We met Rachad from Lebanon, who helped us took various pictures, and vice versa.  We tried to meet up for dinner later, but the times didn't work out for us as we have to catch an early train for Valencia the next day

Sagrada Familia

This church is amazing!  We are so glad we booked the tickets earlier, thanks to the couple from Boston yesterday, who suggested that we purchase the tickets online ahead of time as there was a really really long line up.  The church has 3 sections: the nativity facade, the passion facade, and the glorie facade.  This is a major piece by Gaudi and he did not live to see it finished.  He completed the nativity facade, and someone else completed the passion facade for him (you can see the work is very different, there is a lack of details in the sculptures; it could be done intentionally and I wouldn't have known).  They are still in the process of completing the glorie facade, which looks really modern while retaining some of the motives of Gaudi.

According to the audio guide, Gaudi has an obession with light and acoustics (which is apparent in his other piece of work - the Guell Palace from yesterday).  He loves letting natural light into buildings, and for this church, he made it so that you can see all the colours of the rainbow as light shines in through the stained glass.  It was so pretty!  The roof was designed so that sound is reflected perfectly everywhere in the church, as least that was what he hoped for.  Gaudi focused on the functionality of the building without neglecting the aesthetic aspect of it.  

Casa Batllo

Another amazing work of Gaudi!  There is a theme to this building.  Gaudi integrated nature into this piece of work.  There are almost no straight lines in this building, except maybe for some door frames, vents, and stairs.   The ceiling structures in parts of the building reminded me of an animal's vertebrae, so does one of the structures on the roof, which reminded me of the back of the dragon (or lizard) from Parc Guell.  The entrance fee is totatlly worth it, though it is quite expensive.  According to the audio guide, the mosaic tiles that he used was actually a solution to cover the curved surfaces of the chimneys.  He also designed the chimneys to have covers so that they would last.   

Gaudi always work closely with his team, ie. all the people involved in building his designs, because he often only has a picture drawn out for the building with no actual building plans.  That's probably why it took him so long to finish a piece of work.  But to me, these are not just buildings, they are a form of art.  I truly admire this architect, and I bought my first children book here, thinking I will read it to my class.  His work was not well-received at the time, but he pressed on.  He was very unconventional and creative in his designs, well beyond his time.  I thought that it would be a good lesson for my students, to encourage them to think outside the box.

We also passed by Casa Mila, but it was already closed and it was covered by a huge advertiment sign.  Oh well, I think we have already seen the best work of Gaudi anyways.