The Big Stuff

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.”~ Dale Carnegie

March 30, 2013
I was the last one up, although for the final 30 minutes I was asleep I was well aware of the commotion within the room. When I got out of bed and dressed for the day, I went down to the computer lab of the hostel to check email and Facebook.

We soon started to gather in the kitchen. Chris showed up, as promised, with churros for breakfast.

“Thanks a lot for the tip on the Monica shot,” Ally said.

“Oh you got it?” Chris asked.

“Ya,” Ally said, with a smile that was trying to save face. “I did.”

The girls proceeded to show us pictures of Ally taking the shot. Because I like to think of this blog as “rated PG” for the most part, I will spare the details of the Monica Lewinsky shot. In short, it involves a blindfold, a vibrating beer hose, and a lot of whipped cream.

The churros were crispy, but not really fried. There were a couple of cups of bitter chocolate sauce to dip them in, and the entire meal was like a tasty dessert. As we ate, another college guy who wasn’t from our group came and sat down with us.

“So what did you guys do last night?” he asked the girls. Having just had the Monica conversation, we all looked at each other and laughed nervously.

“We went to a cooking class,” I said.

“A cooking class?” He said. “That’s awesome. What’d you do after that?”

Again, the girls laughed, and we all exchanged cautious glances.

“I came back and went to bed,” I said.

“AH that was probably a good call,” he said. “I went out drinking and woke up in some strange apartment across town this morning. I didn’t recognize any of the people passed out around me and I was mostly naked. Crazy times in Europe right?”

We again exchanged glances and awkward chuckles. Sensing the tension, he stood up. “Well you guys have fun today.” He left.

“Nice save,” one of the girls told me.

“How weird was that?” one of the others said.

After we’d finished eating, we headed out for the day. Stopping at Starbucks, we got drinks. I only had 50 euro notes left from the ATM so Chris suggested I buy something so that I had smaller bills for the day. I got an Earl Grey tea. My tea was one of the first drinks brewed, and when I got it, I waited outside. There was a small yellow lab puppy playing about which led Amy, Ally, and I to talking about our family pets.

We caught the metro and rode it across town. When we popped up, we in a side of Barcelona that looked very different from anything I’d seen so far. The buildings were plain colored and cement, although the exotic plants hanging from balconies were still very cool. Chris was a bit vague in where we were going, but he had mentioned that there would be a hike today. Sure enough, we turned off the main street, and started climbing a steep narrow road. It looked like one of the small streets in San Francisco, with one steep climb right after another.

The group laughed at me for not minding the elevation gain. Being able to see the ocean as we climbed, I wondered what elevation they were talking about. But this climb was unlike anything I’ve hiked before. It included an escalator up portions. It cracked me up!

As we got up above the city, we continued climbing on a little dirt road. There were cacti and yucca growing along the trail, in addition to more orange trees and beautiful flowers of every color. Hiking along, I snapped photos of everything, until we reached the top. At the top, there was a little stone “summit” that we could stand on. There were three stone crosses on it, and a great view of Barcelona. The stone summit was crowded as everyone wanted to get the view from the top, but we all got a turn to snap photos of the crosses, the sea, and city.

Just below the little summit, a performer was begging for money by playing movie themes on a didgeridoo. He was quite good actually and I think a few people from our group gave him some money.

It turned out, that the hike we had done was a back/less-touristy entrance to Parc Guell. Gaudi had given his friend (Guell) the park as a gift! I think the truth, as Chris explained, was that one of them had bought the land, Gaudi developed it and then he let Guell keep it. Some speculate Guell owned it first and Gaudi merely turned it into a park, while others say Gaudi bought it for Guell. The truth is probably published somewhere, but so many tour groups have coined so many different creative stories that both versions can be found online.

But the park is amazing. The center of the park houses the longest bench in Europe. The mosaic tiled structure is supposed to resemble a snake and overlooks both Barcelona and a small chapel within the park. The famous view from Parc Guell is a series of fake “cave” arches. The angles of the wall, and the views it provides, make it hard to tell from photos which way is up, down, or sideways.

Chris told us to meet him at the main entrance of the park in an hour and sent us out to explore. For those of us that stuck with him, he gave us a small private tour of a few lesser seen sites, including the famous arches, a petrified tree, a few garden walk ways, and a mosaic gazebo. At the bottom of the main entrance is the mosaic lizard sculpture that is famous in a lot of Barcelona tourist propaganda.

Tourists were swamping the statue. Amy and I literally posed with our cameras, waiting with our fingers on the button, so that the second we had a clear shot, we could fire and take it.

When we all met up, a few of the girls had to use the WC. There was a long line, so while we waited for them, Chris offered us some biscuits. It turned out that “biscuit” was his British background coming through and he was referring to cookies.

During our private tour of the park, my batteries died. I found I could tease the camera back on by resting it for a few seconds. As they died over and over again, I could also milk some life out of them by flipping them around and alternating them inside the camera. I’d brought several extras from Prague, but these were my last ones.

Leaving the park, we walked through more steep streets and between these modern looking cement buildings. As we walked, our conversation seemed to center on summer jobs with lifeguarding and food service being the most popular. We eventually made our way back to the metro and caught it across town.

“We are going to the Sagrada Familia,” Chris explained.

I knew that this was the most famous tourist attraction in Barcelona. Chris had told us that interest in the temple had peaked when Barcelona hosted the Olympics and the Sagrada Familia could be seen in the background of all of the outdoor events. When we popped up from the Metro station, I could see why it was so impressive. The towering building was indescribable. There was carving and detail on every square inch of both the front and the four (visible) towers.

Chris led us into a park across from it so we could get some good photos. “Do you want to hear some shit about this thing?” he asked, pulling out his blue binder.

We all laughed and said we did.

“Here’s the shit,” he said. He went on to explain how the Sagrada Familia (which means Sacred Family) was not a church. It was commissioned as a temple and a place of prayer. The original architect had left the project and—of course—Gaudi was commissioned to finish the design and construction. Gaudi created a masterpiece and one he knew would not be finished during his lifetime.

The front of the building is called the Nativity side, and depicts all of the events in the birth of Jesus. Images of the annunciation, Mary and Elizabeth, Joseph and the Angels, the Wiseman, the manger, and the escape to Egypt are all portrayed in the carvings. Even the animals depicted have been found to represent native creatures that lived in Bethlehem during the day of Jesus Christ. One of the most prominent features is the green Tree of Life directly above the entry way.

This was actually the only side of the Sagrada Familia that Gaudi saw finished. He was working on the building nonstop and began living in it with very little food, water, or clothing. Overtime, he began to look like a bum. Ironically, Gaudi had designed the metro system in Barcelona. I say ironically, because one night when going to get supplies for the temple, he fell onto the track and was run over by the metro. While he was not killed, no one recognized his aged and homeless appearance so no one helped him. Even when a sympathetic cab driver took him to the hospital, he was not given emergency care.

“By the time someone went ‘Oh my God! This is Gaudi! The most famous man in the city!’” Chris explained, “There was nothing they could do to save him.”

The building is still under construction, with plans to finish it by 2026. This will be on the 100^th anniversary of Gaudi’s death. There are currently eight towers on the building. Several more are going to be added to represent the disciples, Mary, and Jesus. The Jesus tower will be 170 meters high—which will triple the height of the current building—and be the tallest manmade structure in Spain. The height of 170 meters was chosen because the highest mountain in Spain is 171 meters and Gaudi thought it would be insulting to build anything taller than God could build.

On the opposite face of the building, is the Passion side. It depicts the entire passion narrative from the Last Supper through the Resurrection. Unlike the Nativity side this side was very plain and skeletal. Gaudi wanted it to be so, as to serve as a contrast to the detailed life of the Nativity.

Gaudi did finish the inside of the Sagrada Famila. Taking all of his inspiration from nature, he designed the columns to appear as trees, branching out as they got higher to give the roof a canopy appearance. The stained glass windows were a blend of both rainbow colored mosaics with white glass to create natural forest lighting inside. The Sagrada Familia was blessed by Pope John Paul in the 1990s and the nave was opened for Mass at that time.

We crossed the street to go inside. The line wrapped around the building and was probably several hours long. As part of our package, we had skip-the–line passes with audio-guides to take us through the building. The last thing they told us as we entered the gates was that “The Sagrada Familia was designed to be a halfway point between Earth and Heaven. It was supposed to be more beautiful than life, but not as beautiful as eternal life.”

The entire thing is impossible to describe! Not only was the Nativity façade of the front incredible up close, but the inside truly felt surreal. The forest affect was obvious, but yet it was so much more vivid that just walking through trees. The light through the stained glass seemed to bend and swirl. Holding my hand out, it looked as though the beams radiated from my palm. In the photos, this doesn’t show up, the dancing rainbow that filled the sanctuary was absolutely breathtaking.

The crucifix was also impressive. It was suspended from the ceiling, and angled so that it was directly over head of the worshippers. The baroque confessionals looked like brilliant treasure chests…but in reality, adjectives fall short of trying to put the brilliance into words.

After we finished the audio-guided tour of the Passion side, Chris turned us lose for a few hours of free time. He gave us metro tickets but told us to use them cautiously so we had more punches for tonight, and let us go. Everyone took off in different directions, I went back inside to try and take more photos of the sanctuary.

Unfortunately, my camera really was dead. It didn’t disappoint me too much, because I found a prayer chapel where photography was forbidden. Stepping inside, the room glowed blue and small pews faced a tiny crucifix. I sat praying for a few minutes, going over the passion narrative in my head (since I’d missed Good Friday service.) As I left the prayer room, I teased my camera back on for two more photos. Luckily, I found someone willing to take a few of me, but again, they warped light effects don’t really show up on the pictures.

I was very pleased with myself as I navigated my way back to the hostel. It amazed me how “fearless” I felt. I don’t mean to imply I wasn’t aware of danger or I felt cocky about my ability. Both statements are far from the truth. The reality was I couldn’t picture myself making this very trip a month ago. What happened to ‘cautious’ Zach who went to school, worked, and studied without exploring outside the lines? How had I become so excited, so enchanted, and so motivated all of a sudden?  For the first time, I didn’t even think of myself as boring.