Barcelona 2016

Barcelona 2016.

August 25-30.

August 25.

So now for the entry that you I have been waiting for.  This was my first trip back to Barcelona in a little over six years, and it was a long time coming, especially considering the love I have for this city that I haven't made any attempts to hide in the amount of time I've had this blog.  Barcelona is one of my all-time favorite cities in the world for various reasons, and I wasn't about to let any chance to go back go.

My time as an au pair had come to an end, as school was starting for the kiddos at the end of August, and I think the family was getting kind of sick of me in the end anyway.  I'm not good with kids, and I didn't speak enough English with them as was expected, and even though I did leave on good terms (I believe), it's not an experience I'd go into again.  It was a great learning experience, and it did teach me patience and how to be a better guest, but I'm just not cut out for those kinds of environments.

Anyway, the family dropped me off at the train station in Castellón, where there were some tears on the kiddos' parts (which I'll admit was really nice, because they were sweet kids and the family was definitely one of the better ones I could have been with).  I bought my tickets to Barcelona, where I had booked a hotel for four nights right by the Estació de Sants.

If you're not familiar with Barcelona, there are two main train stations: Sants and França.  França is generally the one geared toward European destinations and Sants toward domestic/Spanish ones.  I've never actually been to França, which says a lot about how I travel, but what can you do.  [I should mention there's another train station, Catalunya, right underneath the Plaça de Catalunya, but it's for regional trains within Catalunya, and I've been through that station; when I went up to Terrassa in 2010.]

Palau de la Música Catalana

Lluís Domènech i Montaner

This is probably my favorite building in all of Barcelona.  Worldwide, the city is known for Antoni Gaudí, the 19th century architect who's known for the Casa Batlló, Casa Milà, Parc Güell, and the Basílica de la Sagrada Família, among others.  I'm not going to deny Gaudí's genius, I'm not going to deny his talent or his ability to buck every single trend and design buildings that have captured imaginations for over a hundred years.

But (because there is always a "but") Barcelona is not just Gaudí.  He's the city's most famous person (despite being born in Reus, in Tarragona, not Barcelona) and he has certainly left his mark on the city who sponsored him, but there were two other great Catalan architecture masters who are often overlooked because Gaudí's work and fame tends to overpower their own.  Take for example Josep Puig i Cadafalch's, whose Casa Amatller sits adjacent to Gaudí's Casa Batlló, and I often wonder if people who crowd in front of the Casa del Drac, as it's sometimes referred to in Catalan, realize that the building next door is just as much an architectural monument.  No matter, it probably enjoys being an understated beauty.

Now, the Palau de la Música Catalana...this building is anything but understated.  Built to house the Orfeó Català, the Catalan Orphic Choir, between 1905 and 1908 in the Ribera district, it's a testament to the Modernist movement in Catalonia.  The main stage has incredible acoustics; in the tour I took last year we were played Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and even though I've always loved that piece, hearing it in that hall nearly moved me to tears.

I would love to see a concert here, in this Palace for Catalan Music.