Saturday, June 26th

Today we woke up and got breakfast at the hotel again at 9 a.m. First thing we did was head over to the church Gaudi designed! It was an incredibly strange mix of styles, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Did you know that Gaudi lived in the basement of this church during his last years? He turned into quite the mess and he ended up getting hit by a train and dying soon after. THe strange thing is, he looked so dirty and like a homeless man, nobody recognized him for days! Finally they realized that it was the famous architect Gaudi who was this dirty and dying man. The church is STILL not done-- at least twenty more years! In all, it will have taken over 100 years to create, quite a long time!

Here are pictures of the facade we entered, where Gaudi designed a scene depicting the creation story and the birth of Jesus. See how the pillars are held up by turtles!







Once we entered the church, it was like we were at a completely different place! The inside is meant to look kind of like a forest, and the stain glass windows brought in the most beautiful rainbow light.



Once you leave, once again it feels like you're in a completely different place! The second finished facade depicts the Passion. The style is completely different, and it should be since Gaudi didn't design or make it!





Once we left the church, we headed straight to the Cathedral for another try! It was beautiful, as are most cathedrals! We got to see the crypt of a female Saint who was tortured to death and later made a Saint. We had to put a coin in to turn on the light to view the crypt, as 'Illumination comes with a price." We were going to head into the Cloister as well but it was closed :-(





After the cathedral, we went to a park designed by Gaudi. This had amazing views of the city too, as well as some cool Guadi houses!







After the park, we headed to a lovely lunch at a hotel, and then we were free for the day! I roamed around the city with karen again and then we went to the pool and read and got more sun!

For dinner we ate cheap food again, and then went to the same student-chef restaurant to have some sangria! While we were sitting at the table looking out the plaza my friend Dana from my sorority at Syracuse happpened to walk by! It was nice to have a little reunion. After dinner, we headed home so we could get up early for the car ride home the next morning.






I absolutely loved Barcelona! It was a beautiful city with tons to visit, and I certainly wish I'd had more time there! All in all, a fantastic weekend!