Spain Road Trip: Days 3-4 (Barthelona)

     We left Cadaques on Monday and headed two hours south to Barcelona.  In Spain, people tend to pronounce the letter C like TH.  Thus, Barcelona becomes Barthelona, and Gracias becomes Grathiath.  That's beside the point.  Where were we?  Oh yes, going to Barcelona.  Asha decided to take a siesta (thiethta?) on the way:

     We found our hotel in the middle of Barcelona with no problema thanks to expert navigation by El Generalisimo (we went commando, without GPS, for the challenge).  Then Ed went to park the car 20 meters away.  This turned into a 1 and 1/2 hour saga.  Details are not important.  Suffice it to say that he ended up parking in a different spot and got sort of lost in a city of 5 million people and wandered around on foot in the middle of Barcelona for over an hour with a very large duffel bag and smelly dog bed so he flagged a cab, but it took him to the wrong place and he couldn't remember the name of the street where the hotel was, so kept wandering.  Not a good policy for a mountaineer, but what about a tourist?  Turns out, it eventually worked.  No matter.  Barcelona is a very very neat place and there is a lot to see.  Also, the people are extremely friendly.  So Ed made it back to the hotel eventually.

     That afternoon we went out and walked and walked and walked.  Barcelona is an architectural wonderland thanks to Antoni Gaudi, a famous architect who lived about 100 years ago and designed all sorts of edifices in very unusual ways.  You ought to Google him and his buildings!  Think curves, dripping wax, melting chocolate, and fairy tales.  Here are some photos of a few buildings near our hotel:

Monday was a special day . . . a sort of Valentines' day in Spain, where flowers and books are given as gifts.  There were thousands and thousands of people out and about and book stands and flower stands everywhere.  This photo was taken in Plaza Catalanya, right before Las Ramblas, which is a famous pedestrian walkway:

There are lots of things for sale along Las Ramblas, including small pets.  Here Asha and Ivy are wondering if they "can get a bird," but each has a different idea of what they'd do with it:

     The next morning, we woke up and took a taxi to Sagrada Familia . . . an immense cathedral designed by Gaudi, started more than 100 years ago, and still under construction.  (Ivy stayed in the hotel for the morning).  The Sagrada Familia is not due to be finished for many years and it's really difficult to describe because its design is so unique.  There are even snails and gekos crawling down the sides and spires with bowls full of colorful berries a hundred feet in the air.  Here are a few photos, but they don't do it justice (Google it for better photos):

     We walked back to the hotel and got Ivy.  Then we found a nice taxi driver who said it would be "no problema" to take us with the dog and we went to Parc Guell . . . a big city park designed by . . . you guessed it . . . Guadi.  Again, the park is designed in a very unique style.  We walked around (there were many other people) and found some fantastic views of Barcelona.  Here are some pictures (find the one where we got lost in the Mexican desert):

    We decided to walk back from the park.  We got a little turned around.  It took . . . er . . . a long time.  But we found some great local ice cream, Ivy broke up the walk with some flat-out splays on the sidewalk, Ed got to ask for directions in Spanish, and with the leadership of El Generalisimo we made it back.  We collapsed on the bed in a big heap and we were too tired to take a picture.