I learned something new in Barcelona. The word "gaudy" gets its origin from the architect Antoni Gaudi. The cathedral you see directly above this text is called Sagrada Familia Church and was built by Antoni Gaudi. This structure is really something to behold. I couldn't decide if I liked it or not, but it definitly grabbed my attention. "Garish" is as close to "gaudy" as I can get to describe the building. I had to buy this postcard for my scrapbook because there was no way I could get all of the building into the viewfinder of my camera. You can see at the bottom of the photo a few cars to give you an idea of the immensity of this church.
We watched a 30 minute Flamenco dance in Barcelona performed by a man, woman, and two guitar players. The dancing was very intense and loud. I was sitting next to the stage, and I could feel the vibration from their feet and see the sweat pouring off their faces. The dancers were very professional. Today, if I had been a drinker, I would have been served sangria. I had a coke and some snacks which included more olives!
The photo of Paul in a narrow street shows the flavor of this old world area of Barcelona, and really, of so many of the countries in Europe that we visited. In the United States, we talk of the age of buildings relative to the 200 plus years that we as a country have existed. In Europe, the guides would often talk of buildings in terms of before Christ and after Christ. I don't know how old these buildings are (maybe two or three hundred years), but the ruins we saw in Turkey and Greece were built close to the time of Christ.
Our guide was knowledgable, but she had an annoying speech mannerism that drove us all nuts!! She kept saying "eh" after every sentence and sometimes several times within the sentence. Everyone was glad to get off the bus and away from her!
No comments:
Post a Comment