Ramblin’ – Barcelona, Spain – [11/18/2014]

I would love to say that I adored Barcelona the first time that I set foot in it, but in reality the first time I was in Barcelona I hardly saw it all, every time I was there it was a turn around port, which meant I had time to take the shuttle to town, walk half way up the street, take a grand total of ten pictures and head back to work.

I didn’t truly see or grasp the beauty of Barcelona until my Big Brother “gave” it to me for my birthday last year (“what did you get for your birthday Shaughnessy?” “oh nothing…just Barcelona”). That’s a whole other blog entry that is.

Anyway, since I had an entire afternoon off, and Kitkat is essentially not working right now (she’s youth staff, and there’s only one teen on board who prefers to hang out with her dad) – we had time. Now, I am not my Big Brother, when Amras drags me out, he has a plan – I…do not. I didn’t even have a map, I mean I had a general idea of where I was going though…once I figured out which direction was once (although with Barcelona, it’s hard to get lost because the main street is well…a very obvious straight line).

Sadly, we did have a bit of a false start…as I’m standing at the information center securing directions on which metro line to take to get to where I knew we wanted to go, Kitkat comes up to me looking completely stricken.

I don’t have a memory card in my camera

You…what???

I forgot to put the memory card in my camera! I only just checked and noticed it! So none of the pictures I took so far saved! None of them! Not one!

Well I can’t take you to the cathedral without a camera!!

So back to the ship we went, and then back out we went. I had hoped to stumble on the Irish pub I knew was around somewhere, but for the life of me I couldn’t find it (though as it turned out I walked right past it, we saw it on the way back…d’oh!) – though in my defense the last time I saw that place it was the small hours of the morning…one doesn’t tend to register much in the way of landmarks at that hour.

Aaanyway…

We were the only ones in the place we did go for lunch, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing – quiet can be really good sometimes. And the pizza was yummy…

We were in the midst of shopping (well, kind of shopping) when I asked KitKat what time it was

We should go if I want to get you to the church

Is it really that important?

YES!

Sagrada Família– otherwise known as the Gaudi Church – is only perhaps a fifteen minute metro trip away from the Las Ramblas; once we figured out which ticket was which, it wasn’t that difficult. Except for my near panic attack when the train stopped mid-trip…I’m totally fine on subways if they’re moving, if they get stuck where they’re not supposed to my heart starts racing. This was when I suddenly became super aware of the fact that KitKat works with kids, I think if she hadn’t have been there to calm me down I may well have actually freaked out. But the stall was only for a few minutes, probably less than five, and then we trundled on our way again.

This is one of those times when I suppose things are passed on down the line. I introduced Kitkat to Sagrada Família the same way Amras introduced it to me…and really, it is the best way…

The metro station lets out in such a way that when you climb the stairs the church is behind you…therefore. So I stand there for a second at the top of the stairs, and drop an arm around my ‘twin’s’ shoulders and say:

Now then, I wonder where this thing could be…

And then I take her by both shoulders and turn her around

Whoa…that…that is…

Yeah…I know..

How do you even …

You don’t…now come on…or are you just going to stand there?

As we were making our way around the front of the building I noticed something unusual – really unusual. The courtyard, normally thronged with tours so that you can’t even see the doors, is almost empty.

Kit…look how few people there are…that’s…it’s never like this

So we make our way around the back of the building, and stop when we see that the normally hours long ticket line is…short. And moving. This is a line that normally wraps around the building. When Amras and I were here we didn’t even try…it wasn’t worth it.

This time? Ten minute wait…

We got in…

Oh. My. Lord.

It’s been a long time since a building made me cry, but my eyes were wet. It was an instinctive response. The Basilica is like nothing I’ve ever seen, or experienced. It was…it was like walking into a forest. That’s’ what it felt like, I suspect that’s what it was meant to feel like. It was awe inspiring in a completely different way than any other religious building I had set foot in. It’s said that Gaudi created his buildings to look as if they had grown, as if they were of the earth…if that was in fact his goal, he succeeded beyond measure. I was so stunned, that I completely forgot I should have shed my hat at the door until one of the staff came up to remind me.

We had paid extra for the opportunity to take the tour up to the top of one of the soaring towers at the front of the building, so we were presented with a view of Spain that takes your breath away, and the chance to see some of the details of the building that you simply can’t take in from a distance, in fact you can barely take them in close up! Even the spiral staircase that wound tightly back down to ground floor felt like something out of a fairy tale.

It’s the stairway that doesn’t end!

I know I’m getting dizzy!

Look at who we are, look at what we can build, look at what we can be.

I understand now, a bit more of what Gaudi meant when he supposedly responded to criticism and query that the church’s completion would never be seen within his own lifetime.

My client is in no hurry

He said.

This place, was not meant to be rushed, or taken in in a hurry, this place, was meant to entrance you enough to stop. And not enough places – or people – do that.