I have never been on an underground train system before; the auckland train system is above ground for starters, and cannot really be used unless you are happy being late to wherever you are trying to go. A proper metro system, on the other hand, has none of these problems. Trains arrive every 3.5 minutes on the dot and there are stations all over the city. I found the whole experience quite painless and easy; it would be nice to have a similar system back home instead of the hundreds of buses that form the auckland public transport system. After all, you can fit a lot more people in a train and can get them on and off the train faster than a bus can. Now back to the story.
Our first stop was the Sagrada Familia, easily the largest cathedral I ever have and probably ever will see. Still under construction, it was a project started in the 1800's and is still in progress. They estimate that it will be finished in around 2028, although some catharsis have been known to take 600 years to build!
I am not a religious person but even I can appreciate what Gaudi and the Spaniards have done with Sagrada familia. The outside is incredibly ornate, with carvings and status telling the story of Jesus Christ and other biblical stories. The amount of symbolism present and the level of detail is astonishing. The inside however, is different to any of the cathedrals I have ever visited. Surprisingly lacking in statues, Sagrada familia gains is sense of awe from its architectural merit instead. The columns are made of different types of stones to give them current colors, and are all carved into hyperparabolic patterns. Again, the level of detail is astonishing. The walls are almost entirely constructed from stained glass; the light from which makes the interior of the cathedral glow in a myriad of colors. Anyway, you know you have a good cathedral when even visiting Muslims seem to like it!
We opted to take a guided tour of the cathedral. If you ever get the chance to visit I highly recommend one; you will discover so much more about how the place has been built and all the symbolism involved. We also had the chance to visit the top of one of the cathedrals towers; Will and mom found it induced wobbly legs and almost paralyzing fear from vertigo but I enjoyed the view. All and all very worth visiting; it's worth the round the block queue. The entry fee covers the costs of building the place as it is funded entirely by donations do it is worth it even if it is just to say that you own a tiny part of Sagrada familia.
The second part of our Gaudi trip was the park güal. Built in the hills of Barcelona the park features a few kilometres of waking paths and sons typically Gaudi architecture. At the summit of the peak we found ourselves, and along with a few others, face to face with the most eclectic, eccentric and down right nutty busker I have ever seen! With leopard print pants, a singlet, some cheap sunglasses and a guitar he danced around singing badly trying to get people's attention. It soon became clear that he only knew one song, and also that he fancied himself as a bit of a catch because he would start purring like a cat every time a pretty girl walked past, and would persist in following whoever his latest fixation happened to be for the next few minutes. It got to the point where I wasn't sure if he had crossed the line from hopeless romantic to downright creepy; I was assured by others it was well into the creepy category.
The rest of the park was beautiful to say the least. Arched bridges, stone seats, gardens of flowers and mosaic were in abundance with Gaudi abstractness present in each one. I enjoyed it a lot but it was shadowed slightly by the nut job up on the hill, but enjoyable nonetheless.
And so ends day two. I have found that my Spanish is becoming rapidly more fluent even though we are in an area dominated by catalonian, and I gain confidence every day. All is good. Onwards and upwards!
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