Journey Through France, Part 3

Hey all,

The hotel in Barcelona turned out to be quite nice once we got there, despite the dire warnings in the room that the hotel could not be held responsible for the “action of the neighbourhood” should we leave any “chariots” outside.  Assume this was an oblique reference to parking, but still not entirely sure.  Could have been prams.  The place had a kitchen and and old couple who appeared to live in one of the rooms who befriended K.  Anyway, had a lovely day in Barcelona – were only there for a day but managed to go to the Gaudi cathedral (Sagrada Familia), Gardens, at least walk past some of his other work, as well as wander around in tiny ancient alley ways in the old part of town and get pleasantly lost (as opposed to unpleasantly lost (c/f previous post)).  The cathedral is only half done, although more or less finished inside, and I would really like to still be alive when it is finally done – as huge as it is externally, what is already there will be dwarfed by what it will eventually be.

I can't really think of anything else currently being built that really might last a thousand years and still astonish people, like the Duomo in Florence or the Cathedral at Chartres do – nice to know that as a race we are still capable of it, if not often.  We build lots of massive things that look good from a distance but are cold and flat up close – they lose interest quickly the closer you get to them – but not this cathedral – it is overwhelming from miles away – remains overwhelming when you are literally touching it.

Finally managed to see something at the Gaudi gardens that I have been wanting to see for a while, which is what happens to all the illegal unlisenced street-sellers when the cops arrive – it turned out to be a false alarm but the central public space of the garden was infested with them when we arrived with all their wares laid out on little white cloths with strings at the corners – the alarm was sounded – they all grabbed the strings, lifted the clothes and all their merchandise and ran in all directions – just sort of evaporated (later we saw one surreptitiously retrieve his bundle from a bush where he had stashed it so he could pass as a regular garden enthusiast).  Anyway, they figured out it was a false alarm in about 60 seconds kind of sidled back in looking furtive, put there cloths on the ground, still peering around them in case the cops appeared for real, rearranged all the stuff they sell, and were right back in to it.

Again had some trouble getting out of town due to Spanish maps and Spanish street signs being made by people with fundamentally differing and mutually exclusive views on philosophy, religion, metaphysics, not to mention spelling, placement, names and numbers.  [K adds that I did, again, drive down the wrong side of a street into oncoming traffic - in my defense, on this occasion, I had just seen someone else do so and thought it was ok...] Which meant we again got stuck on a never ending ring-road hell and narrowly missed being witnesses to what looked like a pretty nasty accident in a tunnel that we came across, dust from pulverised concrete still hanging in the air, car on roof, very fortunate if shocked mother and child sitting on gutter looking distraught,  apparently still in one piece.

Eventually managed to get out and drove back towards France a different way, towards the tax-free haven of Andorra where we bought food and wonderfully cheap cigars, then pushed on through the Pyrenees which was a lovely drive – at one point we were driving through a strip of salted road looked down to a ski lift and run.

It ended up being a long day and as we hadn't booked anywhere (my idea) a bit of a stressful one when we couldn't find an open hotel in Foix, despite parking and wandering around looking for ages and despite the help of a young girl behind the desk in a Pharmacy who walked over half the town with us.  Also, K got attacked by one of those nutters who is advertising something by being dressed up as a huge teddy bear.  The environment? Lost dogs? The local kindergarten?  Who knows – anyway, the creature nearly got a punch in the head from a disturbed B wondering what this hairy thing hugging his girlfriend thought it was doing until I figured out what was going on.  So we kept driving, despair creeping upon us both, until we stumbled upon a roadside motel with a young man behind the desk who, while charmingly polite to K, was flat out rude to me.  Still, it was cheap, clean, and so long as he did not come in to our room and continue being charming I didn't really care that much...  Both exhausted and went to sleep – last thing I remember was contemplating talking to K about her habit of setting the alarm for 4AM every morning in order to prepare herself for the alarm at 5AM so she doesn't miss the one at 6...

Photos. 1.  The cathedral – those towers will eventually be dwarfed by the ones not yet built in the middle.  2.  Inside - “It's like a forest,” I said, and K said that it was supposed to be – she had helped the PA of one of the architects from Australia who is responsible for the building.   I felt very perceptive.  3.  Outside.  4.  The public square [?] at the Gaudi gardens, looking over Barcelona.  You can see the cathedral in the distance, centre, and a number of the junk sellers replacing their gear after the false alarm.  5.  Some weird bit of graffiti we saw up there that we both liked.  6.  One of his other buildings.  7.  Deeply unfortunate name for a hotel.  8.  Driving through the Pyrenees.  9.  Foix, showing its own Chateau, which we did not go into, towering over the town at night.  Shortly after this K was attacked by marauding teddy bear.

Cheers, B.