After courting the idea several times and even walking up to and around La Catedral de la Sagrada Familia , Gaudi’s landmark thumbprint on Barcelona’s streets, we actually got in line, waited an hour, and paid to enter. It was worth it. And that, my friend, is an understatement.
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| The Passion Side of La Sagrada Familia |
The giant redwood-sized columns on the Passion side of the church gripped the ground at nearly a 45 degree angle. Their massivity (my new word for giant columns that boggle little minds like mine) and detail in the midst of their massivity made me feel the way I feel when I look at stars on an open Kansas night - small.
We stood briefly and tried to point out each station of the stations of the cross but missed a few, mostly due to our lacking memory of three or four events along Jesus’ way to crucifixion.
Once inside, the cathedral opens up with even more massivity than the columns that support it on the exterior. For the most part, the roof is finished, and this makes it possible to have Mass in the church now. The lofty ceilings are nearly painted in their entirety and much of the stain glass windows have been placed, but the estimation as to when the Cathedral will be finished looms between 2020 and 2040, and this depends on funding.
Just one of those things I can do my best to describe, but the pictures do the best justice.
Maybe it was being in a huge church and thinking about the unconsecrated wine that made me order the pitcher of vino at Alfonso’s Restaurante in the heart of the Eixample Barri. In the most direct translation, Mary and I shared the meat plate: cured meat, ribs, pork loin, steak, and peppers. Fue perfecto. I may not need to tell you this, but we napped that afternoon and were very unproductive that evening. But man, you can’t beat some great meat.
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| Can't beat that meat (and yes, we finished the wine). |
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| Inside La Sagrada Familia - That lady loves her hat. |
