- barcelona, part two
Today the large group of 8 traveled to Gaudis park, Park Guell....unlike the rest of my colleuges I did not really find Gaudi really exciting, It just seems to me that his designs are mostly sculptural and decroative than actually interesting forms. I wondered off from the group to still explore however and I found my way to a bookstore (i can spend hours in bookstores) and Ben later ventured there as well. I think we were seperated from the group for too long and we could not find them. I was not too upset by this. sometimes large groups are just too much, especially at the end of this long trip...so we went to go find the archery fields which are designed in a deconstructivist style by the firm Enric Miralles and Carme Pinos. We walked forever, and my feet were sore. at one point I was holding up my architectual guide book up to my nose trying to understand where to go. I moved the book away and then did a double take again...I realized that I was standing in the exact same spot as the picture in my book! It was odd but I was in awe for the rest of the day only because that this architecture firm was of a new discovery for me and I fell in love quite quickly. At one point I turned aournd completly only to find a project by Emili Donato! It is of one where a helf semicircle pertrudes out of the steep terain. It was just amazing to see and to go up to explore....I think I was also excited just because it was not gothic or gawdy er I mean gaudi. Then it started to pour. Rain always excitens stories...
The closest shelter were these 10 foot blades of grass that lied next to a wide street. We ducked under there for awhile, I attempted to sketch, but then the blades were giving into the drops of rain and my book was getting wet. So we made a run for it...to underneath the deconstructivist shelter that Miralles designed... part indians were having a dance party there, I do not think that we were wanted...so we ran up a hill and ducked under another bridge of deconstructivism. We waited out the storm and then walked to the nearest metro stop, heh only to find that it was closed down! I was so upset because at this point my feet were really sore (damn unsupportable shoes) and so we hopped on a bus, we had no clue where it was going. so we got off and then walked some more into some odd dead ends. We finally got to another metro stop...yep it was closed too! what is goign on? Ben thought that there must have been a train wreck...so we took a bus all the way down south but this bust really did not go into the direction we needed. But finally we made it to Diagonal Mar a contemporary park by Miralles (ill write more about them later). Ben and I ate crepes in a mall that was packed but no stores were open.
Ben said "what if the group was on the train wreck?" I still did not believe it was a train wreck so I said, "nah."
On our way home we ran into a few on our traveling group...it was ironic because no one else was really in the metro stop. They told us the story of how they were involved with a train wreck....
Supposedly thier train crashed into another and the train derailed. They were thrown across the seats and were stuck inside the car for a half hour and then they had to walk out through the underground tunnels. I felt really sorry and bad for them becuase of being the wreck but also because they did not get to see anymore contemporary architecture....i seriuosly was in awe and agony (the walking) all day.
shandar | 11:33 AM
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