Barcelona: The home of the unfinished cathedral
May 30, 2008 at 4:55 pm | In Barcelona | Leave a CommentTags: Barcelona, Church of La Sagrada Familia, Spain
One of the most strikingly unique sites of Barcelona is the Church of La Sagrada Familia, conceived by Antoni Gaudi. Unique is often an overused adjective, and is often used as hyperbole, but in reference to this church, the word is an understatement.
It is unique in not only being a church that has been under construction since 1883, but also in its style of the architecture, which is a strange mixture of Gothic meets Miro, with a touch of Picasso. On top of some of the spires, there are things that seem to look like bunches of fruit. Some bunches are reddish orange balls, some are bluish green balls, and some look like yellowish bananas. Way above one entrance way is what looks like a huge pine tree decorated with white doves, topped with an angel in red.
Unique it is, but also pleasant to the eye.
Tale of Three Airports
May 27, 2008 at 4:48 pm | In Barcelona, Frankfurt, Japan | Leave a CommentTags: Barcelona, Frankfurt, Nagoya
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- Cafe inside Frankfurt Airport
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- Nagoya airport shopping alley
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- Shops in Barcelona Airport
On the way to our Mediterranean cruise, one of the first things that struck me was the difference between Japanese airports and Western-style airports. To get to Barcelona, we went through three very different airports: Nagoya, Frankfurt, and Barcelona.
Nagoya airport (or more accurately Chubu International Airport) was probably the newest and most interesting. Like most new airports in Japan these days, it is built a tad removed from the downtown area, and they have a specific area designed solely for shopping and dining. There are other areas where you can eat and buy things, but on a separate floor there is a central region of shops and restaurants arranged around a large plaza with the obligatory huge television screen. On one side are shops and restaurants in a European motif and on the other side the shops and restaurants are in a traditional Japanese motif. Both sides have winding streets, with nooks and crannies.
Frankfurt and Barcelona had shops scattered everywhere throughout the airport, but the layout is reminiscent of strip malls, with roles of generic shops and restaurants. The European airport was more spread out, and the organization of the design, if any, was not readily apparent. In Japan, each major airport tries to capture the ambience of the city, with regional products highlighted. In Europe, each airport is merely an airport.
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