Finishing the "Semester"

(Wed. Nov. 25th and Thu. Nov. 26th)

I should mention how the official semester concluded after all my trips. Our final was moved up from Thanksgiving to the Tuesday before, so it's good I didn't end up making plans for the weekend before to go to Lisbon :)

As it was, after working hard the previous week after returning from Paris, all of us worked (pretty) hard for the final four days between our last class and our final. I would venture to say mine went relatively poorly, and that the amount of work I had (and reviews I got) felt more like midterms than finals. This made sense since we had two class meetings a week instead of three, 12.5 weeks instead of 16, for a total of 53% of a full semester. No wonder. So that's MY excuse.

I did plenty of "out of the classroom learning though". But that got expensive!

So here's some final pictures of Barcelona. Starting with our 3D-printed models- all of which broke at some point because they were so brittle. But cool to look at, and (carefully) move around :) The basic idea was that we had to design one singular shape that morphed its shape as it multiplied, and all of them were hooked together into a network of some sort.

This is an old model but a good representation. This was printed as one piece, with everything interlocking- the possibilities for 3D printing are pretty great.

Another project, though it doesn't move, but the spheres all have little balls rattling around inside of them.

This one is just like the project we did, except the international class did it, when they came in October. Better than ours. They had different constraints. It stands, sort of! This was the main..."lobby" of the school- the IAAC- The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. Notice the name is in English. Even "Catalunya".

Here's where all the students were from. Lots of Spanish speaking countries, but everyone communicated in English mostly because it was the only guaranteed shared language :)

More projects by these students, digitally fabricated. Roughly 2'x2' panels of MDF cut with the CNC (computer numeric controlled) machine typically used in manufacturing- basically a big arm that moves around and has a router bit on the end. It sweeps back and forth like a printer.

More printed spheres. They were about 5" across maybe. Really intricate. And fragile :)

After that we had a couple days to gather our wits. I spent one night recovering, and the next couple days seeing all that was left of Barcelona, as well as celebrating Thanksgiving at an English pub. Not a bad meal but there weren't seconds and I only got one slice of pie :). I also hadta work on a project for another class that was due as a printed book from a website, and I didn't finish that until nine days later, working a bit almost every night! Worked a bunch on it in Italy too...

After finals were dead and gone, I had one last chance for a few days to do all the touristy stuff I missed in Barcelona during the semester- which is kind of a lotta stuff. And we hadta celebrate Thanksgiving. And I was able to start posting stuff on my blog again! Bloody hell, no matter where I am and what I'm doing I try to bite off more than I can chew :). Oh well, shoot for the stars right. I had a lot to see, cause I had basically missed almost all of the major touristy stuff requiring tickets, during the semester. No time :)

We started off with a trip up Tibi Dabo- one of the hills surrounding Barcelona. There's a funicular (tram thingy) that takes you up, and there's a church on top. Turns out there's also an amusement park as well :)

Here's the church we headed up there to see- gotta love the flying Jesus. Reminds me of Rio de Janeiro (not that I've been there- though maybe my fortunes could change for the 2014 World Cup!)

The views were great though and the church was cool. We went in the crypt chapel and the main sanctuary. Reminded me of Sacre Coeur in Paris- European cities (and Rio de Janeiro) like churches on hills it seems. You can see how there's a whole crypt with separate entrance below the church. Kinda weird, almost like a church built on a church, really.

Great view. On the right is the Torre Agbar ("El Suppositori") near where I lived.

Apparently they had very multicultural visitors. The other side was a series of Hellos or Welcomes or whatever.

I forget what Tibi Dabo means. But this was near the entrance, by the amusement park.

Part of the amusement park- those dice were big enough to sit on. The tickets for the park (that we didn't go in) were really expensive- kinda weird cause it was pretty small, but apparently its really busy during the summer...

I like this picture. The streamers look great. This was looking more north, not east towards the coast, but up into the hills, towards France.

