Tourist day!

Today was really fun! A big change of pace from just walking around
aimlessly yesterday. We saw two of Barcelona's most famous features
today: the Picasso Museum and the Sagrada Familia. The Picasso museum
had been on Angela's list of things to do for a long time, and it was
great to go experience the life of Pablo. We were ery blessed to have
a wonderful tour guide who led us through his very inspired life, and
we saw the progression of style and attitude. She also gave us an
overview of his life outside of just his paintings, and that really
helped to understand his changing inspiration. The next thing we saw
was soo cool!! The Sagrada Familia is a church designed by Antoni
Gaudi in the 1800's and is still under construction! The architectural
style of Gaudi is unlike anything I have ever seen. His style is very
much influenced by nature. The pillars inside looked like palm trees,
with fruit on the very top of some of the towers outside. I included a
picture of the west side of the church. The east side (where the sun
rises) has images depicting the birth of Christ, and the west side
(where the sun sets) has images depicting the passion and death of
Christ. It was very moving to see all of the symbolism everywhere and
I got some really cool pictures that we will share later. We went to a
little shop afterwards and got a few things. Angela bought a little
ceramic toro (bull) that is multicolored and a great souvenir. Then my
mom bought us a ceramic picture frame as an ENGAGEMENT present that we
will take a good picture of us to remember our engagement in
Barcelona! Overall, this day has been a great first day of being
engaged, and I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about the culture that
my wonderful chica has spent her adult life studying and teaching!

Tommy
6/21/09 7:31pm Barcelona