Antoni Gaudi - Part 2

These photos were taken at Guell Park in Barcelona. Mr. Guell commissioned Gaudi to design and build this park/garden. Mr. Guell was a housing developer and the park was part of the overall project. I understand the housing development was a huge failure (much like the Clairemont area of San Diego). :-)

Antoni Gaudi - Part 1

Gaudi (1852 -1926) is the "main man" here in Barcelona. He was a modernist architect who experimented with ceramic mosaics, wrought iron, glass, and very unusual shapes. By the looks of things, he also experimented with LSD. :-)

Wild Things

Several years ago my brother Tony went on a funny rant about his dislike of retail stores with names ending in "... & Things." For example: "Wings & Things," "Linens & Things," etc. Here is a photo of a retail store I spotted in Barcelona, Spain. Translated it means, you guessed it, "Things & Things"

Barcelona Bubble Bath

I was awakened early Saturday morning by screaming kids in the playground across the street from the apartment where I am staying. At first I was annoyed, but that ended quickly when I saw how much fun they were having. Grandpa had a blast too!

Premature Bruce·Elation

My personal Bruce Springsteen Tour is officially scheduled to begin in Lisbon on June the 3rd. However, I jumped the gun and attended tonight's (Friday) concert in Barcelona. The Catalunyans have a reputation for being rabid Bruce fans, and they showed their stuff tonight. The crowd was amazing and Bruce was really into it. Three solid hours of rock and roll bliss. Bruce continues to be one of, if not the best, live performers of our time. Not bad for a 62 year old dude.

By the way, I'm now one of those insufferable "older" Bruce fans I have come to despise (we mock the things we are to be). I waited in line for several hours with a bunch of younger kids to get up close the stage. There I was waxing nostalgic about the old days and how I attended my first Bruce concert 35 years ago (1977) when I was 18 years old. Most of the kids I was with weren't even born yet. They were amazed when I told them that first ticket cost $6.50. I felt like my dad who used to tell me how a loaf of bread only cost a nickel when he was kid!

What A Drag

I am now in Barcelona, and somehow it took me two days to get here. I took a bus from Rovinj, Croatia to Trieste, Italy. Then a train to Milan. Then a flight to Barcelona. Easy, right? The problem came at the Trieste train station. I was fooling around on my tablet and missed my train to Milan, which in turn caused me to miss my flight to Barcelona. I ended up sleeping overnight in the Milan airport with a bunch of other stranded travelers, including  someone who appeared to be a beautiful Italian woman but may have been a man in drag. It made for an interesting evening, to say the least. :-)  I caught a flight to Barcelona the following afternoon.

Scenes From Rovinj, Croatia