Spain and Beyond

Daily Lorena: Art and Architecture

We have a few more places to check off on the list today, and first is to see the inside of the Sagrada Familia, now affectionately called our Sangria Family. The line is around the corner, and we find it’s an hour wait just to get tickets. Then it’s another two hours for a time slot to get in. We learned a little too late that we could have bought tickets online, but Anna works some internet magic and we eventually buy our tickets via phone and escape the rest of the line. We separate for a bit so I can go back home to get some work done and we meet back up at 2pm (I even ride the metro by myself without getting lost!) to enter the church. WOW. This church will blow you away. It is unlike any of the other beautiful churches we’ve been to in Spain, or really anywhere. The lighting is breathtaking, with rainbows of stained glass windows perfectly collaged together, meant to mimic lighting in a forest. The columns are organic tree-like structures, branching out at the top, but also are built to be weight bearing so no other columns are needed. Each facade is drastically different and tells its own story. What’s also cool is that it won’t be finished for a couple decades (~2040), and Gaudi planned for this, with the intention of others taking his original vision and continuing with their own interpretations of his big baby. He planned for many generations to all have their individual styles in the process and to see it through until it’s completed.

Tonight I started a 4-day art class, for three hours each evening. It is supposed to be drawing/painting and is taught in Spanish. I am not sure what to expect beyond that. It’s a 10-min walk from the apartment and is actually a pottery studio. The teacher has her pottery and art for sale in the front and it’s basically an independent study in the space in the back. She asks if I want to start with drawing, I say “sure”, and I choose between a person, a horse, or a dog. I choose a horse and she gives me a bit of instruction and sends me on my way, checking in every once in a while. I don’t really understand everything she recommends, but I think I got the basic idea. Another girl from England joins after a while and she works on a drawing of the person. Brushing up on my art-related Spanish words is probably a good idea for next class. I was able to finish the horse fairly quickly, so I get started on an oil painting next. I felt a little pressured to choose quickly and a few minutes after I start, I wish I had chosen an easier one. But I’m just going to roll with it and see what happens. Besides one or two half-finished paintings from elementary school, this will be my first time oil painting. I was actually hoping to do more illustration-related art, or watercolor, but she says watercolor is “muy dificil”. Oh well, it’s all fun to try.

After class, Anna and I meet back up and we head out for a late dinner. We go to a place recommended by the Lonely Planet book and it is a great little eclectic restaurant. We arrive at 10pm and we are pretty much the only ones there – it’s early. People trickle in later for drinks, tapas, or for an even later dinner than ours.

Daily Drew: Ugh…

In the morning, I started off with a lovely bit of vomiting and realized that not only did I have a slight bout of altitude sickness, but to top it off I probably had food poisoning as well. Too bad, because that dinner and lunch were so tasty yesterday, but it wasn’t so tasty this morning… On top of that, the weather had also turned into a winter storm overnight, dropping around 10-15 centimeters of fresh snow and still blowing and snowing outside, with very limited visibility. The decision was made to head down the glacier and back into Argentiere, rather than try the original route which involved climbing over three passes and glacier fields. There were two or three groups (of about 10) who were still going to try the original route, but our guide swore in French a number of times then kept muttering “stupid, stupid, stupid” over and over. (It turns out he was, sadly, proven correct, as a Swiss group who tried the pass had to come back down after one of their members got hit in the head by a falling rock and had to be taken to the hospital.) The visibility was maybe 100 feet and my goggles were fogging up, so we stayed close to one another while Philippe guided us around crevasses. As we headed downward, I started to feel a little better, but not much at all, leaning more and more towards the theory of food poisoning. About halfway down, we headed back into the ski resort and the snow had turned into rain, causing us to arrive drenched at the hotel to drop our heavy packs and decide what to do next. Cory and Dellon decided to buy a ticket to go skiing in the resort, while Justin took a break, and I needed to get some sleep in an attempt to feel better. I slept for about 5 hours during the day, with a break in between for a sandwich from a local French baker whom I swapped poorly broken French with. It took about an hour to get the sandwich down, but it seemed to be staying there, before falling asleep again. Cory and Dellon returned from the slopes late in the afternoon, content with a day of skiing and we walked to the grocery to find some vittles for the dinner meal. A smorgasbord of meat, cheese, fruits, yoghurts, and wine was purchased and they proceeded to feast in our room while I tried to get a yoghurt and a few strawberries down my gullet. After an evening of swapping tales, we called it a night.