Tuesday we walked a bit of the Ramblas, from the Placa Catalunya to the Liceu, including the Bouqueria market. Such pix as I took will appear in the out-takes. The Bouqueria now, with the exception of some few seafood stalls, is given over pretty completely to the tourist trade. Fruit in a cup. Jambon in a cup. Frites in a cup. Etc. We shopped a bit more at Decathlon, FNAC, and El Corte Ingles, and then called it a day.
Wednesday's highlight was a return visit to La Pedrera, aka Casa Mila, the apartment building Gaudi designed on Passeig de Gracia in the early 1900s. It was his last "civic" work before devoting himself entirely to the Familia Sagrada. The official name is Casa Mila, but it's generally known as La Pedrera--the quarry or rockpile--as Barcelona residents called it from its inception. Pix from our first visit, in 2010, are here.
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| Comparing Vicki's ring to the actual portal it was designed after |
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| Ever-devoted to trying out the new things, we signed up for the "virtual experience" of La Pedrera; here am I, exploring the functionalities |
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| And Vicki, learning the relevant hand gestures; traditional hand gestures, such as the digitus impudicus, also worked well, I discovered |
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| The best part of the "virtual experience" was that it was very short--perhaps 2 paragraphs of actual information and a tri-fold color pamphlet of pix-- a waste of time and money, but not much of either; oh, above, a non-virtual model of La Pedrera |
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| Back to "reality": looking up one of the building's two courtyard/atria |
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| Possibly the main part of the tour is a walk through a "typical" early 1900s apartment--well, typical for the ultra-rich who could afford such a place |
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| Children's room |
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| Devise for screening visitors, accepting packages |
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| Now we are in the attic studying Gaudi's caternary arches |
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| Thus |
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| Helpful model #6,396 |
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| Extremely unusual dorsal view of helpful model #6,396 |
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| Helpful model of all the caternary arches in La Pedrera's attic; it might be noted at this point that Gaudi never hesitated to use concrete, rebar, and such... |
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| How to build caternary arches.... |
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| Before and after models of Gaudi's Casa Battlo, essentially a renovation...but what a renovation! Just down the street... |
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| He also did furniture... |
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| Famous roof-top view; by this time we were tired, and realizing that three or four visits to something like this are enough... |
1 comment:
My favorite room there is the one with the sewing machine, the ironing set-up, and the lace on the edges of the cloth covering the shelves. The doll house was pretty sweet, too.
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