Architecture Day in Barcelona

After cafes con leche at our favorite nearby morning coffee spot (after 2 days here we have one), it was off via subway to Antoni Gaudi and friends' great Modernist masterpiece, The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia. I've seen it and I still don't believe it. The interior is the most beautiful man-made thing I've ever experienced. In the works for over 100 years, it still isn't finished. Might be in another 10 to 30 years. Then we walked to Gaudi's Casa Batllo, perhaps more famous in the US for its whimsical facade. Casa Lleo Morera and Casa Amatller, the facades of which are other examples of Modernist architecture, are nearby. Then we moved on to La Pedrera, Gaudi's wavey apartment and office block where 5 families still live, although a good part of the building is open for the public. You can hang out on the roof, explore an exhibit about his work in the attic, and wander through one of the light and breezy residential apartments.

Sometime in there we squeezed in a rather non-descript lunch somewhere and, later, an equally non-descript coffee at Bracafe (at least I can remember the name of that place). Back in "our neighborhood" we found papabubble, a little shop where some delightful young people hand-make hard candy which they, in the eternally fractured English we find everywhere, insist on calling "caramels artensans." Artesanel, yes. Caramels, no. Of course we bought a bag of their offerings. Yum!

Dinner brought us back to Origens where we ate last night. What can I say? We love the place, the wait staff and the food. We shared a lentil salad. Randy ordered duck with peaches, while I dined on meatballs (more like a handmade sausage) and eggplant. Randy had almond cake with his espresso, while I stuck to a goat cheese "thing" slathered in walnuts and honey.

Would you believe that we walked even more and farther today than yesterday? And Randy isn't dead yet. He isn't even in a wheelchair. Man of steel.

Tomorrow we'll go to the Picasso Museum which is nearby. It mostly charts his earlier works since his later stuff is everywhere on the planet these days. Maybe lunch at Origens again? Then we board our cruise ship to s-l-o-w-l-y wend our way back to Miami. Oh joy. There are 5 port stops, if I remember correctly, the first week and then nothing but a solid uninterrupted week at sea. With food and a spa. And a butler. We'll have a butler. Oh joy.