Yeah – a company outing in Barcelona, with (some) work on Friday, (some) party till Saturday and two more days to explore after the official part was over. It was a „long time no see“, so long overdue to go there again. Some thoughts on my flight back, a couple of thousand feet above ground.

I devoted my time to see Gaudí’s works, at least some of them. When I last visited quite some years back, his masterpiece La Sagrada Familia was still in a state much less completed, some mayor parts have been added since then, e.g. the sacristie and pieces in the passion façade.

The mixture of old and new looks quite funny as different stones are used and in addition the parts of the building which are more than 100 years old are wethered already, resulting in a patchwork impression.

Since my first visit, narrow wired fences have unfortunately been added to the towers’ window openings, so that it is impossible to take proper pictures of the neighboring towers and „fruit basket“ tips with a DSLR camera. What a shame…!

So I have to put up with my pics from the inside. Which is absolutely breathtaking. I have never seen a building which is such a stunning piece of art in all possible regards – from geometry to color to perspective to naturalism to more geometry. And the light, let alone the light. I am in no way an expert, I just can say that this building deeply moves me, it strings a chord and lets me stand in awe.

I will go back in 2026, at Gaudí’s 100th anniversary of death. This is the date when the church is supposed to be ready. It is a tragedy that this genius of an architect was hit by a street car and so badly hurt that he died from this accident. No genius like him should ever consider jaywalking…!

I can only phantasize about the overwhelm it must be if 700 singers intonate a religious song from the balconies besides the nave – as it happened when Pope Benedict visited in 2006.

If he had not begun building La Sagrada Familia, what else would Gaudí have done instead? More appartment buildings like Casa Battló and Casa Milá? More parks like Parc Guëll? Thaks god he had some time before the church took all his energy and devotion, so that he could give these other masterpieces to his home town.

I spend quite some time experimenting with perspective in the inner court yards of Casa Batlló. As this perspective is not usually seen by visitors (you would need to be 2,10 m tall to peek over the wavy (and hence non-transparent) glass railings downwards to the bottom), I assume these are pictures only seldomly seen. I like their „guess what this is“ character. Maybe I“ll print some post cards off them.

What did I do in between the visits to Gaudí’s works?
I got a little lost.

My plan was to stroll along Las Ramblas the entire distance. Finally, I never reached the sea – because I got lost in Barri Gotic with its little streets and places.

I found the cathedral at a coincidence. Not open to the public, unfortunately, so I could not visit the 13 geese who live in the church’es courtyard. Would have liked to say hi.

I got a glimpse of the free and independent Republic of Catalonia as I traded some Euros into the new catalan currency: the „ticket“*. It’s quite strong as I could convince myself at the Born Street Food Festival at Pla de Palau, where I ate a portion of gnocchi di patata with TONS of black truffles for just two tickets. Ok, maybe the tons of truffles originated from distraction of the lady whos job it was to grate the truffles over the gnocchi and who was chatting away in Italian with a really handsome bearded guy, grating and grating and grating… Unfortunately, the „ticket“ currency might not be freely convertible and only valid until the street food is gone.

A propos food…
Oh my, there go my good intentions to only eat healthy food. But who can resist goffres** with white chocolate and vanilla ice cream – a dream of sugar, caramel, white flour and then some more sugar. Some more sugar, anyone…? Gosh, that was my entire need of sugar for the next 14 years to come. But they are really yummy, you bet.

Now I’m on the plane, and tomorrow I will work, and in the evening I will study, and in the morning I will run. Life goes on, but I have refreshed my reservoir of inspiration, which makes me smile. I wonder in which DIY I could use the concept of chain arches which Gaidí has used for the attic of Casa Milá… Maybe for my copper chandellier…? I’ll let you know in due course.

Oh, I just noticed that I did not resolve the riddle of Darth Vader’s birth. Here we go – please have a look at the chimneys on the rooftop terrace at Casa Milá… If that is not Darth Vader, who is it, then?

* The tickets are little vouchers you buy at a separate booth at the entrance for 3 Euros a piece so that you can easily trade them for food and don’t need to deal with money anymore at the stands.
** Goffres are a kind of belgian waffles, just way sweeter.