It’s Sunday now and we’re getting a late start both because it was a late night yesterdday and because Jon is wrangling with the beauracracy of AirFrance to get his luggage, which never arrived here in Barcelona. So, here’s a recap of yesterday…

Casa Batllo, one of Gaudi’s famous works is about 10-15 blocks down from us, so we walked down there to check it out. The line was long, so we decided to visit another day. There are a few photos of the exterior (and the house next door Casa Amatller, which is closed until 2014).

Just around the corner from Casa Batllo is the Fundacio Antoni Tapeis. Antoni Tapeis was a famous Catalonian artist of the 20th century. The foundation is housed in a lovely building that was previously a publishing house. We took a few pictures of the exterior and then visited the museum. I can’t say that I particularly like his work, but Tapeis’ techniques are interesting and the museum was lovely.

Next we walked a bit farther to one of Gaudi’s other works — Casa Mila or La Padrera. It’s really hard to do justice to the building in pictures, but I’ve included a bunch in the gallery. The strange creatures (“buddies”) on the roof are the tops of the structural columns and chimneys. Gaudi was famous for using very organic forms and the catenary arch to form his buildings and La Padrera is an excellent example. The entire building was beautiful and it would have been an amazing place to live in the early 1900s.

After a little detour, we ended up at Parc Joan Miro just before sunset.

We ate dinner and then walked over to the nearby “arena” — a shopping mall, cinema, disco, and restaurant space with a large observation deck that looks over the Placa Espanya right at the base of Montjuic.

With some amazing luck, we happened to end up at Montjuic during a once a year nighttime festival where there were bands and food and all the museums were open until 1a. The whole area was built for the 1929 World Expo and it is really amazing to think of what it would have been like to visit then.

We walked up Av. de Reina Maria Cristina to the Magic Fountain, which was in its full lighted glory, and then on up the hill to the MNAC (Museo Nacional d’Art Catalunya) where we wandered around the top floor until about 12:30a.

A quick metro trip and we were back at the apartment ready to sleep.

I’ve posted the best photos from the day up on flickr. I had a bit of trouble getting the photos to appear properly yesterday, so from now on, I’ll give you a link to the first of the days photos up on my flickr photostream. Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tzimmerli/7574190522/in/set-72157630568988800