Dreaming spires

Reus was the town in Spain where Gaudi was born. They have recently opened a museum there called GaudiCentreReus.
The modern facade jars somewhat with the older buildings in the square but let us face it, designing a building that contains a homage to one of the world's most famous architects is a tough act to rise to and any form of pastiche would be scorned.

Inside is a strange mixture of both fascinating and dull exhibits, an unusual combination! I drew David's attention to this colourful object as he would be seeing it the following day in Barcelona.

After a bit of a hint, he suddenly spotted them- the capping stones for some of the spires on the remarkableSagrada Familia. Regrettably, we didn't have time to visit the Church interior and it wasn't quite enough of a draw to go back during the holiday. I did persuade David and Karen to circumnavigate the (building) site though for a number of snaps. I was disappointed that the sun had gone in then as I was hoping for a sparkle off the mosaic work up on high.

Metro Memories

I went to Moscow twice for a few weeks just over ten years ago in my early days as a Contractor. Russia had abandoned communism by then and was part of the C.I.S., jokingly referred to as the Commonwealth of Insolvent States. One of my lasting memories is the Metro system which I rode as often as the opportunity arose.

It is a very deep system and many of the stations are monumental, in a style known as "socialist realism". It wasn't very expensive (a couple of hundred Rubles of small change, the smallest note being 1000 Rubles at the time prior to the major currency revaluing in 1998).

Admission through the turnstiles was via token and it was a flat price across the system. The first thing that struck you was that the escalators were much faster than you are used to (if they were working, that is!) Until you got used to it, getting on and off could make you stumble.

Down on the platform, the signage was rather small and hard to read as the cyrillic lettering could get confusing. Many of the platforms had the start and finish of the line in large 3D on the far wall (e.g. Brixton <--> Walthamstow Central and Vica Versa) so you could work out which platform you wanted, but if both trains were on the platform, you were stuffed. The layout was somewhat similar to the London system (with the equivalent of a Circle line) and the interchanges were not too bad provided you knew the name of the line (the colour coding wasn't used as far as I recall). With a pocket map and a phonetic garbled mental pronounciation of the last couple of syllables I didn't get lost, but went the wrong way for a station or two at least once.

The trains were rather unremarkable but there was one thing I was forewarned about, namely the Mamoushkas- old biddies who would scold you if you weren't wrapped up well in the cold weather.

More of that Spanish Mural

Back two posts, there was a rather good mural (on a wall in Tarragona). I took two more (slightly silly) shots of it...

Some Spanish sights

This colourful flower bloomed on our hotel wall during our stay

whilst this electrolier in a Casa has some artificial flower styling centuries old.

This sculpture of a human tower represents a unique Catalan festival tradition. (You can see some footage of a real one here).

The party walls of demolished buildings often tell a story. This one appears to have been augmented by an artist.

This mural is very vibrant and from a distance can be mistaken as the real thing.

Grey spotting

A day trip to Barcelona- all of these photos have a member or two of the Grey family in. (Look for the sun hats).
Parc Guell- the columns

At the entrance- notice the dragon street performer

On the balcony

Attending to cats

The mouth seat

Another on the balcony

The gift shop

The fountains

The Market

The Ramblas

Columbus statue

Base of statue

The Aquarium

Maximum score- 22, I think!

I've been everywhere man...

...well, it looked a lot when I had a map of the world and pins in the 80s. It looks rather less impressive when mapped, especially when Russia is basically Moscow. Although, 23 countries isn't trivial.

I always fancied the Far East but the opportunity never arose (although my Lodger and colleague got to do a training course in Tokyo, it kept us in Sake' for months and gave us a chance to refresh our CD players).

I define "lived there " as in staying in an Apartment for an extended period rather than a Hotel (Norway 1 year, Saudi 1 year, Ontario 2x 3 months, Eire commuting for 6 months or so.)

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Hat tip: Braveheart