CASA MILÀ, “LA PEDRERA” (1906-1912)

Originally uploaded by Tokenhippygirl

We arrived in Barcelona last Thursday, Sept 13, in the afternoon, found the apartment Martin rented for our stay, stashed our stuff, and then set out on foot to check out a couple of Gaudi Buildings (very famous architect from Spain who’s buildings, park, and other structures have added greatly to Barcelonas fame for it’s architecture.) and find ourselves some dinner. We did both. This building, the first of the Gaudi buildings we actually visited, is strange, beautiful, and sort of awe inspiring. Gaudi’s work is like nothing we’d ever seen before. Really amazing. The second of our reasons for venturing out, dinner, was found at a little cafe where we enjoyed our first attempt at ordering in Spanish. Interesting, and sort of fun, considering none of us could or can speak Spanish. We also had no idea (well, Martin had at least a bit of an idea about some of it, which helped) what we were ordering. We did well, getting several tapas plates which included meats, cheeses, bread (pan) with tomato sauce, and potatoes with some dipping sauces. The only strange thing we got, without really knowing what we were ordering, as I said, was a bag of potato chips. It was funny, and unexpected. Something that the waiter also wasn’t sure we wanted, as evidenced by the fact that when he brought them he tried to ask us if we were sure we wanted them. He didn’t know English, but we could tell he was a bit confused by our inclusion of them in our selection of food. We were also able to order water for Karen, Coke for Mary, and two Estrella Damm beers, for Martin and I.

All in all we had a very nice journey to Spain that Thursday including a not so bad two hour flight on Ryanair from Blackpool to Girona, a not so bad hour long bus ride from Girona to Barcelona, a fairly short cab ride from the bus station to the apartment, and a really nice walk to find Gaudi and dinner. Day one – excellent.