Barcelona stuff (2)

Last weekend, as you may have noted from my last post, I was in Barcelona. This was my first trip into continental Europe, and I don’t think I could have chosen a better place to start. The weather wasn't perfect - it was cool and often overcast - but it didn't really matter...

Every since I was at university I have wanted to see Barcelona. The primary reason for this is Antoni Gaudi. His work fascinated me from the start… it gives the impression of being completely uncontrolled and amorphous and yet, it is not wild or childish. To control and balance architecture that is so organic is amazing and quite awe inspiring.

His masterwork is Temple de la Sagrada Familia. The temple looms up out of Eixample (pronounced ‘esharmplah’ and meaning ‘extension’) to the West of the Old City. Photos do not do it justice; they do not let you look into the remarkable detail of the facades, particularly the Nativity Façade to the East front. Covered in carvings or people, animals and plants you could spend hours exploring the figures. It is a lush, vibrant and overwhelming combination of art and architecture. Its contrast is the West front, the Passion Façade. It is stark and sharp edged, but no less beautiful.

…and then of course you walk inside. The forest of stone columns are quite literally tree trunks, with the branches reaching up to the ceiling where they spread into vaults glittering with gold. The naïve is still unfinished and the stark ends of the vaults contrast with the bright sun and blue of the sky. 2026 is the current estimate for completion and will be the 100th anniversary of the Architects death. A good excuse to go back I think.

Of course Barcelona is dotted with Gaudi’s work, particularly the district of Eixample. It was the major area of the City to expand during his lifetime. It was developed in the middle of the 19th century to cope with the growing city. The old city walls were demolished and a regular grid of street laid out to the west on the field between Barcelona and the village of Gracia. There are broad avenues lined with trees which contrast with the maze of narrow alleyways in the old city and the hillside of Gracia.

I did a lot of walking in Barcelona. Walking and the Metro seem to be the best ways to get around. Or course you see more walking as the metro in underground… so, mostly I walked; through the Old City, on La Rambla, along the beach.
Barcelona seems a very easy place to live. It has good shopping, eating and drinking, a beach, some great museums and friendly people. Shame I don’t speak Spanish (yet)...

Barcelona stuff

There are things you expect to find in Barcelona...

• art
• architecture
• museums

I wasn't expecting a couple of gum trees though...

Happy Easter!

I thought I would post this a few days early as I am off to Barcelona for the weekend tomorrow night...
So, a very happy Easter to you all!

AAF

Today I bought a cow...
...well, not a real cow... just someone's impression of a cow.
Strangely enough the purchase of the cow was a direct result of a short trip in a train on the London Underground.
On Monday evening, heading home from a late meeting, my attention was attracted by an advertisement. It was advertising an affordable art fair in Battersea Park.
So, I thought I would wander along and take a look considering Battersea is not too far from home... and tonight I did just that.
My thought, walking through the park this evening, was that I might find a small affordable impression of London, something to take home to Australia eventually that would remind me of life here...
The art fair was in a huge temporary structure and I could not even guess how many artists and paintings where exhibited. The concept is great and was well attended even on a cool, drizzly mid-week evening.
So, I went looking for a painting of London... unfortunately painting of London were very scarce, and those that were there were not quite as affordable as I might have liked.
But my gaze fell upon a painting i liked... strangely enough... of a cow... I have never previously considered buying art of farm animals... but tonight I did...
Thus, I am now the owner of 'Bessie'!

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The answer to the question at the end of the previous post...

...is Canterbury.

It is a week and a bit ago now... (and yes, I have been a tad slack in updating the blog, sorry!) but the day dawned sunny so I took a train east and spent a day wandering about Canterbury. The cathedral is clearly the highlight of the town. I spent a couple of hours slowly wandering about the buildings and ground with my audio-tour handset against my head looking like a 1980's mobile phone.

The audio-tour is to be found at most attractions in the UK and can be had in a variety of languages (generally I chose English, for those of you who may be wondering). Personally I prefer a proper tour conducted by a human being. The audio-tour has more detail, but people always have more character and their wonderful little anecdotes the are lacking from the recorded version.

Unfortunately I was a few minutes too late for the guided tour of Canterbury Cathedral so the audio-tour it had to be. It was rather verbose and had a rather heavy backing of organ music, but generally it got the point of what I was looking at across... eventually.

The highlight of the visit was a large, temporary set of tiered seats in the middle of the naive. These, very conveniently, contained about 100 of the Cathedral's choristers who spent the entire time I was in the building rehearsing. The sound of those voices echoing through the stone vaults and aisles made for a most uplifting experience (and thankfully overpowered the organ music background of my audio-tour).

Having now visited quite a number of cathedrals, abbeys and minsters it will be interesting, next time I am in Brisbane, to visit the nearly complete St John's. Clippings from the Brisbane press sent to me recently (my mother likes to keep me in touch with the local news) have shown its copper spires being erected, a mere 104 years after the building was started. I wonder what it will look like in 800 years?