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| What a city! |
Objective #1 for the day became apparent when I opened my suitcase in the morning: two clean shirts, one clean pair of boxers, and one clean pair of pants. I needed to get some laundry done. Today.
Dressed, stuffed my dirty laundry into a plastic bag, grabbed breakfast at a cafeteria across the street, and used their wifi to locate a
lavandería within walking distance. Which I found with surprising ease.
The attendant was a harried-looking woman, a few years younger than me. Her hair was pulled back in a work-practical ponytail and she wore the expression of a person with a lot on her plate. I dropped my bag of dirty clothes on the counter.
"
¿Las quiere limpiar?" she asked. (Do you want them cleaned?)
"Claro," I said. (Of course.)
"
Mañana, por la tarde," she said, in a firm tone of finality.
"Tomorrow afternoon..." I thought. What to do? Did I want to spend time trying to find another
lavandería to see if they might be able to clean my clothes on a more convenient timetable? Or would it be best to leave my clothes here and be done with it? I still had one clean shirt. But I was wearing my last set of clean underwear.
Snap decision time. Tomorrow, I wear my one clean shirt and my pants. As far as boxer shorts, I'll just have to go "commando."
These are the sacrifices that travel sometimes demands.
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| Genius architect Gaudí's magnum opus, La Sagrada Familia, Construction began in 1882. |
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| La Sagrada Familia |
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| La Sagrada Familia |
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| La Sagrada Familia |
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| Construction continues, long after Gaudí's 1926 death. Estimated completion date? 2026! |
Decision made, I found my way to a street corner, right across from
la Iglesia Sagrada Familia where I caught a tour bus to take me around the city. Another of those
hop on/hop off affairs.
My first hop off was another Gaudí work:
Parque Güell. It's an architectural masterpiece as these photos clearly show.
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| Parque Güell |
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| Parque Güell |
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| Parque Güell |
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| Parque Güell |
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| Parque Güell |
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| Parque Güell |
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| Parque Güell |
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| Parque Güell |
The park was full of tourists, all of us shooting photos like smolt snapping at mosquitoes. In the midst of it all, I had a fond memory of the last time I'd been here, in 1999, when I had shared a picnic lunch with a lonely Chinese-Canadian girl named
Tara. I wondered where she is now, and how the intervening years have treated her. I hope she is as happy as I am.
Eventually, I left the park and started back down the hill, to hop back on the tour bus. But I stopped first, and had a peak inside a Catholic church dedicated to Saint Joseph. Within, I found one of those unsettling depictions of the Crucifixion.
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| Inside the St. Joseph church |
I love the Catholic church, but I've never been comfortable with these macabre depictions. Then again, I'm not
Catholic. Not yet, anyway.
My next stop on the bus tour was
La Pedrada, another of Gaudí's works. This is an upscale house that demonstrates Gaudí's vision. Somewhat ironic, when you consider that Gaudí, himself, lived the life of an ascetic and died in a pauper's hospital after being hit by a streetcar.
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| La Pedrada, facade |
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| La Pedrada, inside |
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| La Pedrada, rooftop |
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| La Pedrada, rooftop |
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| Turn that damn music down! |
After I finished short-stepping it through
La Pedrada, I'd had enough of dealing with tourists. (Said it before and I'll say it again: there's no contempt like self-contempt.) I spent the rest of the afternoon riding on the top deck of the bus and scouting out places to visit over the next two days.
Because I've got another 2 full days of Barcelona. And being here brings back why I love this city so much.
Hope all is well at home or wherever you are, dear reader. Thanks for checking in on my adventures.
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