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Today was a day devoted to the Catalonian architect Antonio Gaudi. He is famous for his unique buildings and his use of nature as a guide in his work. We met up with the other Amity intern (the teaching assistants from the kids school), Maria, at Gaudi's greatest work-in-progress, the Sagrada Familia church. The church was started in 1882 and is still being built using Gaudi's designs (at least those that survived the Spanish Civil War). It is one of the most amazing buildings I have ever seen. The facade is very detailed and creative, with one side telling the story of the Nativity and the other the story of the Passion. Everywhere you look, there are unique details. Gaudi designed the interior to look like a forest with the columns as trees. We even got to go high above the church and take in the view of Barcelona and watch the workers working. After almost 3 hours in the church we ate lunch and headed over to a couple of apartment buildings Gaudi designed. He was a master of the Modernisme style, which was characterized by buildings that look like nothing else around them. Of the two we looked at, one looks like, to quote Saint Rick Steves, "... a roller coaster of melting-ice-cream eaves (p.89)" and other represented the patron Saint of Barcelona, St. George slaying the dragon. At that point we had to say goodbye to Maria. We had had a great day with her. She gave us a lot of insight in how Catalunya is only a part of Spain in name only and that it would better off on its own. The four of us finished the evening heading up to Parc Guell, a beautiful park designed by Gaudi. We had a very interesting conversation with our cabbie back to our apartment even though he didn't speak any English. Day 18 complete, two more to go!
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