Barcelona : Day 7 : 21 Oct 2008

Casa Mila or La Pedrera was on our list for day 3 in Barcelona. This was another Gaudi building, modeled after Montserrat hill. You will notice this when you looked on its outer side. Brown in color, wavy and curvy in shape, and rocky in texture. The queue was not long, and many of them were students. Too bad, we were not. If not, it would be cheaper by half. Our ticket was E9/pax.


> Outside Casa Mila

It was an apartment building owned previously by Mila family, and they let Gaudi to work his wonder. It is difficult to describe this special building in detail, so showing pictures will be the best method.


> Ground Floor


> Inside Casa Mila


> At the Attic

The best part was the roof top. There were many star wars-like helmet that were actually decorative features for the stair-well, lift shaft and chimney. A clever use of his creativity to dress up something unpleasant.





One of the best spot is highlighted below. Standing at the correct spot, you can have the helmet features next to you, and Sagrada Familia as the background. Just make sure no one suddenly pop up behind you to spoil your picture.

Flag on the sky

Noticed the moon and star this morning at 6.45am. When tilted slightly, you will notice it looks like our flag, with exact colors (blue and yellow) minus the stripes.



> Zoom view

Night View of Genting

Tonight is not so hot, and it's quite windy.
Got a very clear view of Genting and seems like rain is coming soon.
Tried to photograph the lightning and Genting as background.
Some previews below.

Barcelona : Day 6 : Part 2

Another delicious rice dish to introduce was negro arroz (squid-ink rice). It was black in color, a bit salty with some seafood taste. From far, it looked more like burnt rice. It was served on a flat, black wok. The bad thing was, we only managed to find the francaise, microwaved-type rather than those cooked originally. The menu del dia (menu of the day) came with bread and tortilla (potato omelette).

After this meal, our next stop was Parc Guell. It can be reached by metro on green line, and stop at Lesseps station. The park was a bit out of town, and it was located 20 minutes walk from the station . By following the main street and climbing a slope, we ended up at the main entrance of Parc Guell.

According to the stories, it was a failed housing project by Gaudi for Eusebi Guell. Since it was doomed, Gaudi did not abandoned it but turned it into this fairy tale park. Few interesting features; Gaudi salamander, Gaudi house, and tree-like humanoid columns. You can find a Gaudi salamander clone in Singapore, at the Sentosa Island. More specifically, behind the giant Merlion.

Getting into Gaudi house cost E1.80/pax, but we did not as I had been there in my previous trip. It was a hot day, so we did not stay long. But it seemed like those visitor was enjoying the sunlight. This was the main difference between us and them; we looked for shady areas but they were out looking for the sun. We were not used to this weather and heat because we were in much colder Paris few days earlier.