THE BEACH

It is a sin and a shame to not go to the beach when visiting Barcelona.

Our last two days in Spain are scheduled free days, so today we went to the beach. For 5 hours. Surprisingly, I’m a good shade darker but I didn’t really burn. Hooray for sunscreen!

We went out for dinner at an American 50’s style diner. Hamburgers and milkshakes- I think I’ve been missing my American culture.

And we topped it all off tonight with Christmas in Barcelona. It’s Maddi’s last night in Spain because she’s leaving with a group to Italy tomorrow, so we opened presents! The hotel bathroom had complimentary packages of random things. I got the package of tissues because I’ve had a bit of a cold for a couple days. Maddi got the razor and aftershave- she used the aftershave to put a white beard on her face to look like Santa. Stacy got a shower cap.  We decided to give the comb to Stephanie, because according to Maddi, she’s “combless”.

Tomorrow is my last day in Spain. Crazy!!

June 26: Barcelona Architecture Walking Tour O' Fury

We were supposed to meet in the lobby.

We woke up 10 minutes after we were supposed to meet in the lobby.

Since our alarm didn’t go off this morning, we woke up 10 minutes after we were supposed to meet in the lobby.

We didn’t get breakfast, since our alarm didn’t go off this morning and we woke up 10 minutes after we were supposed to meet in the lobby.

Ah well. Ce’st La Vie!

The most iconic building we saw today, and one of Barcelona’s main tourist attractions, is Gaudi’s Basilica De la Sacrada Familia- or Basicilica of the Sacred Family. Construction of the building began in the 1820s, and it’s STILL under construction today. In fact, it isn’t likely to be finished for another 20, maybe up to 40 years.  The basilica is very unique for its parabolic structure- a new invention in architecture at the time. I don’t understand it well enough to explain it, but essentially, Goudi discovered a way to use straight lines to build curved lines.

We also spent some time looking several at other works by Goudi. Goudi once said, “The straight line belongs to man; the curved line belongs to God.” What a perfect way to explain his style of architecture! Goudi’s designs are chock-full of curved lines. They have so many curved lines that the buildings look like they belong on a different planet. But there’s also a lot of symbolism behind his designs, which makes his work easier to appreciate.

We also walked through the business area in the city and saw a lot of really contemporary architecture. We saw way too many buildings to mention them all, plus most of them I can't remember their names, but these are pictures of some of my favorite buildings we saw:

June 25: Un Dia Bonita En Espania!

We have arrived in Barcelona! And we hit the ground running- our tour guide met us at the airport and we spent the rest of the day touring the streets of Barcelona.

Observations: it is SUNNY :D and humid. and there is a serious lack of space. (over 6 million people in about 3 square miles). There is design EVERYWHERE. There are hundreds of shoebox-sized shops and they all have interesting space design.

I finally feel like it's summer!

June 24th- Ou Voir, Paris!

I feel like we just got to Paris, and we're leaving tomorrow!

Today we went to the Pere- Lachaise cemetery to look at patterns. The place reminded me of the song "Wishing You Were Somehow Hear Again" from Phantom of the Opera . I saw James Morrison's grave, and apparently Oscar Wilde and Chopin are also buried there. A lot of the graves looked like small houses, and the cobbled paths throughout the cemetery had street names and signs... It was like a neighborhood for the dead. Kind of an eerie thought. It was a really interesting place and I actually enjoyed it.

On the way back to the Hotel we stopped at the Louxembourg gardens and sketched. When we got back and packed our things for the flight to Spain. Most everyone had to buy boxes at the post office and send stuff home because of the weight limit for our flight. Good news- I didn't have to because my stuff was just under the weight limit! :D

We did a little bit of shopping and had dinner at a local sandwich shop. Then to commemorate our last night in Paris, we ate pastries at the Eiffel tower and sketched. It was wonderful.

 

Our trip is nearing its end. Tomorrow morning, we're off to Barcelona!

Versailles

We finally got to Versailles today!

Versailles was the Palace of King Louis XIV (also self-proclaimed as the Sun King). Versailles was actually a hunting lodge before it became the king's palace. 

