In the morning we took a chance on getting into Parc Guell, a project of Gaudi that is so famous (and popular) that the park service requires tickets with timed entries. We were unable to get tickets for an english-speaking tour the night before so we went without tickets and hoping to get lucky. We did not.
The park was supposed to be a gated community. As originally envisioned, it was a flop. But as a park, it is pretty spectacular.
But while we were unable to get into the Monument part of the park with the more famous pieces of Gaudi's work, we were able to walk around this area and peer down to see what we were missing. Meanwhile, we saw some magnificent structures that Gaudi had planned and the house in which he lived. The structures provided some spots with outstanding acoustics and during one of our moments in a garden, I heard some beautiful solo acoustic guitar. I didn't get a picture of the guy but I did buy his CD. His name is Miquel Tarrida and the album is called Aranjuez.
Here's a youtube video of him playing a tune from his CD in the same spot where I saw him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JJ2JYQC1aI
Here's the archway where he was playing
There were lots of structures like this. This is looking up at an elevated walkway.
We walked to the top of the park and here's a view of the city. There was a guy with a Barcelona FC warm up doing a training run to the top. He looked very much like a pro soccer player. They had just played the night before so this was probably a "recovery" run.
Here's a look down at the Monument, the ticketed area that we couldn't get into.
Here's the famous ergonomic bench.
We did spring for tickets to Gaudi's house where he lived during most of the construction of the park. Here's the outside.
And a little trellis-walkway.
They boys got tired.
That afternoon we met the same VBT person who met us at the airport who helped us on our transfer to Girona. We got on a bus for the train station. Oddly, while we got off to get on the high-speed train, our luggage stayed on the bus. We figured that VBT wanted to give us the experience of the train even though it added a layer of complexity to the day. The train was fun: clean, fast and something sorely lacking in the US. Great for a nap!
We arrived in Girona to find our luggage already in our rooms. Jaime and I had the penthouse suite. We unpacked and went out for a stroll. We had a welcome reception and dinner that evening as is typical with VBT tours. At that time we had a chance to meet all of the other members of our group.
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