The Palau de la Música Catalana is a beautiful music hall which continues to put on performances, including as we sat there a mini organ concert. The hall is nicely decorated and looks very fancy. The girls were quite impressed and enjoyed looking at everything. Thy enjoyed identifying various compossers and other aspects of the decor.
We went out after the rain stopped to get some lunch, do a bit of shopping and to visit a wonderful music hall. We stopped in at a random catalan restaurant which was very nice and warm. Afterwads we walked by some great shops on the way to the music hall.
After our visit we stopped in to a gift shop and some of us found our name plates, others not so much. We made up for it with a play at the park though. Havning the cathedral as the backdrop to their games made them a lot more fun. We also enjoyed sitting and watching people.
The stunning colours of the nearly finished cathedral were really a joy to look at. This is truly a cathedral unlike any other and one that will stand out, attracting people for a long time. We really enjoyed wandering through it and see the afternoon light filter through the mosaics. We also enjoyed walking through a small museum showing some of the artifcats and design drawings from the construction period. We also stopped to see the classroom which was used for the children of the workers during the early years of construction. The girls had mixed feelings about that, particularly some of the punishments.
KT and TV were so excited to go back and see Sagrada Familia after 21 years. It has certainly changed heaps and it was impressive to see all of the changes. When they were there last it was very much a construction site inside and the roof wasn't even finished yet. The kids were pretty excited about it too since we have all been talking about it for a while. We had a bit of a snack before we started our guided tour. The tour was good but nothing compared to the actual cathedral itself. Spectacular!
Since we had a 24 hour bus ticket we decided to ride it all the way around the city and eventually back to Sagrada Familia. Some people were a bit tired and grumpy at the start but eventually warmed up after a bit of food and the sun coming out. We got to see the city in context and get our bearings. We also got to see the construction on Camp Nou which is progressing nicely.
The lego store in Barcelona was quite large and had some interesting custom built features. We really enjoyed walking through it. We also had a bit of a walk through the main shopping area of the city before walking back to our neighbourhood for dinner. We ended up choosing a delicious hot pot place which we all enjoyed.
