Gaudi not Gaudy

It is interesting how an injury changes your perspective on those things you have a desire to do and see. After I injured my knee I have been much more careful on choosing shore excursions that don’t re-injure my knee. The past couple of days had us canceling shore excursions that we had chosen in favor of less stressful ones to save my knee for Barcelona and Rome. We have even used TAXI’s which is so unlike us.

Our plan for today was to revisit Barcelona and see some of the sights that we didn’t see 4 years ago when we were here. Our prior visit to Barcelona was after an all day flight from Phoenix when we arrived the next day and were picked up and driven around the city by a guide. Today we wanted to see La Sagrada Familia (Gaudi’s famous church that has never been finished and is totally supported by contributions), ramble the Ramblas (The Champs Elysee of Barcelona) and see the Picasso Museum.

I had planned out our route using the Barcelona Metro weeks ago. We were going to hop on the Metro at the port, take it to the Place Catalunya, change Metro’s to La Sagrada Familia, see the Sagrada Familia, get back on the Metro and take it to Place Catalunya, walk from the North Ramblas to the South Ramblas, at the end of the Ramblas get on the Metro that would take us to the Picasso Museum, then back on the Metro to the Port Shuttle Bus and then back to the Ship. Whew!!!!!!!! What a great plan. And as all good plans go, well this one followed suit. Right out the window!

We got off the ship, I got us a taxi to take us to Sagrada Familia and then we walked the rest of the way. It was mostly downhill, no stairs and very enjoyable. The Metro is full of stairs and I figured my knee would do better just walking than it would up and down stairs.

We went into the Sagrada and were very impressed with the work that is going on. This was started in 1882 by Antonia Gaudi. He worked on this for over 40 years until his death in 1926. His overall plan has been continued by architects who have taken over the construction of this.

Sagrada Familia means Holy Family. Gaudi came from 4 generations of metalworkers. You can see that metal working in many of his creations. He also believed that “Nothing is invented; it’s written in nature”. This love of nature is the basis for almost all of his vision for the Church. It was really interesting to see the progress that has taken place and the work that is going on. Plasterers were making molds for later use and it was a really busy place. To think this has been going on for almost 130 years and it still isn’t finished!

From there we walked to the Lladro store and did a little shopping. What a fun place to shop After that we rambled our way down the Ramblas; past the birds (Oh Maren, you would have loved it—birds for sale everywhere), past the flowers, and down to the Port.
We were headed to the Picasso Museum when we looked at our watches and saw we only had one hour before we were to be on board. My cousin Beverly sent me a wonderful story she had read about the Museum so we hurried there. It was well worth the time to go see this. This story shares our sentiment about the area, the painter and the lesson for all of us to learn. Thanks Beverly!

A Lesson from Picasso
Edward Grinnan shares a Daily Guideposts devotional
By Edward Grinnan, New York, New York

I spent a fascinating afternoon a few years ago wandering the Picasso Museum in the artist's hometown of Barcelona, Spain, while Julee was rehearsing for a show. The Museu Picasso is found on Carrer Moncado in Barri Gotic, the ancient heart of Barcelona, a warren of cobbled streets and medieval structures. The museum itself occupies a row of five gothic palaces and the architecture alone is worth the visit if nothing else.
Picasso wasn't actually born in Barcelona but moved there in 1894 when his father, an art teacher, found work in the city schools. Pablo was certainly precocious—he had his first exhibition at 15 and didn't even bother to sign his work in the beginning. The museum is full of those early pieces, room after room of them. And there is one thing that struck me about most of it: It was really bad.
No wonder he didn't sign anything, I thought to myself. Finally, after looking at some awkward paintings of the Barcelona shoreline, I mentioned my impressions to a guard. He chuckled, gave me a look then said, "Well, sometimes you have to be bad before you can be good."
Later I sat sipping an espresso at the café next to the museum gift shop. Picasso became more than good. He was arguably the greatest and certainly the most influential artist of the 20th century, though it would be some time after his Barcelona years that he would finally sound his genius in Paris. So maybe he had to be really bad before he could be really great.


Jim and I had a wonderful day seeing everything we wanted to and more. I now know why my parents loved Barcelona so much. It truly is a city full of people living life to the fullest and enjoying every minute of it.

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