Barcelona Day 2

After a great night sleep, we got up and dressed and headed to the train station for a light breakfast.  Breakfast in the hotel is 15 euros each.  Too much for just a pastry and tea.  Then back to hotel where we gathered our stuff and headed to the Metro.

We started our day at Park Guell.  Little did I know that to get to the park you need to walk or sometimes escalator up several levels.  By the time we got to the top, I was toast.  When there was no escalator, it was an incline or stairs.

 The Park is so high that you get a great view of the entire city.

Bob went up to the very top while I stayed at the lower level.  He said it was dangerous as there was no guard rail and kids running all over.

The park is some of the work of Gaudi.  So when we walked down several levels, we came across some of his works.  One of the most famous is that of the lizard.  It was difficult to get a great picture of the lizard without someone sitting on it or next to it.  There were lots of other people visiting the park as well as us.  We were not alone.

We walked back down which was easier than up and back to the Metro to head over to the area of  the Sagrada Familia.  We were scheduled for a tour of this Church in the afternoon.  When we got off the Metro, we found it raining so we headed to Burger King for a quick lunch.  We stayed in Burger King until it stopped raining.  And then we found out that we could not go into the church until 3pm.  We walked around the Church and then Starbuck's to waste time.  

This is the nativity facade.  It expresses the joy of all creation at the birth of Jesus and recounts the main events in the lives of the Holy Family of Nazareth.  Gaudi wanted to erect this facade complete to bear witness to the scale of the church as a whole.

I don't think you can realize the size of this Church.  It will hold 8000 people.  The interior is now complete and PopeBenedict XVI solemnly dedicated and declared it a basilica in November of 2010.  We were here the day before on the 6th of November and remember the city getting ready for the Pope's visit.

The rear of the church is of the glory of Christ.This will be the main entrance of the church and is not yet complete.  The start of the building of this church was in 1882 and they hope to be finished by 2026.  The Glory facade tells of the origin and the end of human beings and the roads which, according to Jesus' teachings, lead to personal fulfillment and glory.  On the central door, made of bronze and 5 meters high, the entire text of Our Father in Catalan has been inscribed.  So has the prayer "Give us this day our daily bread" in fifty languages.

You can see the difference between the Nativity facade and thePassion facade.  This represents the passion, the death and the resurrection of Jesus.  The sculptures and the door, done since 1986 are the work of Josep Maria Subirachs.  This shows Jesus naked and most have him clothed with loin cloth.

We returned to the hotel to rest for a few minutes and then out to a local cafe for dinner of tapas and seafood paella,  and red wine.  Then back to the hotel and bed.  I watched some Dancing With the Stars from Austria.  They do not call it that and their judges are tough.  I thought the one dancer I saw was pretty good and they gave her a 6, 4, and 3.  And the one judge came out in a sequined jump suit.  A man no less.  Quite colorful.  Too bad I could not understand one word they said.  Lights out and bed.