However, here we were in the city of the Segrada Familia and this is the day we will go inside therefore what else could we do but go and see it. Fortunately, we had been given a very valuable piece of information - before going to the Sagrada Familia book tickets on line and avoid the queues! Ha - this Barry did before we went there and what a wonderful piece of info that turned out to be.
Even in the pouring rain and well outside the tourist season there was a queue that stretched a long, long, long way. All we had to do was go to a different entrance a little bit further along, show the gatekeeper the booking number, which was on Barry's phone, the tickets were then printed and in we went. Thanks Emma and Brit for this info.
I doubt that we would have stood for hours in the pouring rain to get in but gone back the next day which wasn't any different than this one, as it turned out. In we went, minus the camera, which did actually turn out to be a positive because I would have taken photos, probably hundreds of them, and not one would have done justice to what we saw. IT WAS QUITE SIMPLY AMAZING. The thinking behind the design of just everything is incredible from allowing natural light in according to the time of day to the ventilation and of course more architectural features such as the supports for the ceiling simulating being in a forest. It was a shame that it wasn't a sunny day because I think that the effect of the sunlight coming through the stained glass would have been really something to see. As it was it was still something to see and to read about the reasoning behind the designing of everything involved. Not only are these things inside but they're also outside as well. The information panels are well done and have clear instructions as to where to find the next one. We gave the outside ones a miss because of the weather - very heavy rain and very loud thunder booming overhead - until we'd finished inside which took ages because we weren't in any hurry except that the temperature was dropping and dropping and eventually I got really cold, Barry is much more resilient to the cold but even he felt the cold after a while. The rain had eased off to a drizzle by the time we got outside so we had a quick look at the statues of saints etc and then into the museum which was well worth the look. Being outside the tourist season meant that there wasn't an impossible number of people in there and we were able to look and read the info without any bother. We spent quite a bit of time in there as well and then last place to go to was the ............ SHOP ....... oh, yes there's always 'the shop' and we did buy something although now I don't remember exactly what we bought and it's now back in Auckland. Will be a nice surprise for me next June.
Finally, we were finished at the Sagrada Familia - what a place, what an amazing mind behind the design - fantastic. Personally, I'm not that fussed about the outside, I think it's all rather messy like a hotch-potch of ideas and features and as for the size of it - well, really - did it have to be so overwhelmingly enormous causing lots of people living round about to miss out on their sunshine. However, inside is just simply incredible. Gaudi apparently said that when it was finished people would come from all over the world to see it and he certainly wasn't wrong about that. I think that it's well worth visiting.
From there we went to The Hiberian Bookshop, not a usual tourist hang-out but it was written up in one of the guide books and seemed interesting to me. It's not often that I see a bookshop written up in a tourist guide book so worth a look I thought. After another metro ride and finding our way through little narrow streets we found it. What a sense of achievement we have when we successfully do these things, talking about Barry and I not the all encompassing 'we' being the entire population! Turned out it is a damned good bookshop - all English language books - millions of them. What a find! I managed to limit my selection to 2. Hah- well done I hear you say. I was mindful that one of us would be carrying what I bought, I think Barry bought 1 as well. We then headed back to our 'local cafe' to see if the later shift people had picked up the camera and it was put somewhere different than the usual place.
And they had!!!!!!!!! Oh wow oh wow. Turned out that just after we left there the night before a lady had picked it up and HANDED IT INTO THE STAFF, oh yes she did! Oh, the joy that an honest person had picked it up. But where was it? No, not in the cafe but in the hotel behind the cafe because the staff thought that that's where we were staying so they took it there. Off we went to the hotel accompanied by the waiter who'd taken it there and there it was waiting for us to come and get it. The contact details of the lady who'd found the camera were with it and turned out that she works at the dentist just opposite the hotel and in front of the cafe. Unfortunately, we didn't get to thank her personally because when we went there on Monday before we headed to the railway station it was before she began her shift so we left a small token of thanks with her co-worker to give to her. We were so grateful to her therefore disappointed not to be able to say so directly to her. Actually, I was over the moon to have my camera back. Lesson learnt - be mindful of what I'm doing with it, i.e. keep it attached to me and do not put it beside me and run the risk of forgetting about it.
Another thing that we'd read about was a candle shop written up in the guide book as the place to go to find gifts that are somewhat different than the usual run of the mill stuff. What else could we do but go and find it. It helped that this candle shop was on the way to where we actually wanted to go, which was to the 'Magic Fountain'. Well, the candle shop turned out to be exactly that - a candle shop - with a few other bits and pieces but really nothing out of the ordinary. But, once again, we had the satisfaction of another map- reading, metro traveling, narrow street negotiating mission successfully completed.
We had a nice time looking around the shop and chatting to the 2 assistants in our limited Spanish - it was fun and -I took a photo!
she's making candles, literally hundreds of them
Turned out that the fountain is a bit of a walk and by this time the rain was absolutely pouring down and staying dry became a bit of a joke. We just got wet from the ground up because there doesn't seem to be a drainage system to drain the water off the walkways so the water lays on top and the rain hitting the water makes it splash up hence getting wet from the ground up. The fountain was enormous. Actually the whole area was on an enormous scale - the fountain, the buildings, the open space. Would be an amazing place on a summers evening but then I guess it would be a crush of people. We watched the fountain for a while, a lot of water both in and out of the fountain - all around us and coming down on us. The water of the fountain changed colour and some sort of jazz music was playing over loud speakers.
the walkway to the fountain
and finally here it is
We eventually got tired of the wetness and we were getting cold so back to the metro and home we went, first stopping off at our local cafe for dinner.
The end to the day was certainly much brighter than the start of the day, that's for sure. Not even the ongoing downpour could put a damper on my delight at having my camera back.
No comments:
Post a Comment