Then Mary Antoinette married the king and moved in, but she was more of a country girl and hated the attention of being queen. So she had the Grand Trianon built behind Versailles for her living quarters. But she still didn’t like how big that was, so she had the Trianon built. And then the Petite Trianon. And then she had a cottage. 

Personally, the cottages were my favorite. We didn’t get to go inside but the outside was just adorable. Very charming. We took a half hour to sketch the light-house looking thing across the pond from the cottages. As people passed us by they would peer over our shoulders to see our sketches. I felt so professional, getting all this attention and continuing like I didn’t even notice, like I’m used to it or too focused to care. I wish, haha!

We toured the gardens first. It took SIX HOURS to go through the gardens. And we didn’t even go through the whole thing! Needless to say, the gardens at Versailles are GIGANTUAN. 

Believe it or not, I wasn’t too impressed by the first gardens we went through. They were formal and weren't at all extravagant like I expected them to be. The gardens by Marie Antoinette’s village were much more country-esque, I guess you could say; the formality was gone, and they just seemed to have more life in them. 

I really liked walking through the Petite Trianon. I liked the way its style simplified the lavish rococo style of the times. 

Sketching the Petite Trianon in the rain

Le Petite Trianon

We didn’t tour the Grand Trianon or the cottages, but we walked around them and took pictures. I decided that I want to live in a cute little cottage when I grow up.

Last but not least, we walked through the actual palace at Versailles. Out of all the houses I've seen on this trip, this has got to be the most extravagant. It was insane. Various colored marble, at least one chandelier in every room, ceilings and sculptures plaited with gold, an enormous amount of detailing.... it was crazy. All of the rooms started to look the same after a while, but I did love seeing the Hall of Mirrors and Marie Antoinette's chambers.

June 22nd: Le Sacre Coeur

We were going to go to Versailles today. But the weather had a different idea. Since it was raining, and most of our time at Versailles would be in the gardens, we switched the schedule around a little bit.

Instead, we spent the morning working on patterns. One of our assignments on this trip is to design patterns inspired by each country we've been to. Then we all displayed our pattens and had a critique.
I'm pretty new to making patterns. We'll just leave it at that.

Next we went to Sacre Coeur, which means "Sacred Heart". It's a Roman Catholic basilica built on top of a hill. Sacre Coeur is relatively new- it was completed in 1914- but you wouldn't guess that by looking at its Roman- Byzantine architecture.

After walking through the church we looked around at the shops nearby. There were a bunch of artists selling their paintings and drawing people's portraits. I was amazed at how quickly they could whip out a portrait! I would say it probably took 20 to 30 minutes tops.

We bought dinner while we were still in Montramarte. And it was delicious, of course. Stacy and I bought crepes with ham, cheese, and egg, and then we got ice cream cones for dessert.

My highlight of the day was when we went to the Eiffel Tower tonight. We went to the very top! We took the stairs to the second level, then we had to take the elevator the rest of the way. There are 668 steps to the second level! And when we got to the very top, the view took my breath away. By then it was dark and the city lights were winking far below us. It was one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever known. It's too bad that photographs are never quite the same as the real thing.

The elevator: this is how the wimps do it.

The stairs: this is how the ladies do it. ;)

The Paris Opera House

Today was our last free day in France. I thoroughly enjoyed a nice, easy morning- I slept in, did laundry, grocery shopping, had lunch, and took a nap. It was bliss.

In the afternoon a group of us went to the Paris Opera House. It was built by the architect Charles Garnier in the Art Deco style. I have seen a lot of elaborate buildings in the past few weeks, but this was astounding. Unlike the other buildings I've seen, I actually liked its excessiveness. And of course I have to mention the fact that this opera house inspired Gaston Leroux to write his book The Phantom of the Opera.

Afterwards we walked back to Arc de Triomphe, then walked back to the hotel for dinner. We were planning on eating pastries under the lights of the Eiffel Tower, but today is Summer Solstice in France. Which means there is music playing on every corner, and all of the shops close early. We were actually exhausted anyway, so we came back to the hotel and watched Clue.

It was nice to take it easy for a day., and now I'm ready to get back into routine tomorrow! I can't wait for Versailles!