Part of the park we DID go in, with lots of slides. I didn't slide. But I took pictures of others sliding :)

Some tree dropped these fascinating berries. Squishing on the inside, seed-y on the outside, totally different colors, looked really tasty but no one would try one. Great photo.

The amusement park. That Ferris Wheel was tiny.


After the hill I headed off on my own. To the creme de la creme (or at least de la Barça), Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi's master cathedral that's been under intermittent construction for 120 or so years (I forget how many exactly). His work is unique in the world I'd say, and amazingly is all basically confined to Barcelona and some surrounding communities. I think it's set for completion in 2030. Sometime after that I will return to see it :)

This is one side of the church, the Passion side, that depicts the stations of the cross, and the resurrected Jesus is sitting up on that arch between the towers. The FRONT of the church was under construction and not that great looking.

Here's what it will eventually look like. All the light gray stuff is unbuilt. The final central tower is supposed to be 150 meters I think, like 50% taller than the sides, which are already taller than most everything in the city. Crazy. Can't wait to see the finished product! Chris went to see this church without me while I was in class, when he visited. If you noticed, the sign is in Catalan and then in Castilian (Spanish) below it.

A GREAT aerial of the church, so you can see that the towers are on the sides, not the front. This is a picture I took from the helicopter ride!!!! Or a picture I took of a picture.

Once I got inside, this was the first thing I saw. Great colors.

Second thing I saw was that the line for the elevator up to the roof, where Chris said all the great views were, had closed three minutes before I got there, because of dusk (which was like an hour away) cause apparently it was too dangerous when it was dark. So that's something else I gotta do when I come back. Dammit! Website and info never said anything about that closing earlier...

Inside, these are the columns holding up the roof. Supposed to look like trees, holding up a canopy of leaves, with sunlight that would stream down into the church (all those openings will be skylights). Pretty cool idea, especially for the turn of the century...though a lot of the construction is much newer than that.

The main roof of the church. All will be skylights. Awesome!!

More stained glass. Fantastic colors. My mom would have liked it :)

I spent probably 30 minutes inside, maybe 45, because it was getting dark and because there really wasn't THAT much to see inside because of the construction (and closed #!$^#ing elevator). Here you can really see the old and new construction- they claim that the concrete will age to match the existing work, in a few years. We'll see. Obviously here the existing is filthy- I think when its all done then they'll probably spend a few more years restoring the whole thing! This is what cars do to porous old architecture, like the Colosseum.

In the basement they had a museum. This was a scale model of the church. See the "trees"? On both sides will be choir lofts large enough to hold up 2,000 choir members. Another reason to come back, and attend a mass there. Magical.

By dark, I was searching for good views of the church, because it was right in a neighborhood with buildings all around, and I wanted to get a bit away from it for a picture. I found old Spanish men lawn bowling. Rockin!

I found my view, behind a pond which provided a nice reflection. Yeah. This side was the Nativity side, depicting the birth of Chris.

I also found an FC Barcelona (their world-renowned soccer team) shop across the street, selling the commemorative Camp Nou (their stadium) soccer ball that I saw elsewhere and coveted it. I tried finding it online, no luck. So this time, I took careful pictures of the name and the tag and product key. You can find anything online these days. Right? NO. I CAN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE. And I didn't wanna buy it there, given the conversion rate, and having to deflate and pack a soccer ball. Seriously, it doesn't exist online. Item number two I botched on, after the Guggenheim museum shirt I almost bought myself as a birthday present, that doesn't exist online either. What the hell!? You mean you actually have to TRAVEL to these places to buy items from them? What is this, 1995? Not even the official online stores for the Guggenheim or FC Barcelona have the things. I suck. They suck!

The next day was Thanksgiving, but first I had more to see cause we were leaving Friday. First a group of us sought out Barcelona's labyrinth. Success!! Found it. But failed to get lost in it. Also failed to reenact the end of The Shining. It was cool though, even though in a sorta random area.

