Traveling with Ray Owens

Today was our only full day of being a tourist.   We left the hotel at 8:30 to arrive at the Basílica de la Sagrada Família (Church of the Sacred Family) for our 10:45 entry tickets.   The train would not normally take that long but we played it safe due to the strike.  The trains ran but they ran less often that on non-strike days.   The train was very crowded.  We got there about 9:45. The outside of the basilica is amazing as is the inside.  

On 19 March 1882, construction of Sagrada Família began under architect Francisco de Paula del Villar. In 1883, when Villar resigned, Antoni Gaudí took over as chief architect, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted the remainder of his life to the project, and he is buried in the church’s crypt. At the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete.  They are supposed to finish the exterior construction sometime in 2026.

That is one long-term construction process, which was interrupted by lack of funds and by wars, and terrorist attacks over the years.

After spending a couple of hours with a few thousand of our closest tourist buddies in the Sagrada Familia, we made our way to the “Can Pizza” restaurant.   The pizza and the company were very good. 

Billy Ray, Becky and I opted to walk about a mile and a half to the Pablo Picasso Museum.   It was a very pleasant walk through a small park and then we stumbled on the Arc de Triomf (Catalon) translated: Arch of Victory, is a memorial arch in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was built by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair. The arch crosses over the wide central promenade leading to the Ciutadella Park that now occupies the site of the world fair.

It was a very nice find and it was a pleasant stroll.

The Pablo Picasso Museum is a very nice art museum where it traces the artwork of Picasso from his early years where his work was largely realistic through his later years where he turned to and mastered cubism.   Pablo did his artwork in painting, drawing, sculpture, and many mixed media pieces.  Like taking a Magazine printed photo of a movie star (Neile Adams) in 1957 and adding to it a humorous cartoon caricature of his good friend and fellow artist Jaume Sabartes.

It was a good day and we made our way to the train station and on to our hotel by about 5:00. I am not sure if the trains were crowed because of the strikes or just the commuter traffic, but they were very crowded.  I go to share my seat with 3 other people and a very cute Westie that was the spitting image of my Mom and Dad’s dog named Chelsea. The dog was down by our feet and nuzzled my leg and bent over and rubbed his head.  He then shook his head vigorously and the lady who had him on the leash began to reprimand the canine.  The gentleman next to me and I began to defend the dog saying that it was my fault not the dogs.  We had a pleasant laugh as new seatmates. 

It was a very good day and I am exhausted.

Tomorrow we are back to the task of learning about how to do what Jesus said was the second greatest commandment, which he said was the same as the first according to Dr. Level my Greek professor a few years ago.

Matthew 22:34-40

³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”