December has been both relaxing and crazy, between getting back to the states (but not back to our hometown) and just relaxing a bit, then actually getting back home right before Christmas, then Christmas week full of family and friend get togethers and getting sick and getting back to work…. I haven’t done any blogging. And I’ll still be slow to blog a lot in January since we’re leaving in the morning to visit friends in California, then the in-laws are coming in and I’m taking a certification test and starting a new job and Kaya starts a new daycare and…..*breathe* anyway….life is good! At this point Barcelona, which we visited in mid September, seems sooooo far away, but here we go!

Barcelona was the city I most wished to have more time in (and we had two days there, a luxury compared to so many places with only one day!). There’s so much to see and it’s such a big and busy city it takes time to get from place to place.

We got Hop on Hop off bus tickets for both days there. Our first main stop was the Gaudi apartments. I’d heard Gaudi had some cool architecture (with a family full of engineers I couldn’t help but hear that a few times) but hadn’t actually looked up any of his work. I’m kind of glad I didn’t because it was such an amazing surprise it was fun to check out for myself!

 

Can you imagine walking into this apartment building every day as your home?

Besides just being….different, the main thing was his lack of corners (perfect for childproofing?).

Not a single detail was neglected. I love how simple yet complicated he kept everything (if that makes any sense, haha).

If you look at the first picture, of the front of the apartments, the huge main windows lead to this main room, which was Gaudi’s apartment. The rest weren’t as fancy but were pretty cool still for sure, and were rented out to others.

I’m not sure why some of my pictures didn’t load of the rest of the apartments but I’m sure you can check it out with some googling, with probably better pictures than my iPhone. The atrium and roof are especially cool.

One thoughtful feature was the lighting on the roof and use of curves and everything to make everything feel bigger and lighter and more welcoming. He even thought about how the light changes as you look at distances and changed the colors of his paint/tiles to accommodate this affect. He really did think of everything!