The bushes were tall, as you can see...Here's Dave's back.

Dave and Alex taking a short nap on the steps...

A view over the top of the labyrinth. See, it was pretty big! But it was symmetrical, and many of the bushes you could kinda see through- some you could even climb through, if they hadn't put up chicken-wire fences in the holes :) Nicely shaped bushes though...

Walking back, we saw, what else, a cool building. Looks like apartments or condos, with these great little pop-ups, with huge windows. Looks like a fun place to live. Reminds me of models from school :)

Then I headed off on a rare solo excursion to see more Gaudi. His Parc Guell atop another hill overlooked much of Barcelona. Fantastic and unique. Many different areas, very big, many different types of spaces and uses within one park. Some natural, some built, all fantastic.

As soon as I got off the Metro, I saw Tibi Dabo- THIS view really reminds me of Sacre Coeur. Oh Paris.

And a view down- I hadn't even gotten up into the park yet, which was much higher, but even from the street here you could see lots of the city. As you can see, immediate elevation changes from the sea- probably makes for a good defensible medieval city :) Again, Sagrada Familia on the right, Torre Agbar on the left, the two main focal points of the city, one old one new.

I finally got up into the park, and got to start seeing some really interesting stuff. I started actually on the south side, and this is near the north side, where the more designed, public part of the park is as opposed to the paths and trees on the other side. This was a gate into the park.

One sign for the park, Parc Guell (though it should have an um laut (two dots) over the u when I type it).

Some colonnade. It was holding up more park up there, maybe cause he wanted flat terraces instead of sloped hills. Neat to walk under though, interesting looking.

Here's the main part of the entrance of the park, with a grand staircase with water fountains in the middle. And lots of annoying tourists standing in the way and taking pictures. But also, a giant roof held up by tons of columns, pretty enticing looking...up on that roof is a giant undulating bench that follows the shape of the edge- you can see people up there- and then a huge flat dirt area where performers and beggars alike hang out.

Here's the columns. Not much going on under here but lots of columns, and some guys playing music, which prompted me to actually take out my headphones and listen. Sounded good! Very loud in the cavernous space.

Up top, this is what the benches looked like. And the funny part is I found this picture awhile ago that one of Tiffany's high school Slovenia friends posted, when they took a trip to Barcelona in high school! So there's Tiffany in the middle, in the same place I visited like ten years later!

Back to the present, here's a building beyond the fence of the park, though in a weird way as if it was part of the park but just off limits. I liked the windows, but the rain stains running down from the corners were probably not intended by the architect. Oops.

Said fence, in front of the building. Clearly inspired by palm branches.

Annother colonnade holding up more ground. Apparently cool to climb on, so I got the picture before they fell back down.

I made my way back to the south side of the park, the higher part, the more wooded and pathy part. I was in the park for awhile. It was huge. Here's the highest point in the park, a tiny hill with a path and a cross to climb. Of course I had to climb it.

And here's the view from the top. You can see the two main shopping/touristy/pedestrian avenues/avenidas/avingudas, Passeig de Gracia and Rambla de Catalunya. Huge!

Here's that hill from down below. Including some cacti.

On my way down, I tried to capture the elevation change. TONS of stairs and even outdoor escalators, through this neighborhood, to get up to the park. Crazy. So steep.

Then I went to Gaudi's Casa Mila, called "La Pedrera" ("the quarry", for it's stoney look). Also fantastic. Interiors not that great save for interesting floor plans and cool door handles :). But the top floor underneath the roof was amazing and had all these great models and such, and the roof itself was fully occupiable and fully awesome. Good views of the city down the main shopping street, Passeig de Gracia.

Here's the front entry- its owned by a bank, so lots of ads. All the glass, and the shape of the doors, obviously totally custom. Look at the round columns chiseled out of stone. Keep in mind this was at the beginning of the 1900s.

Look at this! Turn of the century! Looks like it was designed by computer and cut by machine, except for the pock-marked hand-tooled look. But pretty amazing. And the balcony is wrought iron.

The shapes on the outside are reflected inside. All used to be apartments. Oh to live there.

Once inside, you realize that it isn't a solid massive block of apartments, but it has a central atrium designed to let light into the apartments- and its good ventilation since they can open windows on both sides then.

Here was some parkay type hardwood floor pattern. Reminds me of my earlier photos in Morocco and later ones in Prague.

Here's a view from one of the former apartments. Passeig de Gracia, which I saw from up in Parc Guell. Huge boulevard, lots of pedestrians and shopping. Across the way, the pink ribboned facade is an undulating metal screen of sorts over a pretty boring building, significant causse it looks cool and was designed by Toyo Ito. Its a hotel with like a Chanel or Dolce and Gabbana in the first couple floors.

These I hadta take a picture of, because I'd been seeing them at every public-type touristy museumy artsy place, all over Spain and elsewhere- Swarovski pencils. Not that cool if you have just one, but in the boxes they always looked awesome.

Finally, up top. The top floor was a museum, and had vaulted ceilings that held up the roof, that you could walk out on. Great geometry and repetition, and once again designed and built just post 1900.

Up top on the roof. Odd looking soldier helmet things, but cool nonetheless. Lots of stairs, but fun to walk around and see, good views, and you could see all the way down into the courtyard.

Here, looking remarkably similar, is actually the model of the building, and I snapped a picture of the roof.

This is Casa Batllo (pronounced Baht-yo- that's two LLs in Spanish for you) but it was closed, so I guess the waiting killed me- couldn't go it. Maybe its okay, cause people said La Pedrera was better, and this was another like 12 euro and a lot smaller. And I got to see a model of it ;) Its more apartments, just down the street from Casa Mila, but not on a corner. The coolest thing I think is that the central courtyard has blue tiles at the top that fade to white tiles all the way at the bottom, so that even though its darker down there, it looks evenly sunlit all the way down. Genius!


After that I wasn't finished. I hiked a ways through the city to Parc de la Ciutadella that many had raved about. One of the biggest parks in Barcelona, HUGE, nearish to the beach. Walked around there in the dark and still managed to take some good pictures with my sweet camera. THEN it was time to meet up with people for Thanksgiving and some foosball.

First though I stopped through the architecture institute or whatever it was called, that was having a final show of some projects, so I got to see models. Awesome.

Here's a great night shot I got in the park of a castle-y thing, great considering I could barely see it with my own eyes cause it was pretty dark, and my camera got it! Go camera!

Finally, it was time to meet up with my classmates for Thanksgiving. I had originally planned on going back to my apartment first but that was clearly not happening. I had a LONG day and who knows how many miles I walked. A LOT OF THEM. It was as full a day as I'd had in Paris or anywhere else!

THEN I had to pack and prepare for the trip the next day. I really just went to bed and packed the next day. Going to Florence! I had already sent home a whole bag's worth of stuff with Chris, as planned- I asked him to bring a big bag but pack light. So I guess he took half a BIG bag's worth of stuff. But I really didn't pack much in the first place. So packing went quick but still took longer than I thought. It was sorta hard to believe first that after three months in Barcelona, I was just throwing my stuff in a couple bags and leaving for good, and second it was hard to believe that I was not only going to Italy, but also still traveling for almost another whole month :) TRAVELING RULES.

Here's the spoils of packing. At Thanksgiving I charged everyone's meals and took the cash (easy way of getting money, and less finance charge for the conversion than most ATMs) and so here's a little photo of all the bloody euros I was carrying :) Those were intended to last me the rest of the trip. I don't think that happened, cause Tiffany and I hadta pay for a hostel in cash.

Here's my important things- money, computer, keys, sweet watch. This was all I had laid out before I went to bed.

The last I'd see of my Barcelona keys. It was nice using the Crowe keychain Chris had given me :) And nice only carrying around two keys, for three months! Being abroad with less belongs is quite nice and easy.