Barcelona: Tour Day II

Today we toured all of Barcelona from 8am to 6pm. It was a long day, but full of beautiful surprises! I definitely would take the tour again, mostly because William was amazing at what he did - so full of knowledge!  
First we visited Gaudi's cathedral, Sagrada Familia ("sacred family"). To be completely honest, when we first studied this cathedral in history, I did not like it. It just goes to show how learning about something makes your appreciation grow for it, as I know love the Sagrada Familia! So don't be too quick to judge a building by its facade...

Gaudi (pronounced Gow-dee) had only about  15-25% of the building complete when he died in 1926, but he planned it to take more time than he'd be alive for. He once said, "My client is not in a hurry." So now, other architects continue the work. According to William, it may not be complete until 2050. Very different style, yes.

Very pretty stained glass inside- didn't expect that!

One thing I liked about Gaudi's work, particularly in this commission, is how he doesn't express himself in his work - which is appropriate considering that this is a cathedral and everything he does connects or somehow symbolizes God. What we see in the picture above are the columns and vaulted ceilings. He solely uses nature and mathematical ideas in his architecture. He was actually the first architect to implement parabolas in building design - which is the shape of the vaults we see here. The design of the ceiling and columns also incorporates tree figures with the depiction of sun-rays shining through the leaves.

Just to show how intricate his architecture was, this is a model that shows how he first drew the cathedral to more understand how it would work. It is made from little tiny sandbags, each weighed individually then attached by strings. He then drew the model on paper by taking a picture of this model then flipping the image.

Barcelona can be characterized by the use of cracked ceramics and glass in various types of work and art. This curved and continuous bench, also done by Gaudi, uses this style:

The benches from afar. I thought it was neat how they curved, especially if you're in a big group because then  you can have your own "cove."

William and I on the bench.

 And here are just some other random, cool buildings we visited on our tour:

Really liked this one!

You can't see the color too well in this picture, but it was a pretty green with the aluminum color.

I liked the digital-speckley-ness of this facade.

Interesting material/design for a builidng.