But I am getting ahead of myself. We left you, reader, after our successful shows at Barceloneta. After another night in our dark cave room, (where I have been sleeping beautifully, by the way) and a great breakfast, we knew what we had to do. Eat lunch.
We had a perfect lunch of heirloom tomatoes, queso mescla curado (hard cheese made of sheep, goat and cows milk) and cucumber on baguette with a little balsamic and olive oil. We have a pretty sweet food set up by now so we can really get our picnic on.
After lunch, we jumped on the Metro to spend the day at Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Familia is a Catholic cathedral designed by Gaudi. Construction began in the late 1800s and is expected to be finished around 2030. We decided to wait in the line and pay the price to go in. The line stretched around the block, but moved quickly and in no time we were at the gate house. I spoke to the cashier in Spanish but remembered to request audio tours in English. Potential disaster averted. Ask Marya about the Pita incident. That minor disaster somehow escaped the blog.
We inadvertently started our tour in the school house, where some of Gaudi's tools and abstract methods are on display. Needless to say, I was deeply inspired by his genius. It reminded me in many ways of Leonardo da Vinci. A mathematician's mind, an artist's soul.
The cathedral is totally breathtaking. Stepping inside, it is impossible not to have a spiritual experience. Branching, tree-like pillars rise 100 feet over head, supporting the intricately detailed mosaic ceiling. Stained glass windows filter the light of the late afternoon sun, illuminating different parts of the cathedral with different colors and qualities of light. If you have seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, you have to go.
Another amazing thing about Sagrada Familia is that it is a work in progress. As you tour the grounds, work goes on. The basement of the museum still houses a plaster workshop where artists create scale plaster casts of the work to be done on the cathedral. The Sagrada Familia that our children visit will be different from the one that we visit today. My favorite piece in any museum is always the unfinished sketch, the painting where you can see the graphite drafting marks. Sagrada Familia has this quality and feels like a temple of creative genius as well as a house of prayer. In other words, we liked it.
After our visit, we returned to the hostel where we made dinner and Marya gave me a haircut. I spent the evening making little models and drawings inspired by Gaudi's architecture. Marya read on her kindle and knocked-out. Yeah, we know how to party.
We awoke to our last morning in the cave and our last day in Barcelona. Packed up and headed out. We had a mission to do 5 shows at Barceloneta and then go to the beach. We had a bit of a time limit since we had to catch our ferry to Rome at 8 pm.
Shows were rough. Slow traffic and hot sun. Few people wanted to stop and hang out. We made three valiant efforts and got off one and a half shows before we packed it up. I did an excellent crowd building dance, which Marya insists I mention. Sometime it takes some wild dancing to keep our own spirits high, even if it doesn't end up attracting a crowd.
We did succeed in attracting a group of boys from Jersey, which in Europe apparently doesn't mean the Jersey shore, although these guys could have passed. We also had one of our best adult volunteers. He really pulled off the neon safety vest and spinny helmet with style.
After shows we went down to the packed city beach and grabbed a sandy spot. It was a perfect beach day and the beach was packed with locals and tourists alike. We went for a quick dip in the Mediterranean, enjoyed a cold beach shower and headed home. We had time for a quick dinner and last minute repacking before we headed to the ferry. It was a bit of an adventure to bring all our stuff on the metro. I am pulling the caravan of rolling bags and Marya is saddled with her backpack and trombone. We have a huge food bag now too, which adds to the difficulty of navigating. We stuck to the wheelchair accessible routes and eventually made our way to our metro stop.
After asking only three people, we found the ferry terminal that we needed. I will let Marya take over telling the story of our ferry journey.
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