23,000 steps and

and an extraordinary day, despite my blistered feet.

Picasso Museum —

This museum provided an interesting view into Picasso’s life.  The tour began with paintings from when Picasso was still studying art at age 14 and ended with some of the final paintings of his life. It was fascinating to watch him grow from a more technical art student to a master of modernism.  

One of our favorite parts though was his study of the Velasquez painting, Las Meninans.  Near the end of his life he painted his take on Las Medians and a series of paintings of some of the subjects in the original.  Very cool to see.

Our second stop of the day was Park Güell. Gaudi designed the park as a planned/gated community in the early 1900s, but the benefactor decided that the idea wouldn’t work and the land was eventually given to the City of Barcelona.  As someone who works in affordable housing, I absolutely love that what was originally designed to keep people out is now a a place enjoyed by all.  The park is just magical and a UNESCO world heritage site.

Park Entrance

Photo Bomb -- happens everywhere

The park sits up on a hill near the edge of the City and when you get to the top of the park there are beautiful views of the Mediterranean Sea and the City itself.

Notice how Sarah dressed to match the hibiscus flowers.

Sagrada Familia is another Gaudi designed building, seen by many as his ultimate masterpiece.  The City began construction of this church more than 100 years ago and are still working to complete it because of Gaudi’s complicated designs.  The building is absolutely stunning.  

Note the detail, bugs and all.

The front of the building shows the celebration of the Nativity and the back focuses on the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Inside the building you feel as though you are standing under a massive tree canopy as the church was designed to intertwine with spirituality and nature.  You are surrounded by huge stained glass windows that reflect bright colors around the church.  This space is hard to describe in words and photos.  Definitely a must see and a must come back and see when it’s finally complete.

After 10 miles of urban hiking and sightseeing, things took a turn for the goofy . . . . enjoy

Orthopedic . . . yes, you know the aging process is happening when you can't even find a pair of shoes in the a store called "Ortopedia".  As Sarah said, "you tried on every pair in the joint and not one was comfortable . . .  mind you , this was after a stop in the Birkenstock store where not one shoe worked either."

Well, on to more "interesting" things.  This evening in the square, there was an adorable young couple doing acrobatics with a hula hoop.  Sarah and I thought we could do as well ... you be the judge:

To be fair, nobody looks graceful when clutching the inside of a hula hoop.