Barcelona tourist traps.
17/6/12
We all had a much needed sleep in today then grabbed a taxi off to Park Guell.
Park Guell is an amazing park originally designed by Antoni Gaudi as a housing estate, but it fell through with only two houses ever being built. It must have been an early global financial crisis. The result is a huge public open park that showcases Gaudi's designs. It's just a pleasure to wander through and look around. It's always busy with tourists and the locals tuck away in the corners of the park for quiet picnics. Suzanne and I found a lute player playing there two years ago and bought one of his CDs. He was still there today, playing his lute. Boy he must be getting tired. Boom boom!
When we get home and finish the renovation you can bet you'll see some Gaudi influenced mosaics in the kitchen.
17/6/12
We all had a much needed sleep in today then grabbed a taxi off to Park Guell.
Park Guell entrance
Park Guell is an amazing park originally designed by Antoni Gaudi as a housing estate, but it fell through with only two houses ever being built. It must have been an early global financial crisis. The result is a huge public open park that showcases Gaudi's designs. It's just a pleasure to wander through and look around. It's always busy with tourists and the locals tuck away in the corners of the park for quiet picnics. Suzanne and I found a lute player playing there two years ago and bought one of his CDs. He was still there today, playing his lute. Boy he must be getting tired. Boom boom!
When we get home and finish the renovation you can bet you'll see some Gaudi influenced mosaics in the kitchen.
Mum and daughter at Park Guell.
Then it was off for a nice lunch at a little restaurant across the road that we visited last time we were here.
Dad embarrassing daughter (again) at lunch.
We finished off the day with a visit to a Salvador Dali museum just behind our apartment, but not without some more shopping on the way. The girls loved the Dali exhibition and it was a big hit.
Daughter embarrassing parents at Dali exhibition.
18/6/12
Today's effort started with a late lunch at the hard Rock cafe followed by a visit to casa Battlo. This is my third visit to the magical building designed by Antoni Gaudi for Joseph Battlo i Cassanovas. Google it and you will see how Gaudi weaved his magic in designing this building. It's not only aesthetically pleasing but it's practical as well utilising natural ventilation to cool the whole building. It's a shame modern architects don't use a few of these "old" ideas in today's homes in Australia. It's a real wow moment when you walk inside and I recommend it to anyone who visits Barcelona.
Paige inside the top room in Casa Battlo.
Luckily the shops were still open when we left so we could squeeze in a little last minute shopping on the way home. The way the shopping is going, this might only be a three month trip to Europe not twelve like originally planned...but I'm assured everything that has been bought has been a bargain.
Something I love about Barcelona, and most of Europe I believe, is that you can take your dog pretty much anywhere. Shops, hotels, restaurants and so on are happy for you to bring your pooch inside if it's well behaved. Fashion is also fairly high on the agenda in Barcelona. So I was surprised to see leg warmers being worn in a high fashion store when we were there:
Leg warmers! What was she thinking?
Tomorrow is our last full day in Barcelona so we'll have to squeeze in all we've missed so far, then it's off to Paris. Hope there are no shops there.
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