no clue sue: barcelona

I tried to think of a catchy title for this blog about my weekend in Barcelona. Nothing worked. Alliteration, some Spanish words (thank you Google translation), even rhyming were tossed aside. Titles aren’t usually hard for me, so what’s going on here? To tell you the truth, I’ve also been putting off writing this particular piece, which is also new since I was getting a kick out of writing again, because, well, I don’t really know why.

Maybe it’s the contrast to Paris. Barcelona was warm, warm enough that I didn’t have to wear socks to bed for the first time in three weeks (and growing up in Hawaii, that’s something to celebrate). Maybe it’s the food that while not Mexican (my students and I keep having Mexican food moments of silence in Paris) was familiar, and the gelato shop I went to twice in three days didn’t hurt. Maybe it was the slower pace and not having to take the metro, or the men that reminded me of my handsome uncles, or the harbor’s ocean smell, or the winding, narrow streets that led to a plethora of surprises. I don’t know. Too much to process? Maybe, but I do know that, for me, I’ll be back.

The Barcelona harbor

Mucho great things occurred, but one of the highlights was a visit to the Basílica de la Sagrada Família, designed by Antoni Gaudí. This is one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring structures I have ever seen. Yes, it’s a church, but unlike any place of worship in my experience. The inside was organic (I stole that word from Rebecca, a Gaudí fan), and the columns were designed to be reminiscent of a forest. There’s room for 1000 singers at the top of the basilica (that’s not a typo folks, one thousand), and the stain glass is not only beautiful in its own right, but the interplay with light throughout the day is impossible to describe. Soaring towers punctuate the outside structure, and Rebecca and I thought it would be fun to take the elevator up the 65 meters to the top. Alas, no one mentioned that it was elevator up, narrow spiral staircase with a hole in the middle that left nothing to the imagination down. After about three flights of tentative walking, the church bell clanged—loudly—and I froze, clinging to the wall, like a cockroach caught in the light (I know, another Hawaiian reference, but oh so apt). Only the crowds on the ground floor kept me from kissing the ground, but even this only added to the majesty of la Sagrada Família.

The pitcher of sangria sans paella with the servers packing up around us was another highlight, but that’s a story for another time.