La Sagrada Familia

Today we had 11 am entry tickets to La Sagrada Familia, the Magnus opus of Antoni Gaudi. The cathedral-sized building's construction began in 1882 and is still a work in progress even after Gaudi's death. At this point, the church only has a basilica status as it is not yet the seat of a bishop. 

Gaudi's unique style is evident throughout this relatively modern cathedral in the making. Nakia observed it could be a building in Game of Thrones, because it was so fantastical. Here are some pictures of the facades one of which is the Nativity and the other, the Passion:

He wanted to incorporate nature into the building, so the columns look like trees and parts of the church tried to look organic with branches. Here are some photos including Jesus hanging over the main altar:

Also there are different languages represented. Prayers would be listed in Catalan, Spanish, and English. Here's the Apostles' Creed in Catalan:

I prayed in a chapel area for a bit, but it wasn't all that peaceful as you could hear the drilling and the hammers of the ongoing work. Even the Confessional was funky: 

On one of the bronze doors, the plan is to have the "Our Father" in Catalan and they have different languages saying "Give us our daily bread" which I took a shot of in Korean:

Here's a photo of the organ pipes that glistens from the reflection of the stained glass: 

We went up to the Nativity Tower via an elevator and walked down a spiraling staircase. We explored the heights of the massive church of this architectural genius. You can see the representation of the Bread and Wine close up amidst the construction:

After hitting up the gift shop, we came back to the hotel where I hung out by the pool. Although not super sunny, I was glad it didn't rain today while we were out  walking around. 

After reading by the pool a bit, it started to rain, so I met Nakia back in the room as she was jet lagged and taking a siesta. 

Tonight, we had reservations at 41 Degrees, another Adrià brothers' restaurant. This is supposed to be closest to the elBulli experience of molecular gastronomy with 41 dishes served. We had to make a nonrefundable 50€ deposit each just to secure the reservation two months ago!

The food was so unique that words cannot describe. Entire bites would represent the flavors of a country, such as Mexico, Vietnam, and Peru. Here's a photo collage from Nakia:

Here's another one from Nakia from our cute server making a deconstructed Bloody Mary:

And then two collages from me which includes a photo of the projections in the restaurant which was coordinated with music. Also, a personalized menu signed by our servers:

A once in a lifetime foodie experience!