Sagrada Familia Con Mi Familia

We woke up early to maximize our 2 days here in Barcelona, since the strike yesterday impinged us a bit. Across the street from our hotel is a very conventional Gaudi building, but Gaudi nonetheless called Casa Calvet and pictured below:



We walked over to the metro for 2 stops to the Sagrada Familia. I had purchased a full package with a trip up to the towers and audio guide weeks ago and was hoping to beg them to let us in. However, we quickly learned they were not honoring the tickets from yesterday (but will be refunding us in due time), and the only tickets available had to be purchased on the web for tomorrow. So Justin used his phone and we bought tickets for 5:45 pm and although a bit tight with our airport transfer pickup, doable. I was also thinking I would have the transfer meet us at a hotel closer to the church.

We circled the church in dismay and pondered what to do, and I obviously regretted not buying Thursday tickets yesterday when there were more available. Here are some photos from around the church:





Then we stumbled upon, or he found us, a travel agent selling tickets for entry at noon and obviously marked up. We decided this was the best route as this included an in-depth tour guide. We walked over a block and made our purchases along with many others who were frustrated with the lack of accommodation and backed into a corner with their flight plans. Justin and I decided to ask the travel agent to print our tickets that we purchased for tomorrow and he did (even in color); and we decided to try to sell them. We sold 2 almost immediately to 2 British tourists who were here for a few days, but at this point tomorrow and Friday were already sold out. You really have to plan ahead, as these Gaudi sites get increasingly popular.

The real struggle was finding 2 senior citizens and I approached many pairs trying not to insult them and assume they were over 65. Indeed, the challenge was finding a twosome and several would have taken them, but the time was inconvenient for them tomorrow or they would have left already. Curiously enough, several were grateful and even purchased themselves the same overpriced tour for today and were even on our tour. Finally, we found 2 Korean senior citizens from Seattle who took the tickets off our hands. To be honest, if you're in Barcelona for only a few days and you don't have this set, we were doing them a favor.

So we waited in McDonald's for our noon tour and our guide was passionate and insisted on telling us every detail. There were many tourists who just wanted to get inside and only had 30 minutes, but they bought the tickets just for the access. He didn't seem to enjoy being rushed and finally allowed them to be dismissed.

We spent a lot of time on the Passion facade as shown in the next few photos which have very expressive faces:









Here are a few selfies of us using those tour headsets:

 

He led us through the museum which had many models, like the one below that was a recreated with 3D technology scans and from a broken model:



Some inspiration for Gaudi who tried to understand the architecture of a spider to create the structure:



The workshop for the continued work - over 200 people continue to work to finish the basilica:



Here are some photos of the Nativity facade which tells the story of Christmas and even has a Christmas tree in the middle - many local people apparently sat for Gaudi as he made his sculptures to create this facade:









And finally we were inside with columns that were not truly vertical. Gaudi believed nature was his inspiration and always noticed trees were never really straight.

















My mom and brother next to the granite columns in an otherwise sandstone structure:



Mama Kim was finally eager to be inside as the guide had belabored many points. There are so many tourists and apparently the extended time to finish the structure had been due to insufficient funding. Supposedly, the Spaniards really didn't care for it, but because so many tourists want to see this structure, they have even worked to expedite its completion, targeted for 2022 now up from 2026. This is the reason why we came to Barcelona and my mom, I'm sure at points wished we had just done our tour tomorrow at our pace. But now, a bucket list has been completed and we have the photo of our family below, outside and inside:



At this point we were a bit hungry, but did not want to eat that much before our dinner tonight. So we shared a few tapas plates at Casa de Angela nearby, and hopped on the metro and transferred to the Funicular to go up to Montjuïc Park. Here we were visiting the Miró museum, which was really great. Here are a few photos:

A view of Barcelona from top of the museum (the tent from the private party is kind of in the way) and a photo of the family standing on the ramp leading to the top floor:



After the museum, we took the #150 bus to Plaza España, and on the way, saw the Olympic stadium, park, and torch. At the metro, Justin and my dad opted to go back to the hotel, and my mom and I were in search for espadrilles from a Korean tv program she saw.

When we exited, we walked along Las Ramblas, the Times Square of Barcelona, in my opinion:



And walked by Palau Güell, another Gaudi building:



We stopped in Plaza Reial, to see the Gaudi lamps which have the Barcelona seal and a Hermes helmet on top:



We found the espadrilles store where they make shoes by hand and was filled with tourists and many Koreans. The store workers could speak basic Korean and we enjoyed the sharing of shoes in trying to try different pairs as quickly as possible. Here's a photo of my mom in front and then inside, a worker making a pair:



We met my brother and dad back at the hotel, where we rested about 3 hours before our meal at Disfrutar, known for deconstructing their dishes and owned by Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch, who had all worked under Ferran Adrià of El Bulli fame.

Here's a collage of some of our drinks: Rioja, a salad deconstructed, and cider made with dry ice.



Our meal included 20 or so dishes and was beautiful. My mom said she was feeling like she was eating art. My favorites were the olives, ceviche, foie gras, razor clams.



Anna was our thoughtful and thorough waitress. Here's a collage of her preparing a few of the dishes:



And finally our desserts. Mango sorbet in apple merengue, cheesecake cornet, chocolate peppers, and cotton of coca and mint. The presentation was amazing - you could easily confuse the edible cotton and the decoration.



Copies of our menu which are the same except for half of us got duck and the other got pork in lieu of the usual pigeon (for the record, I've had pigeon and it's fine, but my brother was not as inclined):

So an adventurous day and in trying to make up for yesterday. I leave you with this photo of Papa Kim sucking on a "mandarin flower for its essence" at Disfrutar: