barcelona
please lord deliver me from redneck aussies and drunk englishman: cursed cheap flights around europe!
it aint all that bad but we have inadvertantly been deposited inidiot-central.
the pension itself is marvelous with the most deckedout kitchen in spain run by two caricature old spanish men: one ofwhich has a deadly snore on him but our room is far enough away fromthe front desk that it is sufficiently muffled. and barcelona cityitself is outstanding - if only because of gaudi's sagrada famiglia(that enormous naturalist style cathedral which i will write abour inmore detail after my little rant). the coincidental meeting of severalsouth victorians in our hostel lead to some very unfortunate racist conversation, and this in combination with a couple of otheraustralians *cough cough, queenslander, cough cough* enjoying theirforced and consequently quite artificial "time of their lives" in granada has dampened my pride in being australian. not to bag the rambatam back in granada, but it was the unfortunate presence of a couple of inividuals who aren't alone in the world with regards to their inability to behave without being completely and utterly conscious of their elaborately constructed hollywood melodrama angsty personalities.
anyway, barcelona itself is brilliant and is surviving the rainyweather today in fine form - particularly its ability to remain quitepleasantly warm and clean. i actually saw a person clean up theirdog's shit the other day: quite a miraculous sign of civilconsciousness which is pretty indicative of the way that the spanishpeople live.the works of gaudi (the genius) are also on display here, and noneother than the unfinished - but artisitically/architecturally complete- sagrada famiglia. this cathedral is one of its kind and ingeniouslydevised in the naturalist style by a man who i admire greatly and whodied tragically when he was hit by a tram. although it is sure hethat gaudi's ideas and physical work on it were cut short. as it stands, so far, the cathedral is the most unorthodox and incredible architectural sight one could imagine. the bell-towers are twirling 100m tall monstrous heralds to the helicoidal form (ie: the helix, which occurs in nature) and there are still 10 other unbuilt towers, larger and even more impressive it seems, to come. aside from the obvious naturalist references in sculpting of animals in every nook and cranny of the facades, the interior is astounding. the columns have been engineered in exact relation to the twisting structure of trees, with branchings three-quaters of the way up to the ceiling; which appears as if one was staring up at the foilage of a massive forest.
no more time for further words but gaudi is my new hero, he was thinking and utilising fractals in architecture in a time-period that was only just getting past the abacus. quite incredible.
it aint all that bad but we have inadvertantly been deposited inidiot-central.
the pension itself is marvelous with the most deckedout kitchen in spain run by two caricature old spanish men: one ofwhich has a deadly snore on him but our room is far enough away fromthe front desk that it is sufficiently muffled. and barcelona cityitself is outstanding - if only because of gaudi's sagrada famiglia(that enormous naturalist style cathedral which i will write abour inmore detail after my little rant). the coincidental meeting of severalsouth victorians in our hostel lead to some very unfortunate racist conversation, and this in combination with a couple of otheraustralians *cough cough, queenslander, cough cough* enjoying theirforced and consequently quite artificial "time of their lives" in granada has dampened my pride in being australian. not to bag the rambatam back in granada, but it was the unfortunate presence of a couple of inividuals who aren't alone in the world with regards to their inability to behave without being completely and utterly conscious of their elaborately constructed hollywood melodrama angsty personalities.
anyway, barcelona itself is brilliant and is surviving the rainyweather today in fine form - particularly its ability to remain quitepleasantly warm and clean. i actually saw a person clean up theirdog's shit the other day: quite a miraculous sign of civilconsciousness which is pretty indicative of the way that the spanishpeople live.the works of gaudi (the genius) are also on display here, and noneother than the unfinished - but artisitically/architecturally complete- sagrada famiglia. this cathedral is one of its kind and ingeniouslydevised in the naturalist style by a man who i admire greatly and whodied tragically when he was hit by a tram. although it is sure hethat gaudi's ideas and physical work on it were cut short. as it stands, so far, the cathedral is the most unorthodox and incredible architectural sight one could imagine. the bell-towers are twirling 100m tall monstrous heralds to the helicoidal form (ie: the helix, which occurs in nature) and there are still 10 other unbuilt towers, larger and even more impressive it seems, to come. aside from the obvious naturalist references in sculpting of animals in every nook and cranny of the facades, the interior is astounding. the columns have been engineered in exact relation to the twisting structure of trees, with branchings three-quaters of the way up to the ceiling; which appears as if one was staring up at the foilage of a massive forest.
no more time for further words but gaudi is my new hero, he was thinking and utilising fractals in architecture in a time-period that was only just getting past the abacus. quite incredible.
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