Day 6 March 4, 2013

Monday
Today, we got up before 8 am because we wanted to visit Gaudi's Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell and we were forewarned that both would be crowded. We decided to use our second day of the tourist bus for transportation. We arrived at Sagrada Familia, shortly before 10 am and the line was already around the corner but it moved fast and we were inside by 10:20. We wandered around inside (in awe--you really have to see this to appreciate the architecture of this huge church) before taking the elevator up 215 feet in the Passion Facade elevator. Then you could look out some small windows to overlook the city. Lola decided to take the elevator back down and i opted for the stairs since others were waiting for the elevator too. There were more than 400 steps back down with a hyper-ventilating English lady just ahead of me. I even stepped out on a balcony part way to take another look at the city and still caught up to her again. I kept telling her it was just like being upstairs and that we were almost down, but she was clinging to the railing and trying to keep her other hand on the inside of the stairs. It was anti-climatic when we finally got down. There was an iron gate in front of us and nowhere else to go, but the gate pushed up and we were back inside the church. Rick Steve's description of the Sagrada Familia is very good and paying what he calls a "steep admission price" makes us partners in the project and should make us feel good. I thought it was impressive and am glad I went, but I would guess that the crowd was relatively light today and that made it a much better visit!

We hopped back on the tourist bus and headed to Parc Guell. I wish I had read Rick Steve's description of it first as it would have been more meaningful to know when we were on the "rosary path" and that the round stones along it represented beads of the rosary. We commented on them, but did not know their significance. It is a beautiful park and what Gaudi intended for it is really impressive for his time. There is a school right in the middle of it and we saw the children outside playing as we left.

Late in the afternoon we took one more round trip on the bus and took in Barcelona at night. Riding the buses we have spent a lot of time in traffic and are amazed at the number of scooter riders amongst the cars. We went by the Sants station, the main transportation hub in Barcelona, and saw an entire parking lot full of them. Another observation is that there are far too many McDonald's in this city!