Barcelona

We had a fantastic time in the city of Gaudi: our one day stay there made us look forward to when we can spend more time there. There is a lot to do, and it is very diverse: churches, beaches, science museums, hiking, modern art. Barcelona is very proud of itself, and is the center of Catalan, a region of Spain analogous to Quebec in Canada. They speak their own language, and dream of independence. It is also quite balmy, being right on the Mediterranian. Mosaics fill the streets. It is a city with a very distinct feeling: the style of architecture made me think of living in a Salvadore Dali painting. It is fresh, and very different from the UK or Canada.

Remember Pan's Labyrinth? Barcelona has buildings that remind me of the faerie world from said movie. The locals, however, looked nothing like the snarling goat man, though they sometimes sounded like him.

Gaudi did things over a hundred years ago, that are just now becoming part of modern achitecture, like perpendicular sinusoidal roofs, and drawing inspiration for windows and cloumns from nature. So imagine a modern art museum, cover it in venetian mosiacs, add some sculptures coming out the side, throw some ceramic crosses on top, and age it by a century, and you'll get the picture.

Without a doubt, my favourite building here was the Sagrada de Familia, or Sacred Family, translated into English. Construction began in the 1880's, and is due to be complete in 2025. This is a Catholic Basilica which is renowned the world over, and has many spires representing Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the apostles. It draws much inspiration from nature. For example Gaudi modelled the branching columns on Aspen trunks. The european palm inspired the shape of ceiling panels. Hexagonal window panes show influence from observing bee hives. There are really more features than I can describe, so I'll show some pictures and that will be that.

 We loved this dude. He looks like he spent Christmas away from home too. :(

 Makes you wish LDS churches looked like this eh?

 hmmm

 I loved these columns and railings

 The ceiling

 Backside of the organ. Front side of the Becca.

 Interesting depiction of the Savior. It's like Catholic meets Moulin Rouge

Branching columns, spiraling panels ending in an open circle.

This Church had more sunlight than any I've been in. I love LDS temples, but I think I must say, in terms of architecture, that this is my favourite religious building.

Well, we did not have much time in the city, so we also checked out a public park also designed by Gaudi. It was a hoot.

 That's the world's longest Mosaic bench! It was surprisingly comfortable

Everything in this picture is like a fairy-tale.

Well, we had so many hopes for Barcelona, but not much time. Until next time...

Visitors!

We were so excited to have Disa and Derryk come and spend the weekend with us in London.  We had a very festive time- going to a Christmas market; seeing the sights along the South bank (which included an interesting encounter with a sidewalk salesman that led to Dave purchasing our first real London art); window and M&M shopping in the West End (who knew how much fun you could have with M&Ms?); and going to “Winter Wonderland” in Hyde Park.  Don’t be fooled by the lovely, Christmassey name – the winter festival was a carni operated carnival filled with German drinking chalets, with some Santas plastered on the various funhouses and pirate ships and other Halloween-turned-Christmas rides for the season.  There was also a tree (one of the leafless, shadowy kind), that said “Boo! It’s Christmas!”  We loved it.  We’re really glad to have Disa and Derryk here in the UK.

Then – we’re so lucky! – we had friends over the next weekend, too!  The day before they left Edmonton, Ashton ad Bri realized that their layover in London on their way to Dubai was long enough to get out and about and have fun in the city for a while.  And we were delighted to accompany them.  We wandered the West End and Covent Garden for a while and had delicious nutella crepes; then visited the British Museum and saw some crazy mummies, among other things; then had good, proper British fish and chips.  Bri had found out what the best fish and chips places in London were, and we just happened to stumble upon one of the restaurants rated in the top three.  Needless to say, it was tasty, and, not too surprisingly, historic.  Welfare people would meet in the basement of this restaurant during WWI to decide which of the poor areas was going to get food that week.  It was a good day, nice to spend it with friends.

Christmas time in London

Christmas tree in a barrel in Covent Garden

London was a great place to be at Christmas time.  There were lights and decorations everywhere.  Here is a sampling of what we saw.

Lights filled the streets.

Many of the prominent buildings and attractions set up skating rinks.  They were quite fancy, and it made me appreciate how easily we can go skating in Canada.

Salvation Army brass quintet

Christmas carols! 

We also went to a Christmas concert at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the church in Trafalgar Square.  It was a program mixing carols and scripture readings.  It was a wonderful community concert.  The choir was made of up Transport for London choir, and the proceeds went towards public transportation, which is something that affects all of us in London.  The songs were sometimes sung by just the choir, but the audience often sang along.

Community choir in Trafalgar Square

We went to the Museum of London, and there we found Scrooge's office.

This was a billboard near our house.  This just isn't something that you'd see in Alberta, but it was here.

Poem II

Day is Night, and Night is Day


Odd it is, when so far away
That day is night, and night is day,
That notice not sent can cut you quick,
And nothing can save 'cept a canine lick.

How cold it is! so far away
That day is night, and night is day,
The fire is out, its' dance no more,
The sparks fall dark on yesterday's shore.

But what to do when so far away
That day is night, and night is day?
It's surely too late to plant a seed;
It's time to eat whate'er your need.

How strange the place, so far away
That day is night, and night is day,
How different, supreme, and truly of note,
Yet, it's not the water, but inside the boat.

When sailors go on so far away
That day is night, and night is day,
They pray with might to keep their mind,
And have those tails to sit beside.

For yonder, a place, still far away
Where night is night, and day is day,
The place I go to in my sleep,
The place that soothes me when I weep,
It is not here, so far away
Where day is night, and night is day,
But there you eat from fields of gold,
And fires glow warm with hands to hold.

I want to go there, but wait I might,
Whilst I have my day and keep my night.

Surpise Visit, and Troubles on the Horizon...?

Two things of note happened today:

Firstly, we had a surprise visit from our friends Ashton and Bri Harker. We had a lot of fun, visiting a museum, dining at a restaurant that's rated in the top 3 for fish & chips in the UK, and experiencing the joy that is the West End at Christmas. I actually intend to blog about this further, but will wait for photos from the Harkers. It was way more fun than the following:

Secondly, we received a letter from a previous tenant in our building, which was very disconcerting. Hopefully, there will be no more on the subject.

You're a wizard, David.

East meets West

We visited the Prime Meridian in Greenwich.

Here we are on opposite sides of the world, longitudinally speaking.


The Royal Observatory, where this was, is on the biggest hill in London. But because London is so extremely flat, it still wasn't too much of a hill to speak of. At least not for those of us from the famously flat prairies of Alberta. ...?

Here are the views from the top of the hill.

The white long building here, below the hill on the same grounds, is the National Maritime Museum. Britain has had a long, important relationship with the sea over hundreds of years, and it was interesting to learn more about it.

This is Nelson's uniform that he wore at the Battle of Trafalgar. There is a bullet hole in the left shoulder. Unfortunately it's not very clear in this picture.

This is a Chinese world map from hundreds of years ago. It's surprisingly accurate, for how old it is and how little world wide sea navigation had been done at the time. It makes us wish Vancouver Island was really that big.



This is a statue of James Wolfe, and Dave. We always appreciate the signs that Canada is clearly important to Great Britain.