc Guell, overlooking all of Barcelona, and see the house where Gaudi lived.


The subterranean arches, the dizzying tiled terrasses, alive with hand-painted pottery and animal motifs. Antoni Gaudi is alive in Barcelona.