So Gaudy

We had a double decker bus tour of Barcelona today.   The architecture of the buildings in this city is amazingly unique.  Many areas were designed by Antoni Gaudi, 7 of which have been added to world heritage sites.   There are 7 beaches a marina and the Olympic village. All were impressive to say the least.



It is a little and beautiful city, situated near the seashore…

Sunday and we leave Paris.  It’s a rainy day so it helps us feel a bit better about leaving.  We will be taking a short flight from Paris to Barcelona.  At the airport the custom is to stand in a line waiting to board.  The line winds down the corridor, everyone is jockeying for a good position.  Of course we join in.  (even with assigned seats!!) Flight attendants walk down the line and check the passports and boarding passes then initial them so you may enter when the plane doors open.  When our tickets are checked she tells Pat “oh, you have an exit row, you must have paid extra! You may go to the front of the line!”

Hahaha…….. Nope.  That’s not going to happen. “Excuse me….  We’re in the front row, step aside all!”

We LOVE Barcelona!!  The city is absolutely beautiful, the people are kind and welcoming and the sun is shining and it’s a perfect day. 

 

On arrival at our hotel the front desk asked if we wanted breakfast the next morning.  After a ‘yes’ he called the chef to advise him to bake something gluten free.  (we had mentioned it when we made our room reservations several months ago.) 

 

 

 The room has the most stunning view of The Sagrada Familia in the city. 

 

 



"We'll always have Paris"

Paris is lovely!  I think we walked every street!  The cool weather combined with our misunderstanding of which side of the river we were on enabled us to walk for hours and hours.  It's amazing how little bistros can look so similar!

 

The River Seine

 

Notre-Dame

cathedral

Construction started in 1163 and finished in 1345

 

Stunning!

 

Paris in October.

We have arrived safely in Paris.  It’s overcast and a bit humid.  ~ 62 degrees. 

Cool hotel! 

We walked a great deal around our hotel this morning.  We stumbled across the most beautiful park ever.  Jardin Du Luxembourg.  The leaves are changing and it is a wonderful blend of reds, yellows browns and green.  The park is filled with awe inspiring vistas at every turn.  Joggers pepper the park as well as chess and tennis players.  Several artists are painting and there are wonderful little areas with seating for meditation or reading or simply people watching.  I want to spend every Friday afternoon in a Parisian park whiling away the hours!   

This lion appears to have captured an ostrich!!

There is also an amazing playground for children with some really fun equipment.

There is a palace that has become the Senate.  This park was commissioned by Marie de Medicis, wife of Henri IV in 1615 and was designed to resemble her childhood Florentine home.  The park does in fact resemble Florence.  Lovely indeed!   

After much walking we stopped at a small restaurant for lunch.  Pat ordered a Calzone.  We were both very excited.  It’s been such a long time since he’s had an old favorite Calzone. 

 …… it had an EGG inside!!!   

You know, I sometimes think, how is anyone ever gonna come up with a book, or a painting, or a symphony, or a sculpture that can compete with a great city? You can’t. Because you look around and every street, every boulevard, is its own special art form and when you think that in the cold, violent, meaningless universe that Paris exists, these lights. I mean come on, there’s nothing happening on Jupiter or Neptune, but from way out in space you can see these lights, the cafés, people drinking and singing. For all we know, Paris is the hottest spot in the universe.

-Owen Wilson ~Midnight in Paris