I'm standing at the entrance to Park Güell, eyes closed, awash in a sea of voices speaking different languages. It's one of the things I love most about traveling: losing yourself in the sounds of another culture, forced to be an outsider and at the mercy of the kindness of strangers.
We spent our final day in Barcelona visiting Park Güell, originally conceived as a residential suburban development opened to the public as a park in 1923.
Casa Batlló is a bold, exuberant composition of natural organic forms, symbolism, and brilliant color, with a generous and playful use of mosaic glass and ceramics. The top of the façade is famously known as the dragon's back because the curving shape looks like a spine and the colored masonry tiles are its iridescent scales.
Designed by Gaudi and completed in 1912, Casa Mila (aka La Pedrera) is an apartment building in the Eixample neighborhood. At just over 100 years old, it was not only innovative for its time but is still a model for multi-family housing today.
I've had three architectural experiences that have, literally, brought me to tears: Le Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut de Ronchamp, Carlo Scarpa's Brion Cemetery and most recently, Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia.
Nestled off La Rambla lies one of Barcelona's great landmarks, the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria - more commonly known as La Boqueria. A public market with roots dating back to the 13th century, it is as much a feast for the eyes and ears as it is for the nose and mouth, and was one of our favorite adventure stops in the city.
With beautiful architecture that changes from building to building to building, I've never enjoyed exploring a city so much as I did Barcelona, and I can't wait to return and find new places and spaces to lose myself in all over again.
On Monday, April 22nd, HBO will air An Apology to Elephants, narrated by Lily Tomlin and directed by Emmy winner Amy Schatz.
Is the Woodland Park Zoo's Elephant Exhibit & Program Task Force just a dog and pony show? Or, will they actively solicit a variety of opinions from experts and others not associated with Woodland Park Zoo or otherwise brought forward by Woodland Park Zoo? Further, will they curtail Woodland Park Zoo's undue influence on the proceedings and work for the best interests of the elephants involved, not just the zoo's?
Fourty-one courses consisting of tastes and sips in a culinary trip around the world. There are some elBulli classics here, as well as many other unique and new dishes, all with the common goals of intense flavor, gorgeous and pain-staking presentation, along with surprise and magic.
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