Barcelona, Spain

It’s now been almost two full months(!) since my parents and I ventured to Barcelona following their stay in Switzerland. In total, we spent about three days there as a family before they departed on a Mediterranean cruise with some of their friends and I joined friends of my own for the weekend.

All told, I enjoyed Barcelona quite a bit, but I’m glad I had previously been to Madrid because it doesn’t feel distinctly Spanish in the same way that the capital does. Barca is a much more international city of the ilk of New York, Paris or London. However, it does have a lot going for it beginning and ending with the architecture of Antonio Gaudi. A major presence in the city, his version of Art Nouveau uses undulating organic forms to evoke various natural elements. Underlying steel skeletons allowed his genius to take almost any form he desired on the buildings’ surfaces.

While in town, we did a lot including a Gaudi tour, the Picasso museum (which featured a great temporary exhibit of artists riffing on Velazquez’s Las Meninas), a nighttime bus tour, a trip outside the city to the spiritual center Montserrat, and time browsing around Las Ramblas and the general vicinity of our hotel. When I joined Kara and her boyfriend Sergio for the weekend we took a bike tour which took us to the beach and also climbed up to the center of the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Five days is a lot of time and I have a lot of photos, but in the interest of brevity (and in an attempt to try and get myself update sometime soon) I’m just going to post a few of my favorites here.


Joan Miro mosaic on Las Ramblas


Christopher Columbus column


an underpass at Gaudi’s Parc Guell, originally conceived as a housing development


one of the city’s unofficial symbols is this lizard (part of a fountain) at the park


proving that fact, here’s a street performer dressed as that lizard




detail from the newly completed Passion side of the Sagrada Familia church which Gaudi devoted the end of his life to (this facade was done by Josep Subirachs


nighttime detail of his Casa Batlló


Montserrat


the famous Black Madonna


a fence on the grounds which is almost certain supposed to evoke the crown of thorns




The “Magic Fountain” near the Olympic Village. Quite a spectacle (though not quite as cool as the Belagio in Vegas)


Kara trying a milkshake at a chocolate museum we toured


Olympic Stadium


Kara and me in front of Barca’s arc de triomph on our bike tour


Finally, this ad was everywhere the whole time we were there, so Sergio and I had to get our picture with the lovely Vanesa (apparently a Spanish soap star)

Parent-Sitting

As these things sometimes/always go, I am very very behind on updates. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to prepare a few more entries before my re-entry to the US. Even if not, I’ll try to keep this one relatively succinct for your benefit and mine.

A bit over a month ago, my parents finally made it back to Europe to visit me. Their previous trip had taken them to the UK sometime before I was born (and maybe even before they were married?), so this was actually their first time in Continental Europe. Because I had to work during the week of their arrival, I sent them on a few day trips in which they got to visit Bern, Lucern, Lauterbrunnen and various others. Finally, on the weekend after their arrival I began my vacation and was able to accompany them to some places in the country I hadn’t yet traveled.

Basel

It seems kind of crazy that it took me almost 2 years to make it to Basel, one of the country’s design centers (home of a world-renowned design school where two of my professors studied). When I finally did visit, it was during ArtBasel, an international showcase by various galleries and artists at the city’s massive convention center. We spent the better part of a Saturday browsing some great (and exorbitantly expensive) contemporary art.


Entrance to ArtBasel

On Sunday we returned to do more traditional sight-seeing including some nice museums and the zoo. The city is quite beautiful with some great Medieval architecture. That, coupled with the thick Eurocup atmosphere made it a great day.


the Rathaus at the city’s main square


an amazing door relief


detail of a Rodin sculpture


sweet birds at the zoo


street scene

Broc

On Monday we traveled to Broc to tour the Callier chocolate factory which has technically been owned by Nestlé since the early 1900s, but still retains its own recipes and name. It was a nice visit, compounded by the fact that it was free and included a room full of chocolate for unlimited tasting. Yes, please.








So much chocolate, so little time.


Sampling some of the goods

Gruyeres

Following Broc, we made our way to the cheese-making village of Gruyeres. We were able to do the cheese-making tour which included some delicious samples of differing ages of the namesake cheese, but missed out of touring the Chateau or H.R. Giger museum (devoted to the artist behind the aliens in Alien, which for some reason resides in this otherwise quaint little place). Even so, it was a fun trip and I think my parents enjoyed the spectacle of the Raclette we ate.


Cheese aging in the cellar


Entrance of the Giger Museum




Dad preparing some raclette (in which you melt the top of a block of cheese and scrape it onto a plate of potatoes)

Vevey

On Tuesday we stuck around Lake Geneva, venturing just an hour away to Vevey. This lakeside city offers fantastic views across to the mountains and has a nice little statue as a tribute to Charlie Chaplin who lived in the area after he fled the states during the McCarthy Era. We wandered around in the morning and enjoyed the views.


Mom and Dad


Chaplin as the Little Tramp


There’s a Museum of Food near the lake, thus it’s only logical that this giant fork would be there.



Lausanne

Our Swiss tour ended with another trip (for me) to Lausanne, one of my favorite cities in the country. We did the standard “attractions” as well as some shopping and a last dinner at a great pizza place/microbrewery I try to get to every time I’m in town. Since I’ve covered this city pretty well in other posts, I’ll just leave you with one final image to haunt your dreams.
My new vote for scariest mannequin ever:

Florence, Italy

The train ride from Pisa to Florence is only about an hour so we had a full day upon our arrival. After finding Andy and Julie’s hotel, we headed off for the Accademia which is home to Michelangelo’s David. We had booked tickets online a few months prior but had a slight mishap when we got to the ticket counter. Seems that our reservations were for the Accademia in Venice. Oops. Even so, the ticket guy let us re-buy admission without having to wait in the really long non-reservation line so despite paying a little extra we didn’t lose any time.

Turns out the only really notable thing in the gallery is David. Even so, it was worth the price of admission. Out of all the famous buildings and pieces of art I’ve seen since I’ve been in Europe, the David is the most impressive/least disappointing. The larger-than-life size certainly helps, but the shear artistry of the thing is phenomenal.

Following that, we headed to the Duomo and then grabbed lunch at a little place our good pal Rick Steves recommended. Good choice, Rick. The afternoon took us to the Uffizi Gallery which includes Botticelli’s Birth of Venus among others. It was alright, but I’m starting to think that I might not really care for Renaissance art that much after all. At least they had some really nice Caravaggios (including the Sacrifice of Isaac).

We also took time to wander across the Ponte Vecchio, eat more gelatto, and climb the steep hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo which offers a magnificent view of the city. Before too long, it was time to grab dinner and jump on the airport bus so I could return to Geneva. The Daubenmires would continue on to Rome, but my midweek journey had to end here.


Duomo


front of the church


nice candelabras


the interior of the dome


crowd in front of the baptistry


close-up of one of the bronze door reliefs (replicas of the originals, apparently)


Alessi creates the greatest knife-holder ever


Replica David




Perseus slaying Medusa


UC has two little lion statues at McMicken Hall which are kind of unofficial school mascots. They are based on this guy. Here, I display a bit of UC pride.


the Ponte Vecchio


maybe the most dramatic statue ever. The dying guy’s hand is amazing




Beautiful view of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo


the Daubenmires on the hill


another David replica which caps the whole thing off