Sagrada Familia--No puedo creerlo: Sagrada Familia--I can't believe it!

So...basically Prof. Vidal has mad hookups and got us a tour of Sagrada Familia, masterpiece of Gaudi (which seems like an impossible project, not even half-way completed and already approximately 100 years in the making! Ridiculous, right?! Our tour guide is none-other than the project architect himself...NOT Gaudi (who was hit by a tram and killed in the early 1900's I believe.

Yes Mon....we're going to the top on a rickety little elevator!

AWWWW-PROFESSOR VIDAL!!

Breathtaking

Ceiling detail...up close and personal (constructed with that "Catalan Technology"-we aren't really sure what this phrase referred to...but it kept surfacing during this tour)

Sean and Vic

Tom and Bri

No words...and never enough pictures

Cece, our professor--super excited about the tour...just before realizing she has to go down the mountain of stairs we came up...and she's afraid of heights...

Ceiling detail--hundreds of ft. above the floor of the church

Yeah...we were backstage at the big show...

BCN '07--SAGRADA FAMILIA

Buscando las cosas en la lista: Looking for the things on the list

After day 1 in Bilbao...we all were a bit baffled as to what we should do with our full day...hadn't we already seen everything?!

Apparently not.

A map we got from the front desk at the hotel had a list of more than 40 sights to see in Bilbao, so needless to say Victoria, Tom, and I set out to see everything on that list...and I'm pretty sure we got all but 2 of them...the following are just a few of the cool places we saw :)

After grabbing food at a Buffet...Fresh Co (which I recognized--we have them in Barca, too), we met up at the train station for our 10-hr overnight home...pictured below is

all of us except Felipe, who came home tonight. Sean went home this morning, and Bri, Rob, and Ben are staying to see the movie 300 before they head home tomorrow...

Felipe and I are off to have a snoring contest...apologies to anyone within 20 feet of either of us :)

Continua a llover: It keeps raining

It's raining and cold this morning, so we hit up a "Euro-store" and get some cheap ponchos, gloves, hats, etc. before braving the elements in search of the Guggenheim museum, the most published piece of architecture in history...true story. Ben and Tom look excited, no?

So does everyone else...

especially Bill...we haven't seen snow in...almost a day (if you count the hail in Rome)!

12 little ducklings all in a row...

wish they could take a bilbobus instead...haha

SWEET sculpture...the sun in this pic is deceiving!

The bridge from a playground I wandered through...are you surprised?

A bridge by Calatrava...he's kind of a big deal

Classic rainy-day image

OMG it's the Guggenheim...if you don't recognize it you are probably missing out on the world as it is in newspapers, magazines, commercials, etc for any number of reasons...except for its purpose, that is, as an art museum...

I like the effect of the stairs reflecting in the glass at the entry, below or at street level, depending on which street you approach it from

Felipe and Tom are attempting to break something...shhhh

Yup, that is the Guggenheim...how many views can you find that HAVEN'T already been documented?

The structural tower, which reveals the panelling system used for the museum--pretty nifty.

Felipe, Tom, and I spent A LOT of time at the museum...we were the last to leave around 5 or 5:30 PM. We watched a really interesting video on one of the sculpture artists featured in the museum as well as a video on Frank Gehry, architect of the Guggenheim at Bilbao, and his work. We wandered back toward the hotel and found this plaza that, the taxi driver told us last night, is one of the most beautiful city renovations in Bilbao.

Something about this bldg and facade were fascinating...how did it happen?

Faltamos unas horas en Roma: We are missing a few hours in Rome

This is Rome...in fewer words.

This is our awesome final-day excursion/hike to Tempietto, a baroque...temple? church? very tiny...not big enough for a service or anything...

We made it to the top just before it was opening-time...

and...just as a HUGE hailstorm entered sight!

We took refuge in the neighboring church

before heading over to complete our sketching assignment at Tempietto--see the following pics to get an idea :)

yeah, it's tiny.

The dome

Check out the detailing

...and again!

After not having time to wait on a line the length of the Great Wall to see the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum, we headed for food then back to the apartment, where Tom seemed sad to leave the place...it's always hard to leave.

This is us...in a trunk.

Apparently the storm from earlier followed us to the airport--SWEEEET.

But we made it back to Girona, Spain with time to grab taxis and head to the BCN airport for our flight to Bilbao, just 2 hours later! Oh--and we got a beautiful sunset show on the ride there!

PS--Jung called from Leon where she's visiting her bf--she is my exchange student/sister from Chile/South Korea--miss her mucho!