Rivers & Roads

      This morning our program took us on a free guided tour of the Sagrada Família which was amazing! Not only was the tour great, we also didn't have to wait in the huge line that is normally outside of the church. I remember mal and john saying that they highly recommended taking a guided tour when they were at the Sagrada and I would agree. There is so much information about Gaudí and the building that it would be very overwhelming trying to grasp it all on your own. A few fun facts that I learned are that it is technically a Basilica not a Cathedral because Barcelona already has a cathedral and there can only be one in each city. Construction started in 1882 by a different architect, who quickly gave up after building just part of the foundation, and then Gaudí took over. They are hoping to finish the basilica by 2026, for the hundred year anniversary of Gaudí's death. Gaudí died by getting hit by a tram on his way to Sunday mass. By the end of his life he had become completely obsessed with the Sagrada and had no money. When he was hit by the tram, he looked like a homeless beggar so no one knew for a few days that it was Gaudí, and he died days later. The tallest spire that has yet to be built, which will symbolize Jesus, will be almost twice as big as the spires we see now and it will have a huge cross at the top with lights shooting out of it like a light house.There is a museum down underneath the main part of the church which is also where current architects are working on creating models for what has yet to be built. We were lucky enough to see some workers in action with their fancy 3D printers making beautiful little spires. It is fascinating to see how far technology has come from when Gaudí started planning using string and sand bags to 3D printers. But I guess it's still all in the theme of modernisme! Here are a few photos:

     This past weekend (by weekend I mean Thursday-Tuesday) was another big holiday here in Barcelona called La Merce! It involves big parades every night followed by free concerts in all of the major plazas throughout the city, fire dances, human towers, fireworks and much more. Also Matt (Jb's bff) was traveling through Barcelona this weekend so he stayed at our apartment for a few days which was really fun! Having this festival going on made it a little harder to show him some of the big attractions of Barcelona because a lot of things were closed, but it was also a really fun weekend for him to be here. It also forced me to do some more touristy things that I had been putting off but were well worth it in the end. This is the first moment I have had to breath all week, so as much fun as the festival was I am looking forward to a much more relaxing weekend here in Barcelona. Here are a few photos from the weekend:

Here are just a few photos from exploring Barcelona